Some Missouri " Yams."
about half-a-dozen new and handsomely bound law-books, and on his first appearance in a case he brought most of his library to the justice's office in a fine beautifully flow ered carpet-bag, popular in that day. E was engaged against him, and, as usual, had not a book. When his adversary carefully drew his library from the pretty carpet-bag and laid them on the table, E looked astonished, but quickly recovered his ready resources, and asked the justice to excuse him for a few moments. He hurried to his homestead half a mile or so away, and put his old leather-bound Bible and histories into a grain-sack and brought them to court; imitating his opponent in laying them before him on the table. The evidence was intro duced, and the Eastern man, being for the plaintiff, made his opening argument and read at length from his text-books. E made his characteristic speech in reply, clos ing by reading law from his old Bible just the reverse of that read by his opponent, and took his seat, putting his Bible on the table. His adversary reached over and picked it up, and seeing what it was, eagerly addressed the justice, — "Your honor," said he, " this man is a humbug and pettifogger. Why, sir, this is the Bible from which he has pretended to read law." The old justice looked indignant, and in terrupting the young attorney, said, — "Set down, durn ye; what better law can we git than the Bible? " He then decided the case in favor of the defendant. A case was being tried at Carrollton, Mis souri, some years ago before Judge D and a jury, in which the plaintiff, a young woman, was suing a city to recover for in juries received by reason of a defective side walk. The plaintiff was testifying in her own behalf, and was being subjected to a rigid cross-examination by defendant's coun sel, who asked her some questions tending to reflect upon her character. An Irishman among the spectators had 35
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become intensely interested in the trial, and had advanced to a position just behind the attorney who was cross-examining the lady. The Irishman, unable to restrain his indigna tion longer, exclaimed in a loud voice : " Be gob! you 're no gintlemon, sor, to spake to a leddy loike that." The court ordered the sheriff to take Pat to jail, but sent a deputy after them to tell the offender if he would promise to stay out of the court-room he would not be incarcerated. Pat made the promise, but got a few more drinks of the " cratur," and slipped back into the court-room, getting near the attorney again. The attorney asked the woman a particularly compromising ques tion as to where she had been the night she received the injury. Pat fired up again, and came to the rescue with, — "Ye dirty spalpeen, the head of yez ought to be broke." The court quickly ordered him to jail; and as he was struggling down the aisle in the grip of two deputies, he defiantly shouted, "Be jabers, I 'm willin' to go to jail in defince of any dacent gurrl in Carroll County." The court kept him locked up until the trial was over. Congressman " Dick " Norton, of Missouri, who, though never encroaching upon the peculiar field of Congressman John Allen, of Mississippi, often tells a good story in an admirable manner, recently related to us the following : In the early times of Lincoln County, Missouri, and in fact all over the State almost any one could get admitted to the bar. Under this regime old Uncle " Joe С h " was licensed and did some practice at Troy, the county town which was famed for its brilliant orators, learned and pro found lawyers. " Joe " defended a neighbor who had committed some offence, had un dertaken to flee from justice, but had been caught by a sort of mob whose threats ex torted a confession of guilt from him. " Joe" was uneducated and eccentric, but he was certainly inspired with an intuition of what