The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1917-01-18

ana wise inspired or otherwise gifted
with infallibility. In Corpus Christi
st. & Interurban Ry. Co. vs.. Kjellberg,
1S5 Southwestern Reporter, 430, the
learned court held it reversible erro!.
for judge to send his jury dictian-
airy.
The opinion was by Fly, c. J., and
reads in part as follows: After the
definition of the word produced had
been given as the proXimate cause
Of it seems that the jury knew no
more what 'proXimate' meant than
what produced meant, so the officer
ir charge was sent to the court to
obtain Webster's Dictionary, and
the court ordered the dictionary to
be furnished the jury, and il was
furnished, and they used it in the
privacy of the jury room. What the
jury obtained from that stupendous
work, filled with inconceiVable words
and maXims and aphorisms, no one
knows. No book should be consulted
by a jury in arriving at verdict, and
especially one that defines and treats
on everything expressed by the Eng
lish language. No maker of diction.
aries should ever be allowed to define
legal terms to jury, unless such
definitions go through the medium o.
the trial judge, the only one author
lied by law to give definitions and
explanations to a jury"
- - -
The Supreme Court of Missouri in
State VS.. Wade. 1873 Southwestern
Reporter, sos, refuses to take judicial
notice of what constitutes a crap
table, or how the game of craps is
played saying: I'VE have abundant
authority that we do not so judicially
know, and this soft impeachment we
also do other and purely personal
grounds deny" Defendant was found
operating an underground parlor furn-
ished with pool tables so chalked off,
as the evidence, showed, as to allow
them to be used for playing crap
games. The information charged the
running of tables, contrary to the stat
ute prohibiting any kind of gambling
device. From a conviction the de-
PENDANT appealed on grounds of in
sufficiency of the information. In re-
viewing the case the court finds that
the law is sufficiently flexible to in
clude crap tables" amongst the pro-
hibited gambling devices although not
specifically mentioned; but that, as
the information charged the running
of crap tables while the evidence
seemed to show the maintenance OF
tables of a design which might, no
doubt, be used for crap games, but
nevertheless were not crap tables,
there was such a variance between the
proof and the information that the
conviction was not warranted
- =. -
The case of Independent Linen Sup
ply & Steam Laundry Co VS.. Zakrow-
SKY, 15S New York Supplement, 72l,
/ furnishes ample proof that not all
steam launderers have a marked pro.
pensity for destructiveness of linens
Possibly the fact that the laundry
company was the owner of the nap
kins was conducive to gentle treat
ment 1t appears that the linen in
question endured the trials and trib-
lulations of LaundrydOm for seven
long tortuous months, and might have
continued doing business" for anoth-
er month las the Supreme Court, Ap-
pellate Term. First Department init
mates.) Plaintiff furnished defend
ants napkins and towels for use in
their restaurant business 1t was al
legged in the trial court that defend
ant failed to return 1853 napkins and
25O towels, and the full amount claim
ed. $199.77, was allowed in the court
below. This sum represented the orr
ginal cost of the linens.