SOLOMON IN THE SHADE.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 290, 20 November 1884, Page 3

SOLOMON IN THE SHADE.

The Shanghai Celestial Empire tells this Vvhen Solomon was asked to decide which of two women a child belonged to, he called for his sword, and proposed to cut the child in two and give half to each; the real mother went into hysterics, and Solomon decided in her favor. But at the Mixed Court the other day an actual division was made, and Solomon’s judgment was put in the shade. The chattel in dispute was a black dog, with his tail clipped bare except at the extremity, which still retained some long hair. The dog was quite unconcerned, and went snuffing around the arena and under the court table at the magistrate’s feet, or wherever his teather would allow him to extend his explorations. The claimants for the dog were a butcher and a washerman. The butcher’s assistant held a string, with the dog at the end of it. The washerman held a basket in his hand containing hair which he had clipped from the dog’s tail, and which he produced in proof of ownership. Mr. Howe, the inspector of markets, stated that he had known the butcher for many years, and that he had seen the dog at his place; and that he believed that the dog belonged to the butcher. It was also stated by the police that an experiment had been tried at Hangkow police station ; the washerwoman called on the dog, but it would not follow him : but when the butcher called, the dog heard his master’s voice and knew the sound thereof. As a last resort to prove that the dog loved him and belonged to him, the washerwoman pulled off his jacket and showed a plaster stuck between his shoulder-blades, saying that the dog had bit him there. The Magistrate decided in favor of the washerman so far that he was allowed to keep the basketful of hair, but the butcher was allowed to take the rest of the dog.