The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1908-11-05
STORY OF A STEER.
Animal Worth About Thirty Dollars
Cost Owner a Fortune.


Died, July l, at his home near La
gonda, Mo-, one red steer, II years
old, II hands high, worth $4,000;
the property of Elijah E. Rice. Peace
to it's hide.
The above obituary appeared in =
Charlton county paper recently. De-
tails of the animals death were OBJ
tanned from Jim Rice, Elijah's son.
He thinks it was a case of broken
heart. There was talk of the steer
being exhibited at county fairs this
season as Missouri's most famous
quadruped. When the old animal
learned the idea had been abandoned
it laid down and expired.
At the December call, 1904, OF the
Kansas City Court of Appeals DOCKET,
the biggest case over a small matter
ever tried in Missouri passed into his
tory.
The subject of litigation was a
steer, "a very or
dinary animal, a scrub" the plain
tiff said, "worth about $50" The
life of the steer fight and the great
Civil War were about the same-hVe
years.
If there is a Missourian who has
not heard of the celebrated steer
case it is because his parents were
shamefully derelict in their educa-
tional obligations to him. 1t has oe-
come part. of the states fame.
In September, 1899, John Massen-
gale of Macon county, (knoWn as
missouri John" when herdtng cattle
back in Wyeming), missed from his
ranch a small steer. 1t didn't bother
him much, because he had a thous-
and of much better quality left, and
he never lost any time in hunting up
the prodigal. But one evil day q
horsema1 came along the road and
called Missouri John" out. He told
him that he had seen his missing ami
NAL down on Rice's farm, which was
Just across the line in Charlton coun-
ty. John went over to see Farmer
Rice. Together they visited the herd,
and Massengale promptly sp1ed the
scrub. ....--
: .sThat's mine, Elijah," he said.
s.No, john" replied Elijah, 1--WE
raised that ourselves"
Massengale telephoned to his law
yer at Macon and suit in repleyin
was filed. Before the justice the
plaintiff described his animal as
clark red steer, a round body, rather
a small dark two-year-old, little
under average size, and with white
SPOT in his forehead and an underblt
in the right ear
Elijah gave the description of his
steer as follows: "Well, the steer is
what I would call red steer. He
has just a little white spot on his
forehead and an underbit in the right
ear"
: The similtude Of belief furnished
beautiful grounds Of warfare. Both
men had money burning in their
pockets. The border soon was arous-
ed by adherents of the two prominent
litigants. missouri John" had been
In his career by rounding up cattle
in the west, and he knew he could
not be mistaken. Elijah had grown
up in the valleys where a mans So
ciaI success was rated according to
his knowledge of steercraft, and he
felt that he knew the subject OF con-
troversy as well as did any member
Of his family. In passing, 1t may be
remarked that it is fairly safe to crit
icise a cattleman's command OF the
Kings English language, or his man
ners at the dinner table, but when
YOU challenge his capacity to identity
anything that wears horns you can
look for trouble with entire conf
dence. E
There were seven trials. Hung
juries, appeals and changes of venue
strung the litigation out half de-
cade. 1t travelled along a highway
paved with shining dollars, until at
the climax it was figured the unsuc-
cessful litigant stood to lose $4,000.
The case would have ended in
1900, but at the very end Of the
trial, during a strong appeal to the
jury, Elijah's leading lawyer, j. A.
Collect, used this language, taken
from the printed record:
'Massengale obtained his start by
rounding up unbranded cattle in the
West duu Va dAO1AS IASAA o9 hA9 " " ]A'
In the west they call that branding
mavericks but here in Missouri we
call it plain-out cattle stealing"
That short TRADE cost Elijah $500,
for the plaintiff appealed on the
ground that there was no evidence
in the record to justify the attack,
and after the Appellate Court had
read through the 275 printed pages
it so held that Elijah had to pay for
the brief.
During the life of the steer case
it had ben tried at Bynumville, SAL
isbury, Kansas City and Fayette.
When the trial was ION" in town
the tavern keepers would send out
for extra help in the cook rooms
and buy out the grocers. Each side
levied on it's respective townships for
witnesses, and when the two clans
would meet in town there wasn't
much room for anybody else.
The case was fought out with the
varying honors until fatal day last
April, when a jury came into court
- T,uo+fo opd cold tho ctaar ho-