Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-12-01
Left Leg NOT Guilty.

The ancicn. home Of Manockjee, Pooa-
jeajee & Co. is situated in Borah Bazar
street, Bombay, and it is claimed by the
members of the present firm that their
ancestors have carried on the same busi-
ness, with few notifications to meet
the necessities of the European trade, for
more centuries than the United States
las 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
end other precious stuffs.
One day there strayed into the count
ing house 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
the firm and finally walked demurely
over to the strong box, which stood in
one corner. The animal seemed quite
satisfied with the construction Of the
safe, and when she had again reached
the door side she made q playful leap,
raped the bunch of keys with her vel
yetlike paws, stretched herself CON fort
ably beside the door and began to pur
a little catlike song.
Brothers" exclaimed one Of the party,
''this is surely good omen. Unbidden
this pretty little creature comes into our
place of business; without ceremony size
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 d Co. What say you, my
good brothers?"
Well. said another member of the
house, 81 am quite willing to admit that
we really have no right to turn it away.
Suppose we take the little thing. And in
order that the good or i'll fortune it may
bring be equally divided we will consider
it one of the assets of the firm. Now,
how shall we divide the ownership of the
apimal?'
"Oh, WELL" exclaimed the others, I'VE
will follow the regular precedent of our
people. You, Manockjee. may claim the
fore leg; will take the right and SO on
till the cat is equally divided. IL this
arrangement satisfactory to all?"
There being no objection to this mode
of distribution it was so agreed. The
bookkeeper was called into the counting
house and the ownership of the cat was
duly entered on the books of the firm as
one Of the assets, each quarter of the
animal being designated as the property
of some individual member of the firm.
All went well with the house Of Ma
nockjee, Poonjeajee 6 Co. for a year or
so and pussy became a great favorite
with the whole household. Never for
centuries had the great house been so
prosperous. Yes, there could be no mis-
,1.o hod haa n ho rhi o%
good luck.
Some time during the month of Decem-
ber, 1897, while puss was playing in the
street in front of the store, it's attention
was distracted by some little moving OBJ
ject, and it did not notice a bullock cart
coming from an opposite direction. In a
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 1t was the, duty of ma
nockjee to send for the physician and
foot the bill. The leg was wrapped in
bandages soaked in turpentine Hniment |
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 q lighted lamp The flames |
from the lamp .ignited the turpentine I
with which the bandages were soaked |
and pussy fed in terror through the |
counting room into the warehouse.
Before help could be summoned the |
great warehouse, with its valuable con-
tents, was in flames and three hours aft |
er only the big iron safe marked the spot |
where once stood the old, old house of
Manockjee, Poonjeajee &c Co.
The partners took their loss with all
the stoical forbearance of the confirmed |
fatalist. All things was ordained in the
beginning. This was merely decree of |
fate.
But now comes the important question |
of settling for loss. Who was at fault? !
A business meeting of the firm was held, |
and it was soon decided by the other |
three partners that the whole damage |
was caused by the burning bandages. |
That left fore leg was the individual and |
separate property Of Manockjee, which |
made decision an easy matter. OF course |
Manockjee was responsible for the de-
struction Of the warehouse.
Although Manockjee did not dispute |
this assertion outright, still he asked for
time to reflect before assuming the entire |
responsibility. At last he asked his part
ners if they would object to a 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 remarkable decision:
"a cat being owned in seyeralty by
four men. each being proprietor of des-
ignated section of the animal, overturned
q lamp and set fire to bandage on the
left fore leg. The cat in fright ran into
the warehouse and communicated the
IRE to the goods stored therein.
Held 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 own
ers, proprietors of the three other legs,
were guilty of contributory negligence in
that it was by the assistance OF the legs
owned by them that the cat was enabled
to run into the warehouse and spread
the flames. Judgment for defendant
Cincinnati Enquirer.
! aood Stretegfst.
eJohn," said Mrs. Thursby, "you
$1,,& /