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The Conservative. i
< bhat Frayne did not point the rifle at
the lady , but at an apple a few inches
above her head. The court held that
the weapon being pointed at an ob
ject , and not at the person , the charge
of manslaughter could not bo sus
tained.
A still more unusual case is that of
a man and his wife , who'heariug a noise
after they had gone to bed , suspecting
burglars and observing that some one
was prowling about in the street be
low , arose and decided to await de
velopments. Their first act was to
unbolt the outer door in order that
the expected burglar might'not injure
the fastenings. After a time the man
ivns nrnmntlv seized and
handed over to the police. Upon being -
' ' ing taken before a magistrate , he was
charged with house-breaking , although
he did not break anything whatever ,
and was committed for trial. The
grand jury , however , considered that
entering a house by merely turning
the handle of a door did not constitute
house-breaking , and they threw out
the bill. The defendant ought to con
sider himself lucky , for had the case
occurred in the state of New York in
stead of England , ( it happened at
Manchester ) another charge would
most certainly have been placed
against him.
The celebrated case of Mrs. Bush
versus the Great Western Railway
Company ( of England ) should , most
assuredly.be cited as a remarkable in
stance of variations in judges'
opinions.
The railway companies in the
United Kingdom pay persons named
"porters" to convey the luggage ( bag
gage ) of passengers from carriages , or
other vehicles , to the cars. A railway
in that country is constructed under a
general Cor special ) act of parliament ,
one feature of the act always b iug
that the corporation has power to
make its own by-law ? . But whether
these by-laws are binding upon any
body , except the corporation , depends
upon whether they 'are considered
equitable by a law court.
Mrs. Bush wont in a hack to the
London terminus of the above named
railway , having with her a "Glad
stone bag. " Being anxious to pond
a telegram , she gave this valise to a
porter to be taken care of , telling him
to meet her at the train. Having at
tended to her business , the lady got
into the car , ( the English call it a
carriage ) and looked out of the window
for the porter. After a few minutes
she spied the man , who , greatly ex
cited , exclaimed , "Madam , I put your
bag down upon the platform while I
attended to somebody else , and it's
gone ; it must have been stolen ! "
Mrs. Bush within a few days con
sulted her lawyers who made a claim
upon the railway company for the
value of the bag and contents some
17 ( $85.00) ) . The company , however ,
repudiated all liability upon the
ground that it was protected by its
by-laws , and that notices were posted
all over the station stating that the
corporation was not liable for any
goods left with its employees. In con
sequence of this interpretation of the
liability of employers for the acts of
their agents , an action was brought in
the county court a court for the recov
ery of debts of less amount than $250.
The case was tried , by consent , with
out a jury , the judge giving judgment
for the defendant. The plaintiff there
upon .appealed , and in due course the
case was argued before the divisional
court , which upheld the decision of
the county court judge. Being still
dissatisfied , Mrs. Bush appealed to the
court of appeal. Here again , unfortu
nately , the majority of the judges ,
were against the lady , and the judg
ment of the court below was affirmed.
Still undaunted , this persistent litigant
decided to take the case before the high-
st tribunal in the British empireami ,
after the usual delay , the arguments
were made before the judicial com
mittee of the House of Lords. The
judges , according to custom , took some
time to consider such an important
ase , the point , aparc from all techni
cality , being , is a corporation at
liberty to make which
by-laws con
flict with the laws of the land in
reference to the liability of the em
ployer for the acts of his agent ?
Eventually the court declared that
this question must be answered in the
negative , and judgment was 'given for
Mrs. Bush for the value of her "bag"
and its contents , with costs. This
decision , of course , finally settled the
matter , and the fair litigant taxed her
costs at something oyer 1,000 ( $5,000) ) .
It is probable that the costs which
vf ere not allowed upon taxation , and
which the lady must have paid her
self , would amount to several hundred
pounds more.
more.LAWRENCE
LAWRENCE IRWELL.
LEWIS AND CLARKE. ?
. The accompanying extract is taken
from the report compiled by Captains
Lewis and Clarke , dealing with their
travels to the source of the Missouri
river , thence across the continent to
the shores of the Pacific , in the year
1805.
1805.At
At the time this incident is recorded
tjie members of the expedition were
still visiting with the ' ' gentlemanly
Maudans" in their camp on the banks
of the Missouri , in what is now North
Dakota. It illustrates the childish
ness of these sous and daughters of
the forest , apparent in the dying war
rior , and the delegation which visited
the " medicine stone. "
"Wednesday , Feb. 20th. . . The day
. .
'if/
was delightfully fine ; the mercury bo * * . .
ing at sunrise 2 degrees and in the
course of the day 22 degrees above
zero , the wind southerly. Kagohmia
came down to see us early ; his village
is afflicted by the death of one of their
eldest men , who , from his account to
us , must have seen one hundred and
twenty winters. Just as ho was dy
ing , ho requested his children to dress
him in his best robe , when ho waa
dead , and carry him to a hill and seat
him on a stone with his face down
the river towards their old villages ,
that he might go straight to his
brother who had passed before him to
the ancient village under ground.
"Ohouaw and Shahaka oame down
to see us , and mentioned that several
of their countrymen had gone to con
sult their medicine stone as to the
prospects for the following year.
The medicine stone is the great oracle
of the Mandaus and whatever it an
nounces is believed with implicit con
fidence. Every spring , and upon -some
occasions during the summer , a depu
tation visits the sacred spot , where
there is a thick porous stone twenty
feet in oircumferouc'o with a smooth
surface. Having reached tho- place
the ceremony of smoking to it is per
formed by the deputies , who alternate
ly take a whiff themselves , and then
present the pipe to the
stone ; after this they retire to
the adjoining woods for the
night , during which it may be safely
presumed that all the embassy do not
sleep ; and. , in the morning they read
the destinies of the nation . in the
white marks on the stone , which
those who made them are at no loss
to deoypher. The Minuetarees have
a stone of a similar kind , which has
the same qualities and the same in
fluences over the nation. "
LOCAL HISTORY.
<
Mr. E. E. Blackmail of the State
Historical Society is going to mak6 a
summer campaign of the Lewis and
Clark route along Nebraska this year.
The idea is to identify the landmarks
described in the various journals of
the expedition , locate all its camps
and settle if possible all controverted
points in regard to the route. Noth
ing systematic has over been done in
this line in this immediate neighbor
hood. Monona and Harrison counties ,
Iowa , have been studied and their
stretches of the river platted as re
gards Lewis and Clark , but so far as
we know nothing extensive in tjiis
line has boon undertaken anywhere in
Nebraska. We have frequently sug- '
Rested that this would be good work
for the high school pupils. They are
good walkers , have more time than
some people , and are besides generally
intelligent and quick witted and ought
to feel an interest in their home his
tory. The journals of the first two or
three organized parties that ever came
up the Missouri are quite complete
along here , and it would bo interest
ing to study them and try to find the
spots they describe.