Justice. " Fine the plaintiff ten dollars for contempt of court."
Defendant, "Assertion is not proof, neither are the bleatings of a black-coated hireling evidence; and when the plaintiff accuses nie of lying he insults the majesty of the law, the sanctity of justice, and the holiness of truth."
The jury retired to deliberate; and on returning into court the foreman took his seat as near as possible to the door. The verdict was then rendered that neither of the claimants had proved possession, and that the claim was vacant. The mine was a rich one, and if indeed it was now without a legal owner, the first upon the ground could take it up and hold it. Scarcely had the foreman delivered the verdict when he made a rush for the door, followed by the litigants, the lawyer, and the remainder of the jury, The race was a hot one, several arriving on the spot simultaneously, when a general melee set in for the possession, which was finally settled by a game of freeze-out poker.
Cut-eye Foster was Yreka's first alcaioe, and the year of his reign was 1851. He departed, with unseemly speed it is said, and left no docket. George C. Vail then assumed the duties of office, and no lawbook ever embarrassed justice in his court. Vail's docket should be placed among the curiosities of literature. In it the history of each case was fully written.
The following incident found recorded in its pages illustrates the ways of justice within this precinct. A lad came into court one day, a hard-working openfaced fellow, and complained that a certain man for whom he had worked all winter, and had driven a team from Oregon, had sold all his effects and was about leaving the place without paying him. The boy's appearance added truth to his story. With two constables Vail started after the man, and found
