Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 20.pdf/414

This page needs to be proofread.

LACSON v. LACSON It was evident that he proposed to save his prestige, by simply claiming a victory and celebrating it. He proposed to counteract the effect of the ball to be given by the plaintiff upon his own prestige in the com munity; in other words, he was going to give a rival ball himself. Though invited to both balls, I did not go to either, because if I went to one, I would have to go to the other, and that meant staying up nearly all night, and acquiring indigestion by the consump tion of ice-cream, warm beer, cake and candy, to say nothing of the. prodigal viands which would necessarily precede these. However, both balls were duly given, and were said to have cost each of the givers some 1 500 pesos

3*3

($750, American money). When I left Bacolod for Manila, we stopped at Iloilo. The local paper there published in Spanish had an account of the case, and of the two rival dinner-dances, remarking at the end of the narrative, that it was a rare Judge who could decide a case in favor of both sides. The story of the case of Lacson v. Lacson was repeated to Governor Taft, who, according to my informant, {manifested his edification by one of those genial, hearty, Santa Claus laughs, which his friends always enjoy nearly as much as he does. Better still His Honor was soon given a better circuit. WASHINGTON, D. C., May, 1908.