Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-06-18
THE BURRO AND THE BALE.
A Long suIt-The Law and Its
nQlAEa.

Delays.
In 1882, the autumn Of that year,
San Gabriel granger had in the ware
house at the station in that fair subur-
ban retreat, 62l sacks Of barley. Stevens
& Purcell were the warehouse men, and
they also did q little commission business
such as n small place like the Mission
would afford room for. They had this
lot Of barley for sale, sold part Of 1t and
rendered their accounts to the principal
from time to time. In the spring of
1883 the firm dissolved, after very dis
astrous deal in the orange crop of Mr..
l.. j. Rose, ia which the solid man Of
the company is supposed to have lost
many thousands of hard earned shekels.
Mr.. Gervaise Purcell succeeded TO the
whole business OF Stevens & Purcell, Mr..
D. II. Stevens retiring. Soon after the
lease to the warehouse expired, aud Mr..
Purcell relinquished the premises, which
the owner thereupon leased to Mr.. s. X.
Sewall. This was during the last part
of May, 1888 Up to the first of July,
1888 MIR. Purcell continued In charge Of
I the grain as agent for the principal. At
the last named date Mr.. Sewall became
agent for the sale of il, MIR. Purcell CO.
ing out of business entirely and going
back to the life Of a simple farmer for
the time being. In the latter part OF
October, 1883, the principal sold
carload OF the barley to Henry
Muloch of San Gabriel and gave the pur-
chaser AN order on Sewall for the deliv.
cry Of 200 sacks, more or less, being all
the grain to his credit in the warehouse.
He then learned for the first time that
there was a shortage of about that
amount, and although both Purcell and
Sewell knew the grain was gone, the
| loss never came to the owners ears.
The principal could lind no light as
to where the grain went. 1t had cost
him about $500. He offered to divide
| the loss and settle the matter privately
without the expense to all parties of a
suit at law. Bnt this could
not be arranged with all the other
parties to the affair. The Injured party
therefore brought suit in November,
1888, against all the parties coDjoined
for an accounting The case has been
| in the courts all the time since. Able
counsel has been employed, embracing
| such heavy firms as smith, Hutton Il
| Brown, Brunson & Wells, and such
talent as the late Col. Godfrey. II MEM
DRY serves Alright it came before Judges
| j. ID. Hines, V. IL. Howard, W. A. Cheney,
| and at last b. Il. Williams, who decided
it. The judgment was for plaintiff for
| 1911 sacks OF barley, at an aver
age weight of los pounds to the
sack and valuation OF | cent per
pound, the whole amounting to $20O.55.
The Judgment was against 3. X. 5ewall,
alone.
A morning contemporaryess ayed to re-
port the case in public print, and got out
Of it the following:
1.-THE PROFITS OF LAW.
Geo. Il. Burton, reporter on the
HERALD, has ranch in the San Gabriel
valley. Seven years ago the burro OF
bis neighbor, o. A. Stevens, got on
toot one night and feloniously devoured
a bale of hay. the title OF which was
vested in Burton. Br'er Burton sued
Br'er Stevens therefor, and the case has
been in litigation for the last seven
years. Yesterday in Judge Williams
court Burton got Judgment Tor 80 III.
Before he can record this judgment he
will have to put up the reporters fees,
amounting to S45
There are two correct elements in that
report. The name o. A. Stevens is
right, and the reporters fees are S45.
There the naked truth comes to an un.
timely end. One initial of the other
name is wrong, and of course it will be
seen that all the rest is So.
This esteemed contemporary" is CON
graduated on this approximation to a
correct report. II she continues to
improve in the sweet by and by after
the lapse of certain geological periods
similar to those in which the protoplas-
tic primordial principle developed into
the brain of Moses, Homer, Virgil,
Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, Goethe.
Pythagoras. Plato, Aristotle, Gallileo.
Bacon, Agassiz or Edison, said
"esteemed contemporary" may be able
to get up a good, accurate report of a
little local item. "Bre'r Burro" is off
his feed on that bale. Thus ends the
story OF the "Burro and the Bale"