MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

Inangahua Times, Volume III, Issue 70, 29 January 1877, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

The law sometimes has strange freaks. A case lately tried in a Dublin court brought out one of the strangest of them. The plaintff sued for damages for injuries sustained by falling into a cellar, the grating of which had been left open by the defendant. The plaintiff in his fall broke the grating, and for this damage to his property the defendant claimed £6. Plaintiff's connsel said that the audacity of this demand had never been parallelled in his experience, except in once instance ; and this exceptional case he proceeded to relate for the benefit of the jury. There j lived, he said, at one time in the fashion* able quarter of that city an eminent law* yer, who afterwards came to occupy a position on the judicial bench. He was a man of high professional, attainments, but of testy and irritable temper. His next door neighbour was a retired major, noted for the eccentricity of his habits. Between the two there was anything but friendly feeling, and they did all in their power to annoy and harass each other. One night, memorable in Ireland as " the night of the great storm," the major's chimneys were blown down. Crash they went through the roof of the lawyer's house, thence down through floor after floor, carrying havoc in their course. The man of law was in no good humor as he contemplated the destruction ; and what made matters worse was that it was the major's chimney that had occasioned the wreck. His mind was actively engaged in devising some process by which he could get satisfaction from bis arch-enemy when a missive arrived from the latter, couched as follows : — •• Send me back my bricks immediately, or I'll put the matter in the ands of an attorney.''