The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-11-22

From the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
 It is decidedly singular, and withal, true, that many men, level headed about other things. seem to lose their wits en- tirely when they get tangled up in law suit. In a case recently concluded in the German courts a Berlin business man paid out over $9O0 to recover the value of a 5-cent postage stamp, and now ev- erybody is laughing at him because he didn't get the stamp back. He had writ ten letter asking for an address and inclosing postage for reply. Failing to get an answer, he sued for the stamp.
 The famous Missouri watermelon case was just as trifing and even more dis astrous. The seed was planted on one farm, but the vine crept through a crack in the rail fence and the melon grew on the other side. Both farmers claimed 1t, and instead of seeing the joke went to law To add to the puzzle of ownership an additional complication, the fence was on a county line, and a question of the jurisdiction of courts was involved. The farmers bankrupted themselves without deciding the question of ownership. The melon, worth about 10 cents in the hrst place, had disappeared long before.
 But 1t is not entirely of sending dollars after cents with reference to law that this article is to deal but little stories of law and lawyers stories, as seen and gleaned, strange odds and ends, epito- mized adapted, elaborated, etc. How ever, speaking of sending dollars after cents-lawsuits over tri1es-how the costs ran up in trivial actions was shown re- gently in Canadian case
 By one of those queer marriage settle ments sometimes made in England, young man agreed to pay his wife's moth CT $10O on the first day of each year. He settled in Canada, and when he came to make the remittance he deducted the amount of the postage and sent her only $99.S4 The mother-in-law insisted that she must have the other 16 cents, and after they had quarreled by mail about it for a month or two she had her at torneys bring suit against him in the On tario courts. She made him pay, too, and stuck him for the cost of the action, though she was obliged to fee her own lawyers. The total expense of this 16- cent lawsuit were, said to be exactly $612. most of which fell upon the economical son-in-law.
 Probably the most expensive lawsuit in the world--not mentioning the $29 900 900 fine assessed by Judge Landis against John D. Rockefeller-is said to have been that over the will of Antonio Traverse.
 
 fortune of $3,000,000 and there were large number of heirs with conflicting interests. The case was in the different courts of Italy for years, and the 105 law years engaged in it ran up costs aggre- gatng more than $2,000000. The estate lost in value, too, during the contest, so that the winning heirs found themselves with a small sum to their share when the final decision was rendered,
 
 The compiler of these stories notes a lawsuit begun AIS years ago, in 14S0, has just been amicably settled. The suit be- gan when some millionaires raised the height of a dam in Freimar a suburb of Gotha, without authorization. The mu- nicipality has fought the case ever since The cost has been enormous.
 story said to be characteristic is told of a certain judge. It seems that when he convened court at one of the towns on his circuit it was found that no pens, ink or paper had been provided, and upon ia- auiry It developed that no county funds were available for this purpose The judge expressed himself somewhat forci- bly, then drew some money from his own pocket He was about to hand this to the clerk when d visiting lawyer, a high priced, imported article, brought on to defend a case of some importance, spoke up in an aside plainly audible over the room.
 Well" he remarked. with infinite con-