Owner is Fined $75 for Cruelty to Pigs

1920

Gives Government Diet as Excuse and Appeals Case

CLINTON, Mass., Feb. 26. — Melvin F. Master of Lowell, owner of a farm in Harvard, was fined $75 by Judge Jonathan Smith in the District Court here on a charge of cruelty to twenty-two pigs he had at his farm.

Robert L. Dyson of Worcester, agent for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, prosecuted the case. Other witnesses were Paul Griffin, a 14-year-old boy left by Master to care for the pigs, and Constable William Hanna of Harvard.

It was shown that eight of the pigs died of exposure in January and that the fourteen found alive weighed but forty pounds at 9 months of age, when they should weigh 150 pounds each. They were fed but twenty-five pounds of bran and meal a day since Dec. 3, the Griffin boy testified.

Harry Potter, Other Citizens Deny Gambling Charges

New York, 1905

Will Go on Trial at May Term of Court

ITHACA, April 4. — Five prominent citizens, indicted by the Grand Jury, charged with conducting gambling houses, pleaded not guilty when arraigned before Justice Forbes in Supreme Court to-day and the cases were sent for trial.

They were Charles Groen, former city treasurer; J. J. Galney, merchant; James Dunlavey, Philip Ford, and Harry Potter.

—The Post-Standard, Syracuse, NY, April 5, 1905, p. 2.

Lincoln Helps Man Settle A Debt, Guy Screwed Twice

1914

ONE WAY TO PAY A DEBT.

A Suit That Lincoln Settled In His Own Peculiar Manner.

A crack brained attorney who lived in Springfield, supported mainly by the other lawyers of the place, became indebted in the sum of $2.50 to a wealthy citizen of the county. The creditor, failing after repeated efforts to collect the amount due him, came to Mr. Lincoln and asked him to bring suit. Lincoln explained the man's condition and circumstances and advised his client to let the matter rest, but the creditor's temper was up, and he insisted on bringing suit. Again Lincoln urged him to let the matter drop, adding, "You can make nothing out of him, and it will cost you a good deal more than the debt to bring suit."

The creditor was still determined to have his way and threatened to seek some other attorney who would be more willing to take charge of the matter than Lincoln appeared to be. Lincoln then said, "Well, if you are determined that suit shall be brought I will bring it, but my charge will be $10." The creditor paid over the money and gave peremptory orders that the suit should be brought that very day.

After his client's departure Lincoln went out of the office. He returned in about an hour with an amused look on his face. I asked what pleased him, and he replied: "I brought suit against ——— and then hunted him up, told him what I had done, handed him half of the $10, and we went over to the squire's office. He confessed judgment and paid the bill." Lincoln added that be did not see any other way to make things so generally satisfactory. — "The Everyday Life of Abraham Lincoln."

Marie Antoinette – Let Her Read Books!

1915

Marie Antoinette's Books.

The unhappy Queen Marie Antoinette possessed an important library of 4,712 volumes, consisting of plays and romances, little books a la mode, the works of Pascal, Bossuet, Fenelon, Bourdaloue, Massillon, Boileau, Cousseau, Corneille, Moliere, Voltaire and many others. Sbe loved music passionately and had a large collection of operas in eighty-nine numbers. The bindings were by Blaizot and were uniform in red morocco, with the arms of France and Austria stamped upon them. The execution of the work was poor and the decadence in the art of binding evident. The glories of the art of Padeloup and the Deromes had passed away, and the revolution effectually killed whatever knowledge remained of the ancient skill of the bookbinders. Half a century later saw its revival in France, and the art has since fiourished both there and on English soil.—London Spectator.


Daniel O'Connell.

After a dinner at Lord Dungarvan's, Lady Morgan writes in her diary, I met the redoubtable Dan O'Connell. Dan is not brilliant in private life, not even agreeable. He is mild, silent, unassuming, apparently absorbed and an utter stranger to the give and take charm of good society. I said so to Lord Clanricarde, who replied: "If you knew how I found him this morning: His hall, the very steps of his door, crowded with his clientele. He had a word or a written order for each, then hurried off to the law courts, thence to the Improvement society and was the guest here today. Two hours before he was making that clever but violent speech to Mr. la Touche. and now no wonder that he looks like an extinct volcano."

Actor Sues Movie Concern

1920--

Capt. Robert Warwick Demands $525,644 for Breach of Contract

NEW YORK, N.Y., May 20. -- Capt. Robert Warwick, motion picture star and former member of the A. E. F., filed suit in the Federal District court against the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation for $525,644, which he alleges the company owes him on a three year contract.

Warwick claims that on Jan. 30, 1919, he signed a contract by which he was to receive $133,000 for the first year, $148,500 the second year, and $180,000 the third. In addition, he alleges, the company agreed to pay him for certain accident and other insurance premiums.

He states he went to work for the company April 1, 1919, and that on April 7, 1920, he was discharged without cause in violation of his contract and to the detriment of his professional standing as an actor.

--The Saturday Blade, Chicago, May 22, 1920, page 4.