The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1904-12-02
"ONE BROWN MARE MULE"
A Thrilling Account of the Lightning
Like Transfer of Her
Possession.

Columbia. December lin the
opinion just handed down here in the
case of "the state. ex rel. J. K. Kir-
ven, plaintiff respondent, against R.
J. Scarborough, respondent, appel
lant," there is a thrilling account of
the lighting-like transfer of possess
sion of zone brown mare mule OF the
value of SI5o." This mule should
have a name to assist her in carrying
the great amount of legal trouble
she has been tn ough the past twelve
months in the shape of magistrates
orders, mandamus proceedings, con-
tempt orders, warrants for larceny,
supreme court appeals and the like
that is, if she is still in existence,
for according to the record there is
a strong inti1nation that she has pass
ed out of her turbulent career in the
form of thin air. Kirven is the man
from whom Scarborough, magi-s
trate's constable, seized the mule un-
der an order from Magistrate John
Floyd of Darlington on an affidavit
from F. T. Odom charging Kiven with
larceny. The case was transferred to
another magistrate, who decided that
there were no facts on which to base
a charge of theft against Kirven and
ordered the constable to return the
mule to him. But in the meantime
Scarborough had turned the mule
over to Odom, who passed it on to
w. B. Brunson, "the man from whom
he had purchased it, Brunson had
turned it over to n. T. Harrell, a
partner of John K. Kirven in the
firm of Harrell & Kirven, who told
the constable when he came for it
that it had been disposed Of. The
curious upshot of the whole business
is that Kirven is out of a mule, which
the courts decide was wrongfully
seized from him and Odom was given
a mule which evidently did not be-
long to him. The constable had to
resort to technicality to escape Il
term in Jail for contempt of court,
the contempt proceedings against him
being dismissed by the supreme court
because Judge Watts who ordered
him to spend sixty days in jail for
falling to restore the mule, which il
was a physical impossibility to do,
signed the contempt order outside
of the county in which the case arose,
and because "a Judge at chambers has
no jurisdiction to pass judgment or
sentence for criminal contempt, ex-
cept such as may be committed in the
immediate presence of the court"
The story of the constable's cur
ious, and at times apparently seriols,
troubles with the mule, is best told
in the language of the opinion:
upon failure or refusal Of Scar-
borough to obey the order of Magls-
trate Sanders, Judge Watts at cham
bers issued an alternative writ OF
.mandamus commanding Scarborough
TO deliver the mule as required by or
der of Magistrate Sanders, or show
cause at Cheraw why he did not obey
said order. In his return Scarbor-
ough claimed that it was matter OF
physical impossibility for him to COM
ply, inasmuch as the mule having
been turned over to the prosecutor
Odom under the order of the original
MAGISTRATE it was no longer in the
constable's control. Judge Watts
held the return insufficient and on the
18th of January issued peremptory
writ of mandamus commanding Scar
borough to forthwith deliver the
property to Kirven. From this or
der Scarborough appealed on the
ground that Judge Watts had no au-
thority to hear the matter outside the
county in which the respondent lived.
~ To,ra-,, I,1Spe Watts