Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-10-20
CAFE LAW IS AT STAKE.
Customers, PrindiViIIe Rules, May Eat
Meat In Restaurant or Carry
IL Home,
Chicago Tribune.

While Justice John K. Prindiville yes
terday lodged the issue of the facts as to
whether a steak served to DR.. Z. z. Zip
perman and Miss Florence Nelson in the
Lakota restaurant on September 5. and
for which they were charged 80 cents, was
good or bad, sirloin or tenderloin, well
cooked or badly, he promulgated some
law, the salient points of which were:
Because the waiter took away the steak
20 which the dentist objected and did not
return il, the customer was not required
to pay for it, and therefore was entitled
to a return of the 80 cents which he had
paid.
When a customer pays for food at a
hotel or restaurant he may eat it at the
table or carry it home with him, all no
tees on the walls forbidding the carrying
away of uneaten food to the contrary not
withstanding.
Attorney Arson c. Meanor and Manager
Charles A. Nettleson, Of the restaurant, do
not consider the courts decision good
law and served notice that they win APP
peal the case, although 1t will cost So to
do so. while the judgment and costs
amount to less than one-third of that
amount.
Manager Nettleton pleaded that he had
good reasons for not returning Zipperman
the steak after the latter had demanded
il. Cook Martin j. Reynolds had eaten 1t.
The evidence regarding the quality of
the steak was so conflicting that the court
automatically eliminated that phase of
the issue.
IT don't know whether the meat was
tainted or not" he declared in his decis-
ion. THE plaintiff thought il was and
the waiter took it away. When, after
paying his bill and Directing to that, the
plaintiff demanded the steak he was en-
titled to it. or ne should get his money
back. He can't be charged for the steak
that the chef ate. Judgment for claim.
The hearing was amusing. DR.. Upper
man and Hiss Nelson both testified.
1.-The steak was not fit to feed to dogs,
declared the former "If we had eaten it
we should both be dead. l took one bite
and 1 swanowed only ---e juice. l have
been sick ever since. 1 could not attend
to business. Ny time is worth S. an
hour. I sent the steak back. l tipped the
waitress 10 cents. She said she would fix
it all right. l paid the cashier and she
took out of the money the so cents for the
steak 1 asked for the steak or the mon
ey, and they refused me-"
what did you want the steak for, since
YOU couldn't eat it?" asked Attorney
Meanor for the restaurant.
Il would have had it analysed" said
DIR. Zipperman.
1.-THE rules of the restaurant prevented
you taking it away" said the attorney.
didn't" interrupted the court. when a
man pays for food in restaurant or any
where else he can eat it there or take 1t
home The man ought either to have been
given the steak or his money"
Miss Nelson was equally positive about
the condition of the steak, but when the
attorney for the restaurant asked her
name she protested. When she told OF
taking promo to counteract the effect OF
Il m ha " laugh
ed was riddled with a look from her snap
ping blue eyes. But she had to admit
that she didn't know what kind of
steak it was.
Then the defense of the steak was be-
gun. Cook Reynolds was first called, and
after telling his side of the story, was
asked by Attorney John Mills for the den
fist:
do you know a good steak?"
"Do 1 know steak?" replied the wit
ness. 81 cooked steak in the white house
for President Grant. 1 cooked steak foI
General Sheridan and his family. have
cooked steak in the best hotels in Wash
ington, ST. Louis and Chicago. You bet
know steak"
.'What became of the steak, which the
waiter brought you and which the plant
iff had refused?"
well, there wasn't much left. They had
eaten the heart out of it; 1 ate the rest
except the fat"
The cook insisted that he had cut 9
sirloin steak about the middle of the loir
and on the tenderloin side o. the =
bone. This precipitated dispute as To
whether the steak was tenderloin or sir
loin.
This was growing both technical and
animated when Justice Prindiville put an
end to it by his ruling.