The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1893-02-06
JUSTICE IN TEXAS.

A Homemade Judge Who Lightly
over-ruled the United States su-
preme Court.
Western Judges have been the
butt of many jokes and yarns, and
while the stories have made inter-
esting reading, they have been gen
orally taken as the breezy offspring
of some imaginative mind. Such
was the idea I entertained previous
to my introduction to some Of tho
honored upholders of justice, but
short acquaintance with some of
their absurd constructions of the
law has dissipated any misgivings l
had in regard to the truth and We
racity of the scribes.
In 1886 there was body OF Unit
cd States soldiers at Fort Concho, in
Tom Green county, Tex, and as a
natural consequence a small town
had sprung up just across the river.
San Angelo was not place of much
Importance at first, but it soon
sprung into prominence as the
toughest town in that tough State.
Its inhabitants were chiefly gam
blers and saloon men, with large
cowboy floating population, all men
to whom the si2-shooter was almost
as much of necessity as their food
and the use of it as common as that
of knife and fork.
| Shooting scrapes needed no court
to settle them. They settled them
selves. Horse thieves received no
mercy. But when at last one day a
petty case came up it was deemed
necessary for the dignity of the
place that a Justice of some sort
should be appointed, and that is
how Judge Preusser got his title.
He was a short, stocky-built Ger
man, with small, piercing gray eyes
that were twinkling with mirth or
emitting sparks of anger as occasion
required. His word was law, and on
one occasion when he discharged 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 braced up in his chair, and,
bringing his fist down with consider
able emphasis, replied: "Tam the
law! it's justice vat we want" and
the case was settled.
Numerous stories might be told
concerning his ruling in different
cases. How, after filming a man for
disorderly conduct, he paid the fine
himself and gave the prisoner money
enough to get to Ell Paso. On one
occasion two belligerents were up
before him, for fighting, one with
his head chopped open with q
Ratchet, and the other minus all cal
and his nose held in place with a
strip of plaster. He heard both sides
of the case, and, finding the quarrel
was the result of a mutual misun,
Outstanding, discharged both with
the caution that eff elder of you
vellers cooms up pefore mo again III
gif you a week in jail" Then he
made them shake hands and in
vited the principals in the case and
witnesses to drink at his expense.
One day the settlement was start
led by the alarm that a young law
yer had come to live there, and there
was great rustling to see who woulC
give him the first case. Two COW
boys got up dispute about the
ownership of saddle and Their
shook dice to SEQ who would have
the lawyer. When the case wa.
called the courtroom was crowded
the judge behind his desk looking
more solemn than usual, and the
lawyer, young sprig straight from
an Eastern law school, with an un
easy look on his face and a pile o
law books, occupied table at one
side. There were many witnesses
to examine, for everybody wanted /;
finger in the pie, and when the evi
dence was all in the lawyer mad,
quite an eloquent plea and clincheC
his arguments by reading the deci
sion of the United States Supreme
Court in a parallel case. AS he sa
down with a confident smile the de
PENDANT wore an air of defeat, bu
, the little judge arose with an air o
judicial authority that would have
stricken a Supreme Court judg'
dumb and caused the utter COLLAPSE
of the young lawyer when he de
clared: 81 oferrule dat decision, unt
der defendant Wins"
1t is probably the only case on re
cord where the decision of thu
United States Supreme Court ha
been set aside, but such is one o
the uncertainties of the wild ant