The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-10-05
STORY OF A DOG.
just an Ordinary Canine Which
Is Worth $1,000.
That Is He Has Cost That Much
In Litigation.
FIGHT OVER DOG TAX.
Stubborn lola Teamster Refus-
es to Pay
Case Is Taken to State Su-
preme Court.
FIGHT OVER DOG TAX

There is pending in the supreme court
a case submitted Wednesday which in
wolves a great amount of litigation over
the tax upon single dog in lola. The
case has already resulted in the ex-
penditure of $1,000.
J. W. Sugg, a teamster in lola owns
a. dog which he kept chained up in his
yard The dog tax collector ordered him
to register the dog and pay the tax but
Sugg refused. He was arrested and
fined in the police court and could have
settled the case for IS. But Sugg want
ed satisfaction, although he did not
have sufficient means to push the case
into the higher courts. Some OF the To-
cal admirers of dogs made up a purse
which was sufficient to defray the ex-
pense of getting a decision of the dis
trict court which held Sugg guilty of
violating the city ordinances. Then the
costs had piled up and those who had
been taking an interest in the case did
not care to pay the bills and appealed
to the court of appeals, southern de-
partment. The court of appeals affirmed
the decision of the district court and
then came the appeal to the supreme
court
The case was argued Wednesday af-
ternoOn- The attorneys for the dog
claim that the fact the animal was
chained up exempts him from taxation
and insist that the ordinance refers
only to CANNES permitted to go abroad
in the streets. The city contends that
the dog is property in the meaning of
the word and contends also that as such
he is liable to taxation.
j. f. Thompson, representing the city
grows facetious in the brief which he
submitted to the court. He says:
Il feel that owe this court an apoI-
ogy for being so prOlix; my excuse is
my anxiety to have this logged dog
question settled for all time to come in
this state. Not that I am an enemy of
the dog Far be it from me to do him
an injury or an injustice. He is asso-
eiated with my earliest recoIIections
The first piece Of poetry ever spoke at
school was:
Il like to see little dog =
And pat him on the head,
So prettily he wags his tail
Whenever he is fed"
"And should I ever attempt to write
q romance it would be entitled: The
Pale Pup of the Pinery.' have watch
ed the sad faced bulldog trOt patiently
along a dusty road. under a narrow
tread wagon with q tar bucket swing
ing over him; I have followed the deep
voiced hounds through brier and BRAN
Bile by the fitful light Of a hickory bark
torch on the hot trail of a ring tailed
coon and felt that swelling of the
seen lovely woman caress a water
eyed pug-nOsed poodle and have been
kept awake for hours at dead of night
by some cur baying the moon; yet
would willingly forget all these and
pronounce a benediction on the whole
breed Of dogs, dead and alive, if the law
of this case already so well settled by
the highest court of Kansas should be
respected and obeyed by the owners
and harborers of dogs"
Oscar FOust represented the owner of
the dog in the courts through which
This case has passed. A lawyer who