The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1954-06-03
When Justice Went
Rlind

Almost as biz5ire as the old yarn
about the justice of the peace whose
only law book was a mail order
catalog which he opened at random
and fined the defendant whatever
amount first catching his eye among
the pricesf quoted there are the
records of fsome of the cases tried in
the Territb brial courts before Ohio be-
came sthte.
Back ip summer, 1892, Samuel
Blackburn had the itch and DR.. Will
liam Goforth sued him in the Hamil-
ton County court for Is pounds for
having cured it. Blackburn was jail
ed to await trial, which finally re-
suited in a verdict of four dollars for
the doctor.
The physician appealed, claiming
that his services were worth more
than four|dollars and a new trial was
granted. I Goforth secured depositions
from Mkysville and Lexington, Ken
lucky doctors as to the value of his
services, the defendant remaining in
Jail an the while.
When the new trial came up Black
burf appeared without lawyer but
when asked to plead offered his own
ha1fis in evidence, asking the Judge
and jury to examine them-he still
had the itch. Nobody wanted to touch
Blckburn's itchy hands and the jury
rendered a verdict for the defendant,
assessing the doctor SIG and costs to
reimburse Blackburn for the time He
had speht ih Jail and jailhg the
Physiciap hihself for time equal ITO
that Blackbqrn had spent. ii thefjug.
\ In another case David Voorhees,.
tried to replevin a dark brown Indian
pony from Oliver NJ. Spencer and
several naians were called as wit
nesses. Two of them, Blue Jacket
and Crooked Horn, both chiefs. dis
agreed as to the identity of the pony.
The juryIalso disagreed and the Judge
settled the case by having the litig-
ants draw straws. Spencer got the
short one and was allowed to keep
the porty.
In 1892 Benjamin Finn had Will
liam Shaw arrested for assault and
battery and the case was postponed.
Then Flinn gave Shaw a terrible
beating and the case was decided as
Settled out of court"
Mary Sampson was a servant for
the family of Peter Clark but quit
her job 10 get married, still oweing
Clark three dollars borrowed money
Clark sued'her for the debt and Mary
was sent to Jail "there to remain
until her husband could make enough
money to pay off her prenuptial debt.
On July 30, 1892, James McKear
sued Samuel Dick for being assault
ed with staves, swords, guns, pistols
fists and greatly endangering his
life" What actually had happened
was that Dick bad slapped McKane
who had been the one to start the
fight.
Dick was the Esmaller man and ran
a grocery and Iestaurant; so the jury
fined him fourE barrels of flour and
ordered him to lrefrain from fighting
McKane for twp weeks. What hap
pened after THAI was not recorded.
Jacob Fowler lsued General James
Wilkinson, commander at Ft. Wash
ington after St. Glair's defeat, for his
pay as a scout. The general had re-
fused to pay the man on the ground
that his only occupation had been
loafing around the Indian camp with
his squaw wife, both continually
drunk. The jury ordered the general
to Jail until the money due Fowler
had been paid.
Casper Thomas had his wife, Mary,
arrested as a common scold and on
May 2, 1876, she vas convicted on his