Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-11-17
JUSTICE IN THE WEST.
A Judge Who OverruIed the United StateI
Supreme Court.

Supreme Court.
Western judges have been the butt of
many jokes and yarns, and while the
stories have made interesting reading,
they have been generally taken as the
breezy ofsprings of some imaginative
mind Such was the idea | enter.
tanned previous to my introduction to
some of the honored upholders of JUS
ticc, but short acquaintance with
some of their absurd constructions OF
the law has dissipated any misgivings |
had in regard to the truth and veracity
Of the scrbcs.
In 1856 there was body of United
States soldiers at Fort Concho, in Tom
Green county, Tex, and as natural
consequence small town had sprung
up just across the river. San Angelo
was not II place of much importance Mt
first, but it soon sprang into promi-
nence as the toughest town in that
tough state. It's inhabitants were chief
ly gamblers and saloon men, with n
large cowboy floating population, all
men to whom the six-shooter was as
much OF necessity as their food, and
the use of it as common as that of u
knife and fork
Shooting scraps needed no court to
settle them. They settled themselves.
Horse-thicves received no mercy. But
when at last one day u petty case came
up, it was deemed necessary for the dig
nifty of the place that a justice of some
sort should be appointed, and that is
how Preusser got his title. He was q
short, stocly-built German, with small,
piercing gray eyes that were twinltling
with mirth or emitting sparks of anger,
as occasion required His word was
law, and on one occasion when he dis
charged a poor woman who had been
arrested for stealing bacon, and against
whom the evidence was conclusive, a
bystander exclaimed:
"Why, judge, You can't do that; it's
contrary to law," the little judge braccd
up in his chair, and, bringing his fist
down with considerable emphasis, re.
piled: "Blast the law; it's justice vat
we vantm and the case was settled.
Numerous stories might be told con-
cerning his rulings in different cases.
How, after fining man for disorderly
conduct, he paid the fine himself and
| gave the prisoner money enough to get
| to FL Paso On one occasion two be.
ligercnts were up before him for fight
ing, one with his head chopped open
with hatchet, and the other minus an
ear and his nose held in place will,
a strip of plaster. lie heard both sides
of the case, and, finding the quarrel
was the result of mutual misunder-
standing, discharged both with the eau
tion that "If elder of you vcIlcrs cooms
up before me again, I'll gif You poth q
week in jail" Then he made them
shake hands, and invited the principals
in the case and witnesses to drink al
his expense.
One day the settlement was startled
by the report that young lawyer ha6
come to live there, and there was great
rustling to see who would give hin
the first case. Two cowboys got
up dispute about the ownership
of saddle, and then shook dice
to see who would have the lawyer
When the case was called the court
room was crowded, the judge behint
his desk looking more solemn thar
usual, and the lawyer, young spril
straight from an eastern law school
with an uneasy look on his fac'
and pile of law books, occu
pied table at ono side. There wer,
many witnesses to examine, for every
body wanted finger in the pie, ant
when the evidence was all in the law
yer made quite an eloquent plea, ant
clinched his arguments by reading tn
decision of the United States suprem
court in o parallel case AS he sa
down with confident smile the de
fendant wore an air of defeat, but tn
little judge arose with an air of judicia
authority that would have stricken
supreme court judge dumb, and cause'
the utter collapse of the young lawye
when he declared; 81 oferrule dat de
cision, und der defendant wins"
1t is probably the only case on recor,
where the decision of the United State
supreme court has been set aside, bu
such is one of the uncertainties of tn
wild and woolly west. st.-Dctroit Ere
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