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THE LAWSUIT THAT WOULDN’T DIE

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Quiz time: What’s more absurd than a lawsuit over the ownership of a dead dog?

You should read the earlier articles to relish the profound craziness of this feud over Queen, “a valuable varmint dog.” The case began in 1905 (1904?) and rumbled through the courts even after the pooch was killed in the Great Earthquake. Judge Seawell finally ruled in 1907 on who owned Queen, ordering Mr. Peterson to pay Mr. Frese $25.00 (heaven knows what all the legal bills were by this time). But even though the question of ownership of a deceased dog was settled, the courtroom combat began again in 1908 over a new crucial legal issue: Who owned her puppies? “There is a whole lot of principle as well as dogs mixed up in this case,” a wag remarked to the Press Democrat court reporter.

‘QUEEN’ IS DEAD BUT OFFSPRING LIVES
“The Dog Suit” Still on the Tapis and “The Pup Suit” Is Yet to Figure in Legal Annals

The end is not yet. The dead “Queen” is to be resurrected and her good points extolled once more in legal oratory in Judge Seawell’s department on the Superior Court. Not only that but the recovery of her progeny is to figure in another battle in the hall of justice. The latter consists of two well developed pups.

“Queen,” it will be remembered, has been dead nearly two years now. About the time of the earthquake this now celebrated canine expired from shock, leaving two little puppies to shift for themselves. “Queen” — the dead one–was alive when the litigation started, in which J. H. Frese figures as plaintiff and U. G. Peterson is defendant.

It was for the recovery of the dog that the first suit was brought. It started in the Justice Court some three years ago and from there went on appeal to the Superior Court, where it has been on trial and in many other phases since. Last Monday the suit of Frese vs. Peterson came up on a motion for a change of judgment and was set down for hearing next Monday by Judge Seawell.

Attorney Thomas J. Butts, who is counsel for the plaintiff, stated yesterday that he is going to bring another suit against the defendant for the recovery of the offspring of the deceased “Queen.” They are said to be very valuable dogs. “There is a whole lot of principle as well as dogs mixed up in this case,” someone ventured yesterday. It might be added that it costs something, too.

– Press Democrat, February 8, 1908

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THE MANIAC WHO CAME TO DINNER

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Everyone’s endured a few bad houseguests, but none so horrible I considered attacking them with an iron pipe or hog-tying them with bailing wire. Well, not many.

Both of these odd stories from 1907 leave the reader hungry for additional details. In one tale, a stranger appears at a ranch near Cotati, where he’s welcomed to supper. Some time later, he “acted like a crazy man” and it was decided he must be tied up. The incident would be unusual enough if it just ended there, but the guest then “gnawed the rope in two as a rat would have done” and instead of quietly running away like a sensible maniac, he draws attention to his lack of bondage and is again tied up, this time with wire.

The other vignette has Mr. William Miller at the home of his sister in Guerneville. Allegedly caught peeping through a keyhole, sister Bertha “struck Miller across the head with a piece of iron and laid open his scalp.” Her husband then joined in and “finished the job she had auspiciously begun,” leaving Miller badly injured. Left unanswered is what Miller saw that drove the pair to beat him so brutally. Was he peeping at his sister, her husband, or the pair of them, behind that closed door?

HUSBAND AND WIFE THRASH THEIR RELATIVES

Constable Samuel J. Gilliam went over to Guerneville Saturday to arrest Clyde and Bertha Ayers, husband and wife, on the charge of assault on the person of one William Miller. According to the story as related here, Miller is accused of peeping through a keyhole and this is alleged to have been the trouble. He is related to the persons who beat him, being a brother of Mrs. Ayers. When the Peeping Tom tactics were divulged Mrs. Ayers is said to have struck Miller across the head with a piece of iron and laid open his scalp, after which the husband of the woman finished the job she had auspiciously begun. Miller was in a bad state as the result of his beating. He denies the peeping portion of the story.

– Santa Rosa Republican, July 6, 1907
MANIAC DOES SOME DAMAGE
Raised Rough House at Nesbit Ranch on Cotati

H. Canevascini made a rough house at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Nesbit on the Cotati rancho Sunday evening and was with difficulty restrained from doing harm to the people there. He acted like a demented man and for a time Mr. and Mrs. Nesbit and others had a tussle to prevent being injured by the man. Canevascini jumped over the fence of the county jail Satuday while he was supposed to be sawing wood there and made his way under cover of darkness out of town. He was a trusty [sic].

When the man appeared at the Nesbit ranch he was recognized at once as a Petaluma man, and was given his supper and a hearty welcome. Later when he acted like a crazy man the men folks at the ranch had a hard time to subdue him. The cook at the ranch knocked him down with a chair and then his hands and feet were tied with bailing rope. The man gnawed the rope in two as a rat would have done, and it was found necessary to bind his hands with bailing wire which he could not gnaw.

Early Monday morning he was taken to Petaluma jail in this bound condition and was alleged to be insane. He will be returned to the county jail.

– Santa Rosa Republican, November 18, 1907

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IT’S A CHAIN LETTER, DON’T BELIEVE IT

Jeff Elliott Leave a comment

Should we be surprised that chain letters were appearing in mailboxes ‘way back as 1906? Probably not, but it’s interesting that they were still so unusual that the local newspaper deemed them newsworthy and necessary to debunk. If our ancestors were really so gullible, we are fortunate that the heirs of recently deceased Nigerian millionaires hadn’t yet discovered the U.S. mails.

According to a often-cited web article on the history of chain letters (Ex cathedra snopes.com), variations of this sort of “Letter from Heaven” began circulating in the late 1800s, but didn’t really take off until postcards became so popular in the early 20th century. That web page describes this exact message as a luck chain letter that started in 1906 and continued to circulate for a few years.

LOOK OUT! IT MAY REACH HERE
An “Endless Chain of Prayer” Traveling Through the Country is Said to be a Hoax

The endless chain of prayer that originated, according to rumor, with Bishop William Lawrence of the Episcopal Church of Massachusetts, and indignantly repudiated by him with emphatic denial of its authorship, recently struck Sacramento, and is having its run, the Union says.

The prayer is one for mercy to all mankind, followed by a statement that those who rewrite the prayer and sent it on enchain shall experience some great joy. It is added that it has been said at the Holy Feast of Jerusalem that whoever rewrites the prayer shall be delivered from some great calamity. Each recipient of a copy of the written prayer is requested to rewrite and send it to nine or ten friends. It has been traveling about Sacramento the last three weeks very diligently, somewhat enlarging Uncle Sam’s postal receipts. It may reach Santa Rosa.

It is regarded as a hoax, pure and simple. The religious press has denounced it as such and the clergy everywhere has blacked its eye mercilessly. Perhaps no one has spoken more bodly [sic] and incisively upon the subject that the Right Rev. Bishop W. H. Moreland, who says it is merely an appeal to the superstitious; that Bishop Lawrence, who was alleged to have been the author, is a level-headed prelate and a clear thinker, and did not, could not have concocted such a scheme, Bishop Moreland says Bishop Lawrence did everything in his power to deny the statement that he was the author of the letter. The letter, Bishop Moreland says, is not worthy of being called a prayer, as it appeals only to fears and superstitions. He considers it an affront to the hearty instincts of any man.

– Press Democrat, October 26, 1906

The “Prayer Chain” Arrives

Mention was made the other day of the “endless prayer chain,” that would probably reach Santa Rosa before long. It has arrived and quite a number of Santa Rosans have received copies from friends, known and unknown, asking them to rewrite and forward the prayer to their friends. One young lady received the prayer from a friend in Petaluma so it is evident it has reached there also.

– Press Democrat, October 27, 1906

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