3*0
THE GREEN BAG
of hostilities the feud took on proportions as exciting and picturesque as if the 'dispute had occurred in Kentucky instead of Negros. Everyone in the region round about the disputed strip of land took sides with one or the other of the parties. So high ran the feeling that upon more than one occasion the partisans of one side, after a spirited dis cussion of the merits of the case, had even come to blows. When the case came on for a final hearing, it fell to the lot of the undersigned to be sent to Negros to dispose of it. This was in the fall of the year, after the dry season had set in. The roads being in fairly good condition at that period of the year, farmers from far and wide came to town to attend the trial. They have in the Philippines a small, square, two-wheeled vehicle, called a carromata, having a seating capacity for four people. During the whole three weeks of that trial, from 30 to 40 of those vehicles flocked to town each day, bringing the partisans of the respective liti gants, who had come to lend moral aid and comfort to one side or the other, and also to enjoy the time-honored — but not other wise honored — pleasure of hearing their friend's lawyer brow-beat, abuse or ridicule the witnesses on the other side. Every day throughout the trial the court room was crowded with from one hundred to one hundred and fifty of such visitors, who, notwithstanding the truly beautiful rever ence for authority characteristic of the Filipino people, had to be called to order by the court more than once, and admonished not to again betray their emotions so audibly as to disturb the progress of the cause. It was a very tedious trial. Clouds of witnesses appeared for the plaintiff, and other like clouds showered upon the court records the testimony for the defendant. There is a lamentable dearth of Spanish stenographers in the Philippines. This is true even in Spain. In the early days of American occupation, during the existence of the military government, Governor Gene ral MacArthur, to whose headquarters the
writer was attached as one of his legal advis ers, finding no stenographers in the Philip pines able to take down Spanish in short hand, had to have some brought out from Madrid through the co-operation of our Minister there. These, however, were so much needed in Manila, that very often, as in the present case, it was necessary outside Manila, to take the testimony down in onghand, the official language of the courts of the Philippine Islands being then, as it still is, Spanish. It was very trying upon one's patience to have to sit and listen to witness after witness, whose testimony could of necessity travel only as fast as the pen of the Deputy Clerk of the court, especially when, as was often true with many of them, it was clear that whatever the real truth about the ownership of the strip of land the wit ness was unworthy of belief, being simply there as a partisan of the one by whom he had been subpoenaed. At the end of three weeks, the Court knew as little about who was the real owner of that strip of land as it did at the beginning of the trial. Night after night of reflection upon the testimony adduced during the day brought no light upon the real merits of the issue. It looked at one time as if it would be necessary simply to count up how many dozen witnesses had sworn for the plaintiff, and how many for the defendant, and just let the majority rule. At last a light broke in upon my brain. Why not adjourn court to the premises in dispute, which were situated only about five miles from the town of Bacolod, the provincial capital city, where the trial was being held? This suggestion was made from the bench the next day. It was promptly acceded to by counsel for both sides. Accordingly the presiding Judge, the Clerk and his Deputies, including the one reporting the trial, the counsel on both sides, number ing some six or eight, the parties litigant, each with his army of partisans, drove out to the plantation by the river, assembled at the premises in dispute, and held a session in
