Omaha daily bee., 1901-01-13
QUEER INJUNCTION CASES
Symposium OF cdd Chapters from Record,
Of the Courts.
RESTRAINING ORDERS COME HANDY
Injunction Proceeding ss q Remedy
for the Numerous Troubles of
Mnnkind-Bunch of In
teresting samples.


The writ OF Injunction Is coming to be
,he legal panacea for all human woes OF
social nature. IL the statemen: seems to
carry ring Of hyperbole, recall all the
queer things which you remember reading
In the newspapers about what people Rave
done with the aid Of tic restraining or1Sr
and the frequency with which they have
recourse 10 the expedont and IT viii he
seen that the words contain good deal OF
truth.
If the cases that come up in court we're
to be classified and ea,n looked at one Mt
a time from the viewpoint Of the amuse-
ment seeker It would De found that injunc-
ton suits furnish tho most interest, bo-
cause the circumstances o; proceeding
OF this kind are invariably lively and often
are ludicrous to an oxtrems. There was
an instance OF the kind not verv long ago
in this city which went tho rounds OF the
press all over the country because OF It's
unique situation.
There we're two families living together
In a store building on Sherman avenue.
One occupied the store and rear rooms on
the lower floor and owned the structu g.
To the other family was rented the entire
upper story. with privileges OF water and
gas included. Tho rental was SIS a month
and. this being n low price. there was an
agreement that the family on 'he upper
floor should expend considerable sum in
the way of Improvements. The terms CT
the verbal contract were carried out and
all went well for several months, when a
rupture came. The owner OF the building
wanted to raise the rent and the tenant
Il, 49, A,.
gained. He was given the alternative of
paying $40 or moving and he refused to do
either
water IL Turned on.
In this extremity the store owner tried
the expedient OF turning OFF the water from
the upstairs rooms. The tenant FASTENED
20 the court TO secure an injunction re-
straining him from shutting off the water
supply. II was this order OF the court
that gave rise to the story In the middle
Of the night the store owner was awakened
from peaceful slumber by an unusual oc
currence. lie dreamed that he was among
the Inhabitants of the earth during a second
flood and that the second Noah had ex-
cluded him and his family from the ark.
In vain they tried to escape the water
by climbing to the housetop; the inunda-
tion followed and Just as the waves swept
the man and his little ones into the depths
he awoke.
The bed clothes were wringing wet and
the ceiling seemed to be pouring down
water. The man clambored out of bed.
Instead OF treadng on a dry carpet when
he crossed the room he walked in pools OF
icy cold water. Then, as he lighted a
match at the gas jet, the rays disclosed
q scene OF DISSOLUTION and ruin. One of
ha tpr 1aalipev bo,
20 the upstairs apartments had burst for
some unaccountable reason and the va
grant streams that issued from the rents in
the pipe washed down huge patches of
plaster, soaked the curtains and carpet and
saturated every article OF furniture in a
radius of ten feet.
The mans first impulse was to rush
down cellar and shut off the water. He
started. matches in hand. but when he
reached the bottom of the stairs IL oc-
CURED to him that violation of the
courts order under any circumstances
whatever would bring him into contempt
and what the penalty would be for such
an offense he could not guess. He had
vague idea that the consequences OF run
ming counter to the dictums of the law
would be vastly worse than the destruction
wrought by the water. 80 he decided to
'"Nt ho o'VP w oNoppiub lut uulil
morning, when leave of the court could
be obtained. II was . o'clock when the
Judge appeared at the court house next
day and stay TO the injunction was
granted. This mans respect for a re-
straining order is without a parallel as
far as the court records are concerned.
There are many queer incidents in con"
nection with injunction suits. but probably
none is more unusual than the manner a
well known attorney of this city was COM
PEELED to take because OF an injunction
in divorce suit to find means OF ingress
and egress at his own home. The attor-
ney's wife secured an order preventing
him from entering his dwelling between
the hours of o'clock In the morning and
8 o'clock at night, or from molesting men,
bers Of the family in any way. He was
allowed the privileges OF his room at night.
and that was all. The wife knew enough
about law to feel sure that II she locked
the doors the husband could not get to
his room without disobeyng ;hc order in
regard to molesting her. so to discommode
him as L!nch as possible the doors were
locked The attorney, being too shrewd
TO cross the Will of tho court in botherlng
his wife to open the doors, secured n
ladder, and all the time pending a hearing
on the divorce application, he went to and
from his room by means OF a ladder.
Iniunctions as to Money.
Cases where men have been enjoined from
removing money at their credit In the bank
pending actions at law, where railroads
have been restrained from tearing up or
laying tracks and where husbands have
been prevented from beating their wives
during the interval before the hearing In
divorce suits are commonplace, but there
are numerous others which have the smack
of novelty constantly recurring. II was
not great while ago that two farmers one
Seventh Day Adventist, who lived side by
side few miles from the city. fell out
over some trifing matter and the one who