A CURIOUS DOG CASE.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 877, 21 October 1871, Page 2

A CURIOUS DOG CASE.

The latest English journals bring a long and interesting report of a.n action for the possession of a Newfoundland dog, tried at Croydon, before Baron Bramwell. The defendant, who had actual possession of the dog, claimed that he was seven years old, was lost in 1567, and was recovered in 1871, having been found in a railway refreshment saloon at Richmond. On the other hand, the plaintiff, who was the widow of the late Lord Justice Selwyn, contended that the dog was only two years old, and had been brought Up from his infancy by her and her personal attendants. Both parties swore positively to this state of facts respectively, and appeared to be firmly convinced of the justice of their cases. The witness, however, of the greatest force and weight was the dog. By order of the judge, he was brought into the court, and although he had been in the custody,of the defendant since April, he evinced the most lively signs of recognition of a personal attendant of the plaintiff, who, it was claimed, had had him under her care when a puppy. Baron Bramwell sum. med up the merits of both sides of the case in a neat and succinct manner, the immense Newfoundland dog, of a jet black color, with white chest and paws, beiug seated at his side during the whole time of the delivery of the charge to the jury. Under the charge of the court, the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff, being influenced by the undoubted testimony of the dumb animal.