The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1892-06-10
he WON HIS CASE.

1t makes the man who would rather
go to law than go on a good old time hay
ride mad enough to lose a suit, but when
he brings suit, wins his case, gets dam
ages and then finds that he is out of
pocket a fine round sum, he can
give the ordinary man points, and dis
count him besides at the Diogenes game
of hating the world. One New Yorker
got a taste of legal dose the other day
which is likely to make him hesitate
about using the same prescription again.
He wanted damages from man who
he declared had injured his property.
He wanted all the damage he could get,
too. He was earnest enough to insist
that the damages ought to run up in the
thousands. Now If he had been con-
tented to take his case into a district
court this story would probably never
have been written. But as he estimated
his wrongs not by single, plain, every
day 'cart Wheel dollars, but in blocks
of /, 900 each, he was forced to take his
suit into the court of common pleas.
His lawyer proved beyond doubt that
the defendant had caused damages to
the plaintiffs property. The judge be-
lieved it, the jury believed it, in fact the
defendant himself and the defendants
counsel believed it.
If ever there was a clear case on dam
ages it was right there in the common
pleas court. And so the plaintiff got a
verdict for $40. But it is one thing to
get verdict and another thing to take
what goes with it. 1t happened in this
case that if the defendant received aver
dict for less than fifty dollars he was liza
BILE for costs. He did not know much
about law, and, though he was disap-
pointed at the amount of the damages,
he looked triumphantly at the other
side. He was disguised to see the calm
smile on the face of the defendants law
yer. But moment later there was a
crashing of teeth when his counsel told
him about the costs.
81 have to pay the costs, do I9' he
snapped.
Eyes"
"After have won my case have to
pay costs for the other side?"
"That is the law"
"Well, it's a mighty nice law that
makes the winner lose, amt it? What
do you think went to law for? Do you
think wanted to spend money for fun?
Do you think after that fellow has ruined
my property l want to pay him for it9
What do you think l am, anyway-a
muddy Drained, cross-eyed, half-hearted
lunatic? How much are the costs?"
"Three hundred and sixty dollars"
"Three hundred and sixty dollars! l
win case and get damages and lose
S311, do 1? l can abstract the amount
of the damage from the cost and make
out check for the balance, can l? Well,
1 suppose can so long as l have to.
But want you to understand that the
next time go to law it will be because
am candidate for lunatic asylum.
The next time have you for lawyer it
will be when Pm the defendant in case
like this and want to lose.
"Do you hear?" he screamed. "When
1 want to lose I'll have you, say, so that
| l can come out ahead of the game. And
the next time man damages my prop
erty I'll invite him to come in and
knock the roof off the house. I'll have
him use my piano for toboggan on the
hall stairs. I'll invite him TO play a
game of tenpins in my dining room and
will use my grandmother's tea service
| for pins, and if he wants to jump
through omr 5000 Japanese screen like a
circus-rider he can do it.
"Then maybe he'll want me to sue
him, so that can get stuck for costs
again. And I'll sue him! Oh, yes, I'll
sue him!" and he snorted 50 loudly that
the court usher's afternoon nap was dis
turbed.-N. Y. Tribune.