Animals as Criminals

1896

Instances in Which They Were Tried in Civil and Ecclesiastical Courts

During the middle ages, and even as late as the time of Shakespeare, animals were considered legally responsible for their acts. They were tried for various offenses, and if found guilty were convicted and punished. Mules were occasionally deprived of their ears for wrongdoing, and this altered the appearance of the animals, whether it improved their morals or not. There was another punishment inflicted on mules which suggests that there was method in the madness of the authorities. A mule which was particularly wicked was made forfeit to the crown, and the king had a corral of asses which could not be equaled for depravity in the world.

Occasionally the animals were tried before an ecclesiastical tribunal. Swarms of flies, bees, leeches and other insect pests were often condemned to vacate within a certain time under penalty of "malediction." As a rule certain sections of the country were set aside to which the condemned animals might retire and live in peace and quiet.

A horde of flies that bothered the residents of Mavence, France, were tried once, and escaped punishment because of their small size and extreme youth. Rats one time began eating the barley of France and were tried in court. They were defended by an eminent lawyer named Chasseneux, and he actually won the suit and the rats escaped punishment. In Naples an ass was tried — by a jury of his peers, no doubt — and sentenced to die at the stake. The sentence was carried out, and that ass never committed murder again. About the year 1700 the practice died out, and some time after the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was organized, and since then domestic animals have been better treated.

Riches From The Skies — Giant Mass, Precious Metals Fell From Sky

1877

Riches From The Skies

THE GIGANTIC MASS THAT FELL IN DIAMOND VALLEY, NEV. — A QUEER STORY

[Eureka, (Nev.) Sentinel.]

About four o'clock on the morning of the 7th of January, an immense body, glowing with intense brilliancy, came rushing across the face of heaven illuminating the earth with the light of day. It traveled in an oblique direction, from the southwest to the northwest, and instantaneously a shock was felt that almost threw the few spectators at that early hour from their feet.

About ten days ago Mr. Wheeler, who cultivates a ranch in Diamond Valley, and who is also in the stock business, came into town and left a most remarkable substance with an assayer. Mr. Wheeler had a smattering of metallurgical knowledge and, it seems, had tested the compound with a blow-pipe and other means within his reach, and detected the presence of the precious metals, but was unable to determine the value.

The piece submitted to the assayer was about as large as a hen's egg, and immediately attracted his attention by its unusual weight and peculiar color, it being of a purplish-black shade, and where it had been broken off the main body presenting a luminated stratification that he failed to recognize. Mr. Wacke expended the whole night in a series of experiments, applying every known test to the article, and detecting the presence of iron, nickel, cadmium, lead, silver, gold, zinc, cobalt, silica and phosphorus. There was also a residuum to each assay, of which Prof. Wacke was unable to determine the properties, but he hopes by the use of the spectroscope to classify it.

A surprising feature of the ore is excessive malleability aud ductility, a small portion of it being reduced by hammering to a fllm not exceeding one-hundredth of an inch in thickness. He has sent a portion of it to the San Francisco Academy of Science, and also to Prof. Silliman of New Haven, and in the meantime is prosecuting his researches. Prof. Wacke has found that the substance will reach $887 in silver and $42 in sold per ton.

The strangest part of the story remains to be told; and, now that Mr. Wheeler has duly recorded his claim and perfected the title, we feel at liberty to disclose the facts. On the morning of the 7th of January, Mr. Wheeler was almost thrown from his bed by a violent shock. Getting up and looking out of the window, he observed at the foot of the mountain an immense mass glowing at a white heat and of intense brightness. Hastily dressing he approached as near as possible, and found that the object lay just at the foot of the Diamond mountain range, but the heat was so great that he could not go within 1,000 yards of the spot.

He kept his own council, and made repeated attempts to reach it, but did not succeed until the 14th instant, when it had cooled sufficiently to allow him to break off the portion brought to town. The main body will measure about sixty feet in height, eighty-seven feet in width, and is 313 feet in length. These are the proportions of the body visible, and it is probable that as much more is imbedded in the earth. Mr. Wheeler calculates that there are at least 2,000,000 tons in sight, and if it will work anywhere near the assay he will extract an immense sum from the mass.