MAGISTRAIE'S COURT. Friday. (Before Major Keddell, S.M.)

North Otago Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8169, 29 April 1895, Page 4

MAGISTRAIE'S COURT. Friday. (Before Major Keddell, S.M.)

CIVIL CASE. S. E Shrimski v. Bruce, claim LlO, value of a r triover clog, or i ts restitution, and L 5 damages. Mr Harvey appeared for the plaint ft', and Mr < raw ford for defendant. Kii/,ileth Bruce, wife of defendant, s>id when she went to live ab her pre enb house a retriever pup was brought to the house, and remained therj til May 189 1. '1 hey went to he house in Februa r y, 1^93 and about March or April of that year they got the pup from Mr Bruce, senr. The pup whs live or six moT ths old when they got it. The pup was born in the latter end of December, 1892. (ler husband taught the dog to bring the paper and other thiugs. The dog was lost in May, and sho saw it again in January on the road near her house. She called u Watch," and it ran to her and came into the house, making a " terrible fuss." The dog wns tied up because the milk girl was ilraid of it. Mr Shrimski took ihe dog aw»y on the 4th of February. The drg in court was their dog, and iho had no doubt about it. She knew he dog by the lipu'l and eyes. On the 4th of February she saw the dog at Mr Shrimski's. On the 3rd of April the dog came again to her house Sho saw Mr Shrimski at her pace about 1 o'clock whistling. Mr Shrimski came round and asked to see the dog. Mr Shrimski said when refused : " Oh, it does nob matter ; I'll arrest you " To Mr Harvey : The dog was not trained to go to Mr Shrimski's by Mr Bruce, and take the paper out of the box Witness never made a mis take about the dog, sho know \im at once. It was not about the beginning of May j it was the 24th May, 1893, the dog was lost. Thoina* Davidtoi, an engine driver, lived aboub 100 yards from defend^ ant's place. He remembered Bruce bringing home a pup. The dog often accompanied Bruce to his place. He remembered the dog was lost) ; he was not sure of the date. The dog produced was the dog. He knew the dog by its general appearance. He knew how the dig was bved. The dog was like its mother in every respecb. Ho had a dog, a half-brother of the defendant's He could not account for the fact of his dog being like a Russian retriever, and being a halfbrother to the defendant's Jog. To Mr Harvoy : He had no experience with regard to dogs. He know Uio mother of the dog, but not the father. lie could not say if defendmt's dog was like John Mitchell's. [lethought the dog was aboub 2^ years old. Eli/ttboth Davidson, wife of Thomis Davidson, remembered when the pup came to defendant's. She knew tho dog produe'd. The dog's name was ' Watch,' >iucl it w,iB Bruce's. It was about 2\ years old. Sho kept the dog for a month, when her sister-in-law (Mrs Bruce) was in Christchurch. To Mr Harvoy : Mrs Bruco, sour., had tho mother of tho dog iv Dunodin for over 12 months. John Bruco. coal merchant, father of defendant, had had a retriovor bitch bolonging to lus son John This was over wo years and live months ago. The bitch had 11 pups. One he gave to his son George. The mother of tho dog was taken to Dunodin after having a litter of pups in 1893. Tho last litter of pups the b teh had in Oamaru wia tho litter from which his son got his pup. Witness saw the pup oftoii. It was almost as often at his place as his son's. He romomborod the dog coming back. It wis tho dog his •son got from him. He had no doubt iib >ut it. To Mr Harvey : He remembered going to Hodge and Jones shortly after the dog disappeared. He did not remember saying there was any doubt about tho , idontifica'ion of tho dog. Tho dog w<»s about three weeks running about Hodge and Jones'a .He thought tho dog was his son's dog, and it would bo 2 years and 5 months old. The dog, ho remombered, had light brown h.ir when his son got it. Mary Bruco, sißter of defendant, remembered hor brother George getting a pup from her father. The color of tho pup tfas, if anything, bhek. Sho saw i ho dog constantly, and tho dog in court was the same. Sho saw tho dog last in May, 181)4, and noxt caw it in January, 1893. The do? was tied up when blio got homo, and it know hor. On YVednosday last sho went homo with hor brother, G. Bruce, and tho dog was with thorn, and Mr Shrimski whistled on tho clog, but tho dog did not tako much notice of him. J. R. Smith, vandriver, got a dog from Mr CJoo. Bruce, and it was just as fond of jumping and playing as Bruco's dog. To Mr Harvey • Hiadog was a medium.

(Qgniiimd w Ui p^