St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-25

first I thought 1 would leave the
room to avoid the embarrassment
when the jury came in. but then l rom
Guided that if the lawyer could face it
out l ought to. so l stayed. l suppose
his law books must have been made by
a rival firm, because he proved out OF
them that all the opinions that had
been read by the other lawyer had SUBJ
sequently been set aside by the same
courts that rendered them. and that the
same courts had frequently ruled
OH cases exactly parallel with
ours in a way that made it per-
side. l began to hope again, until l
took a look at the jury, and then l saw
that the sheriff had fixed that jury on
me-all but one. The sheriff was a
brother in-law of TruaX. However, the
judge owed me Sc for coal, and | did
not give up all hope. After my lawyer
had got through with his argument and
finished TruaX's reputation, the judge
instructed the jury to find for the
plaintiff. leaving them to fix the sum.
On the first ballot eleven Of them
voted n cent each aud one voted 500.
Then they agreed to take a final ballot,
each man writing down the amount of
his award, this to be added up and di-
vided by twelve to get an average. The
sum thus obtained was to be the amount
of the verdict. On this ballot the same
men voted for n cent, and the twelf tn
ma voted 81, 1888. To this sum they
added the IL cents, divided it by
twelve and gave me a verdict for 500.
| had a brother-in-law ON that jury
myself. L o supposed that l had MI.
:Truax where Mr.. Sullivan at that time
had the championship, but l soon learned
that | was mistaken. His lawyer moved
for a new trial. got a stay Of proceed
not sure that this was the order in
which he moved, but these were the
things he did. Ny attorney sgain filed
his answer. and l paid for some
nor snndries; but the odd cents were
there all right, SO l knew everything
was on the level ! also sent the judge
a receipt for that coal bill. When the
motion for the new trial was argued, the
court very sen sibly denied it, and then
/ did think l. had TruaX; but again l
was a tritle premature, for they appealed
is to the supreme court. l thought of
those contradictory opinions | had
whether they would shake dice or shoot
craps for it when they came TO decide
my case.
Ny lawyer now assured me that we
were all right that they would have all
| the costs TO pay, ana would have to give
bonds for the amount of the judgment
and costs. He then took S10.24 for
filing his answer in the supreme court.
and went out to get the oddcent change.
1 didn't care anything about thec cent,
but it was a comfort to me to re-
ali re that l had such an honest
man for a lawyer. By the time we
mara dino in tho Snnrrnp pOnrt q
year had elapsed, and what with princi-
pal, interest, costs, increased costs.
statutory costs and sundries, l figured
that l had about $3.50 piled up against
Truax. While the case was pending l
hung around the supreme court room a
good deal. and 1 was losing flesh and
money. l had a young fellow in the
office who would frequently give as
much as 1900 pounds of coal for a ton.
Finally the clerk told me one day that
the other people had failed.
to file their return in time, and that the
appeal had been dismissed. He then
entered an order of dismissal, a tran
script Of Judgment, and mi or two other
little things that l didn't know the
names of, and then / did what any other
Christian gentleman with a proper
sense of his religious obligation would
have done-1 went away and acquired
the rudiments of a comfortable jag. The
next day TruaX's lawyer went before
the court and explained that they
would have made their return, but that
he had been otherwise engaged, and he
asked as a matter Of professional u
tesy that the court issue AL order to
show cause why the order of dism issal
should not be set aside. The court said:
so that is different" And 1 wish l
may have to pay my debts if he did't
sign just that kind OF an order. l had
gone up there to get an order
for my money, and when l learned
what had been done l fastened down
and told my lawyer the direful tale.
He didn't seem at all disconcerted. He
said it was all right; if Truax's lawyer
could get out all order so could he. l
couldn't understand 1t at all, but he ex-
planned it to me. He said that was what
the supreme court was there for. They
must observe all the courtesies of the