The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-06
OUTLINES DOG AND MAN.
TENNEsSEE's FAMOUS LITIGATION
OVER A DECEASED CANINE.


For Nearly Ten Years the Case Has
Been Fought Before the Courts I'm
til the Value of the Dog Has Been
Expended Many Times-LegaI Wit
tieisms Over the Express Com
Pany's Duty TO Care for the Dog.
One Jury Gave Judgment.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
This is a story Of dog and a lawsuit.
The dog is dead, but that makes the story
better. In fact, if the dog had not died
there would have been no lawsuit and no
story.
The dogs master is dead. too. but the
lawsuit is of the hardy, perennial kind.
which little event like the death Of
the original litigant has no effect on. His
viii has been contested and his estate is
In litigation, but the lawsuit goes right
along 1t has been in the courts so long
1t has become known as the Tennessee
dog case" and it threatens to become as
noted as the illinois calf case" The
calf case was an issue a score of years
or sa ago. Two neighbors fell out and
went to law over the ownership of
poor, measly s. calf. and they fought
each other in the courts year after year
until court costs and lawyers fees cost
DON 9Sl perverse litigants fortune.
me tennessee dog case has not attained
the widespread publicity of the calf case
put IN It's inception and carrying on ii
Is mueh tunnier. About ten years ago
John B. Robinson, a wealthy young citi-
zen OF Memphis, Tenn. shipped a we'll
pred and highly trained bird dog by ex-
press 10 station on the Memphis and
Sharleston railroad in Alabama, where
ne proposed to enjoy a hunt The dog was
taken i'll at the end of the journey and
IN ~. spite OF the best veterinary skill obtain
sued the Southern Express COMPANY for
SS,aldnnages' placing the worth of the dog at
1t is to be regretted that Garner the
famous scientist who went all the wav TO
AFRICA to learn the language of the ST.
mlans, did not begin the mastery of the
animal tongue at home with mans con-
slant and humble companion, the dog
EVERY one who owns dog knows how
hard dogs try to make themselves under
SlOOui ana sometimes one may detect a
look OF contempt on Trays face as he re-
cognlzes the inferiority of his masters
mlnd. me dog can understand the words
OF man, why not man the dog? But science
having gone galivanting off to Africa to
mold converse with ring-tailed and blue
nosed monkeys, the dog is still reckoned
uumD ana so, when the Tennessee dog did
MS best to make the express messenger
understand that he needed exercise and
mat a run across the fields would be a
wonderful relief to the tedium and dis
comfort of the Journey the well meaning
but untutored in dog lore express messene
ger merely patted the beasts head and
DeneVolently said good dog"
The dog arrived at his journeys end and
IL was seen at once that he was i'll.
ulSease OF the liver and kidneys had de-
yeloped, and in two or three DAYS he died
| Shortly afterward Mr.. Robinson brought
suit before justice of the peace for the
value OF the dog, alleging negligence on
the part of the defendant company That
was several years ago. The facts as given
above, were brought out. The contention
OF negligence, on the ground that the dog
had been continuously confined too long
presented a new question in iurisprud ence
TO the magisterial mind The defendant
company urged that fast train did not
stop long enough at stations to permit a
passenger dog TO run around and pick up
acquaintances and exercise his limbs.
Perhaps, said the companys attor-
neY with whitening sarcasm ''yOu would
have had us hold up the train and delay
its load of passengers an hour or so at oc-
caSlonal intervals just to let a confound-
ed dog chase himself over a ten-acre lot 3"
Exactly So" calmly responded the at
torney for plaintiff; Hor if you failed to do
so we contend you are guilty of negli-
genee ana naple II the dog did not arrive
A suggestion was made that the dog
might have been tied on to the rear coach
and allowed to run good and hard, and
the unusual arguments advanced by coun-
sci were the occasion of innumerable wit
ticisms OF like character. However the
case was decided by the magistrate makes
no difference because the case was appeal
ed and went to the circuit court. Mr.. Rob
inson died before that. but the admins
TRAITOR of the estate Judge L. B. McFar-
land, kept up the merry war.
Reams of deDositions were introduced.
They were taken before commissioners in
various parts of Tennessee Alabama Mis-
sissippi in st. Louis, Denver and else
where. There were the DISPOSITIONS of the
owner of the father and mother of the dog
showing his noble birth, of increased vail
ue because of his abilities in setting and
retrieving, of the veterinary surgeon,
showing the disease he died of and the
ed, of the express messenger showing
ing he was in good condition when shipp-
ed: of the express messenger, showing
the condition he was received in and much
more to similar ends
1t has been half a dozen years since
these Voluminous dispositions were first
read in the circuit court. Since then juries
have disagreed on the issue, new trials
have been granted, motions to do all kind
OF things have been argued with due So
lleeImnity; once a jury gave judgment for
$40 against the Southern Express Com
pany; once or twice the assembled wis
dom of the supreme court has been in
voked in the celebrated dog case, and now
again the interminable suit hobs up before
the circuit court of Shelby county, sit
ting at Memphis, Tenn, and it is nearly
as far from ultimate settlement as it ever
was.
BY this time the court costs costs OF
procuring dispositions, witness fees law
yers' fees, etc, have reached a sum in
excess of the value of almost any dog
that ever flushed a covey but still the dog
case. goes on. Perhaps the litigants have
reached the condition the man was in who
hung on to the bulls tail-they are afraid
to let 60 To drop out of the game at this
stage would be to saddle the costs on the
defeated litigant, and the costs have as
sumed far more Importance financially
than the value Of the dog.
"A newly married woman's dinner table
always looks pretty; but it takes an older
housekeeper with her best wedding china
smashed by time, to get up dinner that