The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1886-09-30
occasionally found and the so-caIled

occasionally found and the so-called
'sblack fox" Elk and beaver have dis
appeared, and panthers are ARE. Dur
ing my five years residence in the hill
country I heard of one having been
killed, but / did not see it, nor any
who had. Deer are there in abundance.
In my time l have come twice on herds
of five or six, once on a group of four;
but l was unarmed at the time n they
knew it. They suffered m to ride quite
closely to them, looked at me, and as l
rode off quietly resumed their grazing.
Hares, wild turkeys and ruff1ed grouse
are abundant. Skunks are very COM
mon, but though the fur of this little
animal is valuable, skunk hunting is
not a passion among the mountaineers.
Bear hunting was eve a pursuit,
though the skin, bringing cash as it
always did, in a country where money
was scarce, was desirable. But there
was enough of it to create a kind OF
recognized code, which was of authority
in litigated cases. / remember once a
bear suit at Boone Courthouse. 1t
came up before the county court on ap-
peal from a justice of the peace. It
was a petty case, but the parties had
their blood up, and were bound to have
it out, cost what it might. A, the
plaintiff, had started a bear with his
dogs, and b, finding the animal pro-
ceeding along, had shot him and taken
him in. He refused to give even a
pound of the meat to A, who %thereupon
brought suit in detinue, for that B, ETC.,
etc., had detained the bear, The bears
hide in the meantime had been convert
ed into cash and the meat eaten and
digested. A had judgment and B ap-
pealed. The counsel on both sides air.
ed their learning and eloquence, and
BIS lawyers claiming there could be no
property in an animal in the state of
nature, and AS lawyers insisted that,
as A had begun to reduce
the bear to possession, he had
obtained a qualified property by the
customs of the country, and b was
therefore a trespasser in particular and
a son of a gun generally. The wor-
shipful court-the county court was
composed of justices of the peace, and
therefore not ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
together and gave us, in default of re-
turning the bear which from the ma
ture of the action we should have OBJ
tained-$30, which was paid. This did
not go very far toward defraying the
legal expenses, but the triumph made
it cheap to the winner.
And, by way of climax, let me give
another bear case, not because of any
principle of law involved, but for a re-
markable bit of forensic %eloquence
t%hereunto appertaining. The case was
tried in a justice court. The plaintiff
lawyer was a bright and well-read fell
low, just admitted to the bar, and his
opponent was an iliiterate but shrewd
and ''cheeky" pettifogger, who was a
great enemy of the justice. The young
lawyer had sustained his post on by the
ruling in a case quoted in Johnson's
Reports. The pettifogger replied, and
closed his argument in this way:
"Them's the facts, your worship. The
lawyer agin me, who is a peert young
man with a pleasin' disclose, an who is
obleeged to make a good lawyer, some
day when he gifts older, has brought in
Johnson's Report to help him out,
Johnson's Report! Why, 1 needn't tel
your worship, that's larned in the law
that report is only hearsay, an hear
says not evidence. An who's John
son. I'd like to know, that his hearsay's
more than that of any other MANI"
Judgment for defendant!"-Ihoma;
Dunn English, in Chicago Times.