Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-05-13

"Oh, no, SIR, he SAID meekly. Il really
can't do that"
"You have to go to the lock up, then"
rejoined the station-master, roughly.
| You'd best pay up"
Mr.. Boldon only shook his head again
and sighed heavily.
| As the lawyer expected, the official was
exasperated by his obstinacy and en-
| couraged in his high-handed manner by
the meekness with which he was CON
fronted. None of the railway people rec
ognized in the shabbily dressed, unshaven
individual before them the spruce gentle
man nho had paid poor mans fare a
few days ago.
! Bonner, go for a Constable" said the
| Station master, with the air of an infex-
ible Judge awarding a term Of twenty
years penal servitude.
Don't do that; I'll give you my name
and address, I'm known in the place
that is, I'm quite respectable, you know"
| G"Oh, [ daresay," said the station mast
er, with true official superciliOusness.
There was an awful pause while the
porter was gone to fetch the Constable.
Don't you think" suggested Boldon,'
almost timidly don't you think it might
be as well to telegraph to London for in
structiOns?"
The station master frOwned.
''They couldn't complain of you in that
case, at any rate" pursued Boldon.
The station master hesitated.
'I'll wait in the waiting room until you
get an answer" said Boldon, as he led the
way to that cheerful apartment.
The official darted a suspicious glance
at the prisoner. Still, the advice was pru-
dent and he acted upon it. In half an
hour the answer came back: ''The pass
enger without a ticket must pay the fare
from London, or be charged before the
magistrates
Gust let me see the message you've got,
said BOldon, when the result was an
nounced to him. eff it is as you say, I'll
go quietly, Or else pay"
They showed him the message.
mo, really can't pay all that money,
you know" said Boldon, sadly, as he read
the telegram; and accordingly he was
marched off to the police Office, guarded
by policeman on the right and by a con
stable in the imposing uniform of the
! Great Railway Company, on the left.
! AS it was Saturday night, nothing
could be done that day, and Mr.. Boldon
did not choose to disturb the Sabbath
rest of Mr.. Lionel VIM, his only avail
able friend, by asking him to bail him out
on Sunday.
On the Monday morning, however, an
early message was sent to Mr.. VIM, and
he promptly appeared and bailed out the
young lawyer, who was heartily tired of
his incarceration. Later in the day the
case came on before the magistrates, and
Mr.. Boldon attended with the landlady of
the inn at Lamborne and one of the
81 IUb oh no will
ing to prove that he could not possibly
have travelled from a greater distance
than Lamborne on the preceding Satur
| day night. The charge was of course dis
missed, one of the magistrates, jolly old
fellow named Bracebridge, remarking
| that Mr.. BOldOn, who seemed to be a res
pectable solicitor, had been treated shame
! fully, and that if he stood in Mr.. BOldon's
place he would be inclined to let the Great
Railway Company hear of the matter
again.
| Next day the Marlborough Independ-
ent contained long account of the sin
credible and really scandalOus outrage,
to which one of the most respected mem
bers of the legal profession in our town
has been subjected;" and it need hardly
be said that, in day or two, the course at
which the worthy magistrate had limited
was adopted, Mr.. BoldOn brought his &C
ton against the railroad company for
false Imprisonment and malicious prose
cutiOn.
AS everybody knows, Marlborough is an
assize town, and the case of BOldOn VS..
the Great Railway Company excited &
good deal of public interest. Everybody
wished to know how the law stood on the
question, for everybody had had occasion
some time or other to travel without a
ticket.
Mr.. BASTARD @. c., was counsel for the
plaintiff, and nobly he performed his
task. He pictured his client, a member
of an honorable profession, a gentleman
of delicate and sensitive feelings, dragged
by the ruthless hands of the police
through the crowded streets on a SatUr-
day night, exposed to the rude gaze Of
the ieering mob, and shut up in a cold,
lonely cell for the greater part of two
whole days. And all for what? Because
this gentleman had the courage, the pub
lie spirit, to resist an unreasonable and
illegal impost. 1t was the interest of
every railway traveler-he might there
fore, say of every man, woman and child
in the three kingdOms-th the rights of
the traveller and the liberty of the subject
SnOulu DC N1uulCdUSu LII TIE pSISOIi VI LIS
client. My client doesn't care for dam
ages, gentleman" said Mr.. Bastard in con-
clusion. ''That is not his object in COM
ing here. His object is to expose an
abuse, an illegal abuse, gentlemen, which
has been too long continued-to clear his
| own character of the ignominy which has
been cast upon ito vindicate the sacred
principal of the liberty of free-born
| Englishman."
As for the question of law, Mr.. Lynx,
who was for the railway company, hardly
ventured to rely upon it. 1T has been
held over and over again." said Mr.. JUS
tice Portman, that this bylaw is bad and
| illegal. 1t affects to infiict fine of ar
bitrary and varying amount, where there
! is no breach of the criminal law, for here,
as in most such cases, there is no pretense
that there was any attempt to defraud.
You will find a verdict for the plaintiff,
gentlemen" he added to the jury, with
such damages as you, looking at all the
circumstances of the case, may think will
fairly compensate the plaintiff for the