The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-07-25
IN THE PIONEER DAYS
INCIDENTS IN FRONTIER CAREER
OF j. j. BROWNE.
Saved AZ Client From the Peniten-
tiary and Listened to an Flo
guent Speech.

gun in all the material interests of this
vicinity. The little town of Spokane could
muster a population of nearly 200 white
persons the ranch land was being rap
IDLY taken up and improved, and social,
educational and religious institutions
were making crude beginnings here and
there.
Those were the days of constant ana
deadly encounters between rival land
claimants and the laws's expounders in
those days found themselves in extern
slVe, though not always remunerative,
practice Trespass, forcible entry, as
sault and even murder were committed
ia many dispute over a desirable Wash
lngton ranch, and to that period, more
than to any other in our history, may
the epithet "woolly" be justly applied
With the influx of population to our
city in the year mentioned came j. j.
Brown, always a prominent figure in
every enterprise for Spokane's good
In a field so ripe for harvest, Mr.
Browne naturally practiced for some
years his chosen profession of the law
and no better idea can be gained of the
breezy characters and customs which
prevailed in our community at that time
than by listening to his inimitable por-
trayal of some of the experiences which
ne calls so commonplace. The tales of
frontier life which he tells in leisure mo-
ments have all the humor and pathos
of Georgia Scenes" and the pictur-
esque vividness of Eggleston's Hoosier
sketches.
One incident which illustrates many
phases of pioneer life in Spokane county
Mr.. Browne thus relates: Two men had
located upon adjoining ranches in the
Medical Lake country. and, each claim
ing coveted forty which adjoined both
farms, there was constant pickering be-
tween the men, and fresh lawsuit con-
sideraby oftener than every new moon.
a length a violent encounter occurred.
and that night, or rather about o'clock
next morning, Mr. Browne was awak-
cned by the succession of war whoops
NY which it was customary to summon a
neighbor to his door in those days. The
somewhat unreasonable caller proved to
be a man-Cavanaugh by name-who was
in the hands of the sheriff for suspected
completely in the shooting ARRAY be-
tween the two men before mentioned,
Akers and Conover namely and was on
his way to Liberty Lake for examina-
ton. This call was to engage Mr.
Brownies professional services In his de-
Tense; so i'm a short time the attorney
followed his client, and was on hand
when the trial began. early in the day.
The justice who presided at the ex-
animation was one of those typical pro-
Nincial Solons whose conception of ofIi-
cial duties comprises nothing further
than strict construction Of the law and
evidence, absolutely cited. The prose-
cutting attorney produced such slight evil
dence as could be obtained. and read
from an old statute book the law in such
cases made and provided.
Mr.. Browne, provided with a more re-
cent digest. saw that he ~ould afford to
dispense with the evidence in favor of
his client, and read impressively to his
honor the act by which the law quoted
by his learned adversary had been re-
Dealed The scrupulous judge dismissed
the prisoner for lack of a law by which
to commit him. Mr. Browne prudenty
refraning from reading the amended
re-enactment of the law which instantly
followed the repeal so OPPORTUNITY cited
But the Akers-Conover imbroglio was
still to be adjusted, and at the same
witchng hour of the next morning Mr.
Browne, as attorney for the latter was
again summoned from his bed by the
same matin halloo from Mr.. Cava naugh,
and requested to go to Grab Creek,
some so miles away, and defend his eli
ent, Conover. against the charge of
shooting his neighbor. Akers.
Arriving. a day later, at the scene of
the trial. Mr.. Browne again encoun-
tered the prosecuting attorney, a fiery
little Frenchman, whose English made
him a butt in the untutored community.
In, /,
eide his cases IN court upon grounds not
strictly covered by law and evidence,
and the "vox populi" in this instance
was that of the rancher and the cow
boy. These Mr.. Browne propitiated by
an adroit mimicry of his opponents
struggles with our language, thereby
ruffiing the Gallo temper and affording
unconcealed amusement to the court and
spectators. Ascertaining the drift of
public sympathy. Mr.. Browne entered
the unblushing plea that the plaintiff in
the case was no good anyway, that he
was more than suspected of cattle steal
ing that his client was perfectly iusti-
fable in shooting so dangerous a man
as a measure of self-defense, and that
as he had only shot him slightly, by way
of a hint, instead of fatally, as he de-
served the shootee should take warning
and reform. and the innocent shooter be
dismissed. And he was, though the ses-
sion of this frontier court was prolonged
until a. m.
The next matter on the program in
this celebrated case was the settlement
of the attorneys fees by both of his
grateful clients on the spot in promissory
notes, as they were in the condition la
conically described as broke