, 1888-04-19

dwelling, which, in spite of his dogs and
his hired people, seemed more lonely than
ever.
''They met by chance the usual way"
again and again, and the old story, ever
old and ever new, was told and listened
to. Peter neglected the suit he had
brought in one court, to prosecute II suit
in another, and when the great case of
Kane versus Abel came up before the
county court, Kane was absent bent on n
fnal verdict in another suit, one of more
Importance, with a jury of one biased in
his favor.
The fame of this cause, the Importance
of the points involved and the a"ntagonism
of the parties, brought a large concourse
to the county town. The day of the trial
no living being could be seen; every one
was in the court house. But horses there
were everywhere tethered to the posts,
pickets, porch posts and the swinging
limbs of trees-horses of all kinds, fronl
the humble claybank farm drudge to the
mettled and blooded roadster, and with a
variety of saddles and brides, not all
saddled, however, which was wonderful
to see.
The criminal business was first disposed
of; then came the civil calendar, and the
case of Kane VS.. Abel was called. The
opening speech for plaintiff by Adam, de-
Gvered in the v~ernacular, was admirable.
1t dwelt upon the atrocity of OBTAINING the
bear from its lawful possessor, the gross
violation of hunting customs, and the fact
that Staying the bear was almost as great
an enormity as the Staying of Abel. The
facts were then proved by the admission
of the offender. There were no witnesses
for the defense. Eve claimed the right
under those circumstances to the closing
speech, but the ~worshipful court-the
justices are w%orshipful and honorable
complied with Adams demand to ''rule
agin him. - and Eve took an exception
which the court would not allow. The
magistrates happened to be blood connec-
tons of the Kanes.
Eve spoke eloquently and even grandilo-
quentlg. He had received n collegiate
education, and he aired his classics for the
edification of the court aud jury, and
astonished the mountaineers with flowing
Latin and Greek. He held that there
could be nc property in an animal which
was in ferB nature, as there would be in
one domesticated; that the wild animal,
having been killed while trespassing on
the domain, its carcass had become the
property of the owner of the fee; that it
had broken into the close of AbeI-
"soeked his claws into his trousers, - rs
one of the jury explained afterward-and
was property held for damages; that being
in Il state of nature, property in him only
vested by the fact and at the time of kill
ing; and that Kane had no right on either
hide, hair, hOof or meat of the bear. To
support this he quoted Blackstone, with
some side references to Grotius, Ruien-
dorf, Waiter and others, and cited n case
from Johnson's Reports, which, in his
opinion, covered the case. Then he wound
up by an appeal to the jury to stand by
their affairs and their fires, the green
graves of their fo~refathers, the constitu-
ton and laws of the commonwealth, and
fin for the defendant.
It was admitted that the young coun-
selur had made n great effort, and his
overwhelming weight of authority, Latin,
Greek and logic, seemed to impress the
jury rs it did the auditors. The Abel
side was jubilant, and the Kane side cor
respondingly depressed. But it made no
impression upon Adam. That practiced
and seer counselor rose in the conscious
ness of power, and he rose to the level of
the occasion. His speech, written out in
full from copious notes taken by n young
member of the bar, we are enabled to give
as a specimen of forensic power. 1t was
as follows:
EFF it please yer w~urshups, gentlemen of
the jury, l { amt gwine to waste the time
by maxim n long noration. The counsel
lOE inc UtltDNdIlb has llu Ills SHEER Ol
that, and considabul of mine, too. He is
n young man, peert and spry, an Of a
most pleasin' disclose. He has spread
hisself or things in ginnal, hke n banty
hen tryin' to kivcr fourteen luck aigs.
Blu he hasn't fetched the subjeck. He
has given you a heap o. larnin' IN enough
Greek an Latin to set up n DOCTORS shop.
He sOt out to sock with Socrates, rip with
Euripides an hunk with Hercules, an l
i - 49, .-I-- IT, a- ,-R L-=
meself. But it didn't edZactly fetch the
sore spot. He quoted from Grotius an
them, but it was lurnin' an not law. Mr..
Grotius an the rest are furriners, writin'
on furrin law. What has furrin law to
do with us? AS for Blackstone-why,
gentlemen, Blackstone was a British
jedge-a British jedge. Our anthisters
fought agin British tyranny an oppres-
sion-ft an died agin it. Is the say so of
a British iedge to override law an justice
heref l allow not.
either amt no %disputation as to the fax
The defendant takes the fax as they air.
An they air as plain as MONDAY. We
had no proputty in the bar, Ell? Why,
that'd make a boss laugh. The young
man is moo to the bar, but tine onwritten
bar law o. this country's. nooer to him,
an h goes back so fur that no one
knows to the contrary. That gives the
right o. possession 10 the man that starts
the game. The bar wasn't in possession
of Kane in one sense, but he had started
to reduce it to possession, and Abel
comm in an shootin' it, put it into pos
session at wunst. For he was eyether an
agent of Kane, an shot it for him, or he
was n trespasser-an' he couldn't take
advantage of his own wrong, could her
That's law, amt it? The moment the
defendant shot the animal which he had
started, it become our bar. There amt
no proputty in n live bar, but there is in
n dead bar. We amt detainin' nobody's
live bar, but our dead one, an that's
what we sue for. He might haye charged
for his ~sarvice, but he didn't. He's kilt
our proputty agin us, and we've got to be
paid for it. That's law, an that's ~jestice.
zone more pint an Pm done, an then l
aX n vardick from you. The larned
sci on the t'other side, KNOWN of the
weakness of his case, he has brought in
the say so Of some Moo York lawyer-a
Moo York law-yerl to decide a case here.
Not his opinion eyether, but his repotel
This is the most pu~syillanOmous attemp'
to warp ~jestice l ever knowed Oft John
sons Repotel / needn't tell yer, gentle
men of the iury-I needn't tell yer wur-