Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1886-04-20
LAwYFR's START.

The narrator is prominent in his
profession here, and had attained a
high position In the East before seek
ing the West as far back as 1859. His
gray hairs and long contact with dusty
propositions have not quenched his
love for a joke, and his keen eyes
twinkled as merrily as those of his
auditors while he was unreeling his
yarn.
II learned my trade" he began, Gin
little New York village, but mani
tested no particular aptness forthe law,
and barely scratched, through my ex-
animation. My shingle was not hon
ored with a call for many long weeks,
and when did get one It was from q
member of my old family. One of my
brothers, Frank, had craze for
poultry, and raised fancy breeds with
great success until an old maid moved
into the adjoining house, and her pre-
dstery cat began to decimate his costly
chicks at q fearful rate. Frank re-
monstrated, but in vain, and finally,
made desperate by the loss of nearly
an entire Matching, he poisoned the
cat. The old vinegar faced female
that owned the Thomas feline raised q
fearful row over her pets death, anG
as Frank was rather loud in congrstu-
lating himself on getting rid of the
chicken destroyer, she had little trou.
hle in tracing the cats fatal illness.
There was only one way to reach
Frank in law TO her mind, and that
was by crimina! prosecution, and she
accordingly caused his arrest on a
charge OF indictable misdemeanor,
brought under section of the penal
code similar TO the one in this State
that provides that person found
guilty of administering poison to an
animal the property OF another shall
be punished by fine up to five hundred
dollars OF to Imprisonment up to si1
months, or both. Well, the cast
looked black. The cat was certainly
An animal. and Frank had freely ad
mitted administering the fatal dose.
Nobody disputed the right of the
cats owner to prosecute, and counted
the pages of every statute book in the
town, hardly knowing what l sought
Finally paragraph was found, setting
forth that an animal, to be property
must have q valuation fixed by law
Turning to the ratings of animals il
the section on the larceny of live stool
l found that dogs were worth q dolla
in law, sheep and pigs little more
and horses, cows. etc., sufficient Il
make theft of them grand larceny
but not word was said about cats
An idea struck me, and / braced u
my miserable brother by telling hin
that | could easily wipe out the tou
accusation that besmeared his fai
fame, and we went into court. Tn
old girl didn't shed tear, but sh
swore very stoutly against Frank, ant
then introduced all the people WIN
had heard Franks confession as wit
ness. Then / introduced my demur
rer.
"'Your honor l said, this com
plant charges the defendant with poi
soning an animal, the property O
another and quoted the section OF
which the accusation was based
Cats, sir, l went on, have no valu
in law, and therefore cannot be prop
erty. l move for dismissal on thi
ground.
Frank was acquitted on the spo,
and one of the best lawyers in New
York city, who was present. wa s
struck by the plea that he offered m
place in his office. Under his tut
tion soon began to appreciate ID,
profession, and his help started me I
the front al rapid rate. ALTA Cali
fornia"