Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1892-05-18
4 GAME WHERE THE WINNER LOST.

Mind That There Was NO Eum In II.
It makes the man who would rather
60 to law than go on q good old time
hay ride mad enough to lose suit, but
when he brings suit. wins his case. gets
damages and then finds that he is ont Of
pocket fine round sum, he can give the
ordinary man points and discount him
besides at the Diogenes game OF hating
the world. One New Yorker got taste
Of legal dose the other day which il
likely to make him hesitate about using
the same prescription again.
He wanted damages from q man who
he declared had injured his property.
He wanted all the damages he could get
too. He was earnest enough 10 insist
that the damages ought 10 be run up in
the thousands. Now IL be bad been con-
tented to take his case into . district
court this story would probably never
have been written. But as he estimated
his wrongs not by single. plain, every
day .scart wheel dollars, but in blocks
of ], 900 each, he was forced to take his
suit into the court OF common pleas
Everything went swimmingly for his
side. His lawyer proved beyond doubt
that the defendant had caused damages
to the plaintiffs property. The Judge be-
ieved it, the jury believed It, in fact the
defendant himself and the defendants
counsel believed it,
If ever there was a. clear case OF
damages it was right there in the com.
mon pleas court. And so the plaintiff
got o verdict for forty-nine dollars,
But it is one thing to get verdict and
another thing TO take what goes with
it. 1t happened in this case that IL the
defendant received q verdict for less
than fifty dollars he was liable for costs.
He did not know much about law, and.
though he was disappointed at the
amount Of the damages. he looked tri-
umphantly at the other side. He was
disguised to osee the calm smile ON the
face of the defendants lawyer. But
moment later there was gnashing of
teeth when his counsel told him about
the costs.
81 have to pay the costs. do IY' he
snapped.
ssYes."
sAfter have won my case have to
pay costs for the other sideg
ssThat is the law"
"Well, it's q 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
spoiled my property want to pay him
for doing it? What do you think am,
ox,~-xx.x, a x,,rd.5xy h~asx,a1 <,.<,oc axxa1
half hearted lunatic? How much are
the costs?''
"Three hundred and sixty dollars"
ssThree hundred and sixty dollarsi
win a case and get damages and lose
$311, do /? / can substract the amount
of the damage from the cost and make
out q check for the balance, can II
Well, suppose can SO long as have
to. But want you to understand that
the next time go to law it will be be-
cause / am candidate for lunatic
asylum. The next time have you for
a lawyer it will be when I'm the de-
fendant in case like this and want to
lose.
do you hearg' he screamed. "When
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
property I'll invite him to come in and
knock the roof of 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 great-grandmother's tea
service for pins, and if he wants to jump
through our $500 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 hirn; oh, yes, I'll
sue himlv and he snorted so loudly that
the court usher's afternoon nap was dis
turbed. New York Tribune.