Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1898-07-11
A CURIOUS VERDICT.
The jury's Odd Idea Of Making a,
Average.
A Husbands Attempt 10 Do His Duty A Hot
Weather Diet.


usual breaks assigned to that august
body of men.
Tostell it in the words of the attorney
for the prosecution, who was at that
time young man, it ran as follows
1T was the strangest trial in which
| was ever engaged said the rrizzle
headed attorney, while waiting for
court to open. Il was counsel for the
plaintiff in a suit brought to recover
damages caused by runaway horse.
My client had been knocked down and
slightly bruised, not very much but Just
enough to base law suit on. l had a
very strong case, in fact, had had the
whole of the case, as there was
practically no defense, and the de-
PENDENT was rich man. This was
why l asked for $1,000. hoping to get
half
We'll, when the jury came in they
rendered verdict for the plaintiff for
SS,6S7. OF course the judge promptly
set aside the verdict as excessive, and
l had to begin all over again.
Some days later | met the foreman
of the jury, and asked him how it
came about that they had arrived at
such verdict
We'll, l don't quite understand It
myself, he said doubtfully. we all
agreed for the plaintiff on the first
vote, but each fellow had his own ideas
as to the damage 1 was in favor of.
One said $1,000. another fellow
thought it ought to be 50 900. and
another stuck out for $500 and we were
getting all tangled up, when one of the
jury suggested that We strike an aver
age
But you couldn't have done that
said l.
That's just what we did said the
foreman. Each man put down what
he thought right, and l added them to-
gether. l know there seems to be
something wrong about that verdict,
but hanged if l can see where it is"
This war is having a bad effect upon
some of the womens nerves. A man
cannot breath. without his wife's being
afraid he is contemplating war.
Jones entered his home, yesterday.
and then there ensued scene that is
similar to many in the run of a day.
in the city.
My dear" said he in solemn tone
Il am sorry, 1 can't tell you how sorry
/ am. But there is no use talking any
more about it. I've got to go
Husband" appealingly
1T grieves me more seriously than
it can possibly grieve you. Cynthia.
But l see no way out of it. | cannot
shirk it any longer. I've simply got to
go"-
But have you considered''-
considered? Have I not tossed
broad awake, for many nights, con-
sidering it in all its phases? Consider
ed. If you could but know the torture
have suffered considering t-but,
never mind. There is no way out of 1t.
1t has come to the point now where
I've got to so"--
But what is to become Of
further to dissuade me. II l put off
any longer wedding that garden, L
plants
And off he went to don an old suit Of
clothes, and taking his hoe, he attacked
the weeds with as much vigor, as his
better half attacked one of the chl-
drcn in venting her anger at having
been given such a scare, all for moth
ing. And the way she attacked the
poor child can only be compared to
Dcwey's attack upon Manila. so there
was really war in the family after all,
even il the father didn't go to war.
An old lady was reading the first let
ter her son had written since his en-
listment in the army. He had evident
ly forgotten that the people of Maine
have newspapers for one section of
his letter read:
Il have been in Two battles, and had
one arm shot off. Was promoted five
times for bravery, and rose from priv
ate to colonel in two weeks time. I
will be a general by the time you get
my next letter.
The father took it all in and then
pronounced this verdict:
"The Lord says all liars shall have
their portion in the lake that burns
with fire and birthstone, but 'cordin' to
the date on that letter. John is still in
Chickamauga."
II was an awful hot day recently, in
an Augusta restaurant, at noon time,
and a man entered who must have
been a man with fixed principals and
peculiar notions of hot weather dieting,
for without hesitation, he ordered