Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 14.pdf/440

 Rh A New Hampshire judge has in his posses sion the following letter sent to him by an old farmer who had been notified that he had been drawn as a juror for a certain term of court : Deer Jedge : I got your letter tellin' me to come to manchesster an' do dooty on the joory an' i rite you these fue lines to let you know that you'll have to git some one else for it ain't so that I kin leave home now. I got to do some butcherin' an' sort over a lot of apples just about the time the joory will be settin' in your court. Si Jackman of this town says that he would soon as not go, fer he ain't nothin' else to do jest now, so you better send fer him. I hate the worst way not to oblidge you, but it ain't so I kin at present. Ennyhow I ain't much on the law, never havin' been a jooryman 'ceptin' when old Bud Stiles got killed by the cars here some years ago when I was one that sat on the boddy with koroner. So you better send for Si Jackman, for he has got some kin in manchess ter he wants to vissit anyhow, an' he'd be willin' to go fer his car fare there and back. Ancer back if you want Si. — Lippincotfs. When Rufus Choate was practising in Peabody, Massachusetts, he received a letter from the Register of Deeds of Middlesex County, the contents of which was known to several wags of the place. In accordance with a request made in the letter, Mr. Choate, taking a carriage, drove to East Cambridge. Upon his return he was saluted by his friends, who asked him where he had been. Seeing that the facts were known he replied : " Oh, they've got a Register of Deeds up at East Cambridge who can't read writing.'' "Dreams are strange things," said a promi nent Cedar Rapids attorney a few days ago, "and though I am not in the least inclined to give any credit to the dream book as an au thority for forthcoming events, I was recently startled by the miraculous result of a^ lawsuit in accordance with a dream of my client. '.You may call it mental telepathy, spirit ualism or any title you wish to affix to the in cident, but the truth is this : I was trying a par tition case for a farmer who lives south of this city a short time ago in which my client was the defendant. The suit had been hard fought be fore a jury at Marion and the arguments had been heated and in no manner brief. The jury

399

retired late in the afternoon with the instructions of the Court to bring in a sealed verdict. "Early the following morning my client came to my office with his countenance wreathed in smiles. The night before he had left me with a worried, uncertain look upon his face and had apprehensions that he was to be a loser by a large amount. I was indeed surprised, almost startled to see the great alteration. The corners of his mouth were bent upward and his eyes sparkled. I saw my fees coming a hundred per cent, easier and couldn't hide the smile when I asked, 'Well, John, why so happy this morning?' "'I,' he said, pushing the door of my consul tation room shut, ' had a dream last night. Of course I do not believe in dreams, but it tickled me any way.' "'Well,' I remarked. 'I am not given much to dreams myself, but out with it. Let us hear the midnight illusion.' '"I dreamed,' said the client, 'that the jury returned a verdict in my favor.' '"Well, that was encouraging,' I remarked. '"But better still,' he continued, ' not only was the verdict in my favor but they granted me a judgment for $10.' "'Impossible,' I explained, 'the twelve men have no right to grant you a judgment for a penny. If they did it could be set aside, and it is not probable that twelve jurymen would do anything of that kind which has no precedent in the Linn County courts.' "We were still talking when the telephone rang. I answered it and recognized the voice of the county clerk. I almost staggered from the phone when I heard the result of the ver dict which had been opened and read in court. A verdict for the defendant for $10. The farmer's dream had come true. The?1o part of the verdict we had to waive as we could not legally be given such an amount, and the case was won, much to the delight.of my client who went home with a firm belief in the prophetic power of a dream. " — Cedar Rapids Republican. A man, when tried for stealing a pair of boots, said that he had merely taken the boots in joke. It was found that he was captured with them forty yards from the place he had taken them from. The judge said that he had carried the joke too far.