Baron Alderson could make puns, and had much drollery. A juryman once said that he was deaf in one ear. "Well, then," replied Alderson, " you may leave the box, for it is necessary that jurymen should hear both sides." A Dakota schoolmistress sued three young men for breach of promise. Counsel for one of the defendants moved for a nonsuit on the ground that she was too promiscuous. The court seemed disposed to grant the motion, whereupon the plain tiff asked, " Judge, did you ever go out duckshooting?" His Honor's eyes lighted up with the pride of a sportsman, as he answered : " Well, I should say so; and many 's the time that I 've brought down a dozen at a shot." " I knew it," eagerly added the fair plaintiff. " That 's just the case with me, Judge. A flock of these fellows besieged me, and I winged three of them." The motion for a nonsuit was refused. — Pump Court. "I have noticed," said a young solicitor, " that members of the legal profession are almost always brave men. It is seldom that one shows coward ice. I wonder why this is so?" "Well," re sponded an elderly lady, " I 've read somewhere that ' conscience makes cowards of us all.' And as lawyers mostly have no conscience, why, of course, they have n't anything to make them cowards." NOTES. The American Law Review says : " We are al ways glad to receive suggestions from our subscri bers as to what they .desire and do not desire. One of them writes : ' Cheap reports have or will entirely supersede law journals devoted chiefly to legal topics, such as are discussed in the text books; and you, to succeed, must devote a great deal of space to what might be termed " legal miscellany." ' " This is precisely the idea upon which " The Green Bag " has been started, which will be devoted exclusively to " legal miscellany." The savants are having a bonny rime investigat ing the best way to take off criminals by electricity. Fortunately they have a good year before the ac tual test will be demanded. Why did they not try the experiment on that mischievous elephant a few 6
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days ago? The danger seems to be that the ap plication will be made too cumbrous, and that the preparations will be more appalling to the doomed man than the simple noose. It is reassuring, how ever, to learn that the Medico-Legal Society of New York do not approve of immersing the body in water, nor of placing large metal plates upon the body. But shampooing and hair-cutting seem to be recommended, — " the skin and hair at the points of contact should be thoroughly wet with a warm aqueous solution of common salt. The hair should be cut short." The latter will be as objec tionable to women as it is to female victims of the guillotine. When we read that two hundred have accidentally lost their lives by artificial electricity within a few years, we have confidence that the wise men will find a way out. If they can't, the convict might be apprenticed to anelectrical light ing company, and his sin would be sure to find him out sometime. — Albany Law jfournal. A French doctor has lately published a curious synopsis of the recent Criminal Anthropological Congress. He has discovered that, contrary to what is often believed, the criminal, as a rule, has not a ferocious countenance; and the more hard ened he is, the softer the expression of the face and the finer the traits. Abnormal development of the jaws, absence of beard, abundance of hair, and a lapping ear are also evidences of moral obliquity. The judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsyl vania have adopted the practice of wearing silk gowns similar to those worn by the Supreme Bench at Washington. Referring to the above, " The Albany Law Journal " comments as follows : — "Now arise, ye Pennsylvanian newspaper Solons, in your wrath, and sling your ink! The Pennsyl vania Supreme Court, unmindful of the traditions and proprieties of our great democracy, and in a spirit of shameful and craven and dwarfish subser viency and imitation of the revolting customs of the effete monarchies of Europe, have decided to put on gowns. Thus we go — first the Federal Supreme Court, then the New York Court of Appeals, and now the great Quaker court. If this sort of thing keeps on, we shall expect to see representatives in Congress refraining from smoking on the floor during sessions, and from squirting tobacco juice down the register or on the carpets. There is danger that we are growing too ' particular ' for a free people."
