Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 18.pdf/619

 THE GREEN BAG hibit A, p. 833. The twenty-fourth verse of the covenant is as follows: "I covenant unto Thee, Jehovih, that, since all things are thine, I will not own nor possess exclusively unto myself anything under the sun, which may be intrusted to me, which any other person or persons may covet or desire or stand in need of." Under the terms of this covenant, he cannot maintain his suit, for the defendants insist, and the proof is clear, that they "covet or desire or stand in need of" the $10,000 for which the plaintiff sues. This is a complete answer to so much of plaintiff's cause of action as is laid in assumpsit, just as his participation in the church exercises, music, etc., was an estoppel to his right to set up "anguish of mind" and ruined reputation and other matters founded in tort. It is insisted, however, that the appellee has a right to recover for a deceit practiced upon him; that he was misled by the Oahspe and other writings of the society. On the contrary, the defendants maintain that the appellee is a man who can read, and who has ordinary intelligence, and this the appellee admits. This admission precludes any inquiry as to whether appellee's connection with the Faithists, their inner and outer circles, their music and other mystic ceremonies, their general warehouse and cooperative store, and other communistic theories and practices, gave evidence of such imbecility as would entitle him to maintain this suit. Admitting, there fore, that the appellee was a man of ordinary intelligence, we find nothing in the exhibits which in our opinion was calculated to mislead him. True, the Oahspe, like other inspired writings, such as the Koran, Bunyan's Pil grim's Progress, and other works of like charac ter, deals largely in figures and tropes and allegories. But, read in the light of modern sciences, they are beautiful in their very sim plicity. We would be glad to embody the whole of plaintiff's Exhibit A, but must con fine ourself to such citations as will, in our opin ion, be sufficient to sustain this view. A care ful examination of appellee's Exhibit A, the New Bible of Oahspe, leads us to the inevit able conclusion that its splendid exhibitions of word painting were not confined to the Mesilla valley, although it is in proof, and, in deed, is not denied, that a much larger volume

might be written, and yet not exhaust the subject of that valley's many attractions. But while there are many descriptive features in the record that unquestionably apply to the section in controversy, there are others that bear on their face a very different application. As a specimen of the former, we cite the follow ing, found on page 370 of the Exhibit A: " Xext south lay the kingdom of Himalawowoaganapapa, rich in legends of the people who lived here before the flood; a kingdom of seventy cities and six great canals, coursing east and west and north and south, from the Ghiee mountain in the east, to the west mountain, the Yublahahcolaesavaganawakka, the place of the king of bears, the EEughehabakax (grizzly). And to the south, to the middle kingdom, on the deserts of Geobiathhaganeganewohwoh, where the rivers empty not into the sea, but sink into the sand, the Sonogallakaxkax, creating prickly Thuazhoogallakhoomma, shaped like a pear. " As an illustration of that portion of the exhibit which, in our opinion, was not de signed as a description of the Land of Shalam. we cite the following, found on the same page of the exhibit: " In the high north lay the king dom of Olegalla, the land of giants, the place of yellow rocks and high spouting waters. Olegalla it was who gave away his kingdom, the great city of Powafuchswowitchahavagganeabba, with the four and twenty tributary cities spread along the valley of Anemoosagoochakakfuela. Gave his kingdom to his queen, Minneganewashaka, with the yellow hair, long hanging down." This unquestionably refers to Chicago. The author, after giving a gen eral description of many lands and cities, leads his "deciples" to some high point, most prob ably Sierra Blanca (from whose snow-covered summit the summer breezes fall like a gentle cascade over the valley of the Pecos), and spreads out before them a vast system of irri gation. The following is taken from the rec ord, and will be found commencing on page 369 of appellee's Exhibit A: "Beside the canals mentioned, there were seven other great canals, named after the kings who built them, and they extended across the plains in many directions, but chiefly east and west." Speaking of the vast canals that formed a network of the beautiful valley, the record says: "Betwixt the great kings and their great capitals were a