The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-07-30
COURT IN SOME UNIQUE LITI-
CATION.
MISCARRIAGE OF A LETTER
RRIN(SS ABOUT A BITTER FEUD BE-
TWEEN TWO DEEPLY RE-
LIGIOUS MEN.
LETTER is FINALLY FOUND,
And When 1t Appeared 1t Put AN
End to the Proceedings i'm a
Hurry.

Two ministers of the gospel sat fac
ing each other in Judge Bunn's cham
bers yesterday afternoon. But they
were not thinking of the gospel little
bit Just then One of the divines was
the Rev Herman Obs, pastor of the
United Evangelical church, of Kenyon.
MINI. The other was the Rev. Rein
hold NJ. Mueller, of the Evangelical as
Sociation, which assemblies in the edi-
flee at Winifred and Bancroft streets,
in West st. Paul.
Mr. Obs was the plaintiff and Mr.
Mueller the defendant. That was ap-
parent after a few moments obserYa-
ton. Rev. Obs had an attorney, Coun-
selor Ney, of this city. Mr. Mueller
had none, for he was there by virtue of
summary proceeding requiring him to
attend before the court and disclose
some facts.
Last March, so it appeared, John L.
Stegner, now a grocer on Concord
street, but formerly an eXpounder of
the Evangelical faith himself, wrote
and mailed letter to Rev. Obs, of
Kenyon. That letter contained a COM
municatiOn concerning a dissension in
the Evangelical church, preciptated, it
IS said by certain sayings and doings
of Bishop Fischer, of Chicago. Rev.
Obs waited for the letter that never
came. Through some inscrutable and
mysterious combination of circum-
stances the letter intended for the Ken
yon clergyman fell into the hands of
the West St. Paul divine, Rev. Mr..
Mueller.
when, in the course of three
months, Rev. Obs discovered this, he
began a suit to replevin the letter and
also asked the court to award him $50
damages for the retention of the letter
by Mr.. Mueller Accordingly the latter
was commanded to appear before Judge
Bum and explain why he had detain-
ed the letter.
Attorney Ney ross-questioned Rev.
Mr. Mueller after the manner of a chief
inquisitor, and he admitted that he
had had the letter once, but had it no
longer. To whom had he given it?
Why to one Elias Febr, a contractor.
Why had he given it to Mr.. Fehr? Why,
because he had been informed that a
daughter of Mr.. Fehr had left it at
his-Mr. Mueller's-house, and therefore
he thought it quite proper to return it
to Mr.. Fehr.
Upon further cross-questioning Mr..
Mueller was forced to admit that At
torney Ney and Mr.. Stegner, the writer
of the letter, had called upon him last
Saturday and told him that he must
produce the letter or else legal pro-
ceedings would be taken to compel him
to turn it over. Thereafter Mr.. Mueller
started to visit Mr.. Fehr's house and
give him the letter, but meeting him
on the Wabasha street bridge he hand
ed him the missive and so washed his
hands of It,
Attorney Ney thereupon asked Judge
Bum to make an order requiring Mr..
Mueller to produce and turn over the
letter. Judge Bum said that the court
could not do so, unless the plaintiff
could show that the letter was still un-
der the control of Mr.. Mueller. Mr.
Fehr, the court remarked, was not a
party to the action.
Attorney Ney then asked Mr.. Muel-
Ter if he still had control of the letter?
Mr.. Mueller shook his head and said he
didn't think he had.
Attorney Ney looked worried. Judge
Bum looked thoughtful. Mr.. Mueller
locked confident, and Mr.. Oils anxious
There was moment Of oppressive
silence. Suddenly young attorney
seated in the corner of the room ex-
claimed
Your honor, Mr.. Fehr is here and
letter with the court"
Talk about dramatic clmaXes, Mr.
Mueller's face fell until the extremity
of his black Whiskers touched his dia-
phragm. In contrast thereto the coun-
tenance of Messrs. Oils and Stegner
expanded in a lateral direction until
it fairly included the ears of these
gentlemen.
Mr.. Fehr, an elderly man with {.
bushy beard and partially bald head,
stepped forward and handed the letter
to the court.
DO you surrender this letter volun-
tarily to Mr.. Olis?" inquired Judge
Bum.
Mr.. Fehr replied that he did, and
looked as though he was mighty glad to
get rid of it.
The letter was turned over to Attor-
ney Ney and Judge Bum remarked that
this concluded the proceedings But
Mr.. Oils and Mr.. Stegner, having had
taste of the law that agreed with
them, like Oliver Twist, wanted more"
How about those $50 damages they had
sued for? Surely such an upright
judge" would see full justice done
The upright judge" and Attorney
Ney Informed Mr. Oils and Mr.. Steg-
ner that the formality of a regular
trial was necessary to decide how much
the plaintiff had been damaged by the
detention of the letter This anDounoa