Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1899-12-29
d C,uiI ..

The ancient home OF Manockj ee,. Poon-
ieajee & Co. Is situated in Borah Bazar
street. Bombay, aud It is claimed by the
members sof4 the present firm that their
ancestors have carried~o the same busi-
ness, with a few modi fcatiOns to meet
the necessities OF the European trade, Tor
more centuries than the United States
has been known to the map Of the world.
The firm is made up Of four partnerS
and their counting room and one Of their
warehouses are in this building. This
particular storeroom contains only silks
and other precious stuffs.
One. day there strayed into the count
ing house a pretty white kitten Little
attention was paid to pussy until she had
made the round of the room, rubbed her
fur, against the leg of each member Of 3
the firm and finally walked demurely {:
over to the strong box; which stood in 7
one corner. The animal seemed quite
satisfied with the construction of the
safe, and when she had again reached
the door side she made playful leap,
raped the bunch Of keys with her vel.
vetlike paws, stretched hersslf comfort
ably beside the door and began to pur
| little catlike song. -
Brothers" exclaimed one of the party,
''this is surely a: good omen, Unbidden
this pretty littlt, creature comes into our
place of business; without ceremony she
introduces herself to each member of the
/ firm. Next she examines our property to
! see if we are solvent and in good stand
| ing with the world Of trade. Let us
adopt the little stranger and give it
home in the great house of Manockjee,
Poonjeajee & Co. What say, you. my
good brothers:'
"Well,'' said another member OF the
house, Il am quite willing to admit that
| we really have 10 right to turn it away.
| Suppose we take the little thing. And in
order that the good or ill fortune it may
bring be equally divided we win consider
| it one Of the assets Of the firm Now,
| how shall we divide the ownership Of the
| animaly'
"Oh, well," exclaimed the Others, two
will follow the regular precedent of our
people. You, Manockjee. may claim the
fore leg; will take the right and 80 on
! till the cat is equally divided Ii this
arrangement satisfactory to all?'
| There being no objection to this mode
redistribution it was so agreed. The
bookkeeper was called into the counting
house and the ownership Of the cat was
duly entered on the books VT the firm as
one IF the assets, each quarter of the
animal being designated as the property
OF some individual member of the firm.
| All went we'll with the house Of Ma
| nockjee, Poonjeajee & Co. for a year or
| so and pussy became great favorite
with the whole household. Never for
centuries had the great house been SO
! prosperous. Yes. there could be no mis-
take. the kitten had been harbinger, Of
! good luck.
Some time during the month OF Deem
! Der, 1897, while puss was playing in the
street in front uf the store, it's attention
was distracted by some little moving OBJ
! ject and it did not notice bullock cart
coming from an opposite direction. In
moment poor kit was under the heavy
wheels. and before it could extricated it.
! self one white paw was crushed and
| broken.
The left fore leg of the cat belonged to
Manockjee, so it was the, duty Of ma
nockjee to send for the physician and
| foot the bill. The leg was wrapped in
ba,iaages soaked In. ttrpentine iiniment
and regularly each day, the doctor made
his professional call at the great house TO-
hasten the recovery of the mascot. " ;.
In the early part of January, 1898, the:
! cat was walking about over the tables
and desks of the counting room when she
overturned a lighted lamp. The flames
from the. lamp iSnited the turpentine
with which the bandages were soaked
and pussy ticd in terror through the
counting room into the warehouse,
Before help could be summoned the
great warehouse, with it's valuable con-
| tents, was III flames and three hours aft
| err only the big iron safe marked the spot
I W ola ~
t,hanockjee. lconjeaiee 4 Co..
The partners took their loss with all
the stoicaf f.: bearance OF tho confirmed
fatalist., Al. :L:uss was ordained in the.
beginning. This YVES merely s, decree OF
j; But now comes the ilnppr: ant QUESTION
Of settling foi. loss. Who was at fault?
! A business ,n-.ctii,.. II the t:,.:. was held.
| aud it was s,on t:e<,i,l::l i; rte o:ler
three Partners tia, tie wi. .s.' damage
! was CAUSED by tho h:irn::::; tsaHdayes.
That left fo:: leg WAS th.'~i:,<:t:it:,aI and
:. jserar:::t: l's.:;~r;y ~ NJ, :.'ckje.:. which
made decision ansetsy u.::t:er. or course
| Manock5ce VIZ "''*:';.:,:is.!r for the de-
'strhr,;un VI yi,e. " u.t l,::sr. =
; Although M*noei:;:tc ti. net dispute
! this ASSERTION ui!1ri:-i.'. still !s asked for:
| time to reht>t i'eto.r ASSURING the entire
i responsibility. At last NJ asked Ills part
| ners il they would object to- Il friendly
suit in the courts to decide for: a certain
! ty just where the blame should be lodged.
the case was presented fairly and
without prejudice, Manockjee. had re-
! tanned one of the brightest pleaders be-
fore the Indian~bar. and through his
| shrewd efforts the judge handed down
| the following remarkabl bic decision:
I hn$,> IN, h.
four men, each being proprietor Of der
| ignated section Of the animal, overturned
] lamp and set fire to a bandase on the
! left fore leg. The cat in fright ran into
/ the: warehouse aud communicated the:
fire to the goods stored therein. IS
'tHeld that the owner OF the section OF
! the cat which included the bandaged leg
is not responsible for the damage CAUSED.
BY the FIRE, because the three other 0wn-
ers, proprietors Of the three other les
were guilty Of contributoFy: negligence m
4 :