Show THE LANDSLIDE LAND SLIDE oase CASE BY M X TWAIN it was in the early aarif days of nevada territory the mountains are very high and steep about carson eagle and washoe valley very high and very sleep and so when the snow gets to melting malting off oft fast in the th e spring and the warm surface earth begins to moisten and soften the disastrous dita land slides commence general buncombe wag was shipped out to nevada in the invoice of territorial rit orial officers to be united states attorney one morning dick bides sides rode furiously up to gen Buncom buncombe beb beA door in carson city and rushed into his presence without stopping to tie his borse hoise he seemed much excited he told the general that be he wanted him to defend a suit for him and would pay him if he achieved a victory and then with violent gestures and a world of profanity he poured out his he said that it was pretty well known that for some years chehad been farmin gor ranching as the more customary term Is in washoe district and making a successful thing of it and furthermore it was know that this ranch was situated just in the edge of the valley and that tom morgan owned a ranch immediately ab abobo 0 vo it on the mountain side bide and now the trouble was that one of those hated and dreaded land slides had come and slid morgana gana gnu a ranch fences cabins cattle barns and everything down on top of hia hla ranch and exactly covered up every single vestige of his property to a depth of about six feet morgan was waa in possession and refused to vacate the premises prem isea sald said he be was occupying hib hla own ca binand not interfering with anybody y els elsos and said eaid cabin was waa standing on the same dirt and bame same ranch it had bad always stood on and would like to see aee anybody make him vacate and when I 1 reminded him 21 said sides weeping th that at I 1 it t was on top of my ranch and that he was waa trespassing tres passing he had bad the infernal meanness to ask me why I 1 lon aay bay ion ay on my mv ranch and bold possession wheel when I 1 bee ese him why I 1 stay on it the blathering Ju lunatic natiel and by georgel george when I 1 heard that racket and looked up that hill it was f just like the whole world was a ripping and a tearing down that mountain side trees going i end over end in the air rocks rocki as big as a house bouse jumping about a thousand feet high and bursting into ten teo million pieces cattie cattle cat tle tie literally turned inside out and ani a coming head on with their talis tails banging han ban pine out between their deeta I 1 just took one glimpse of that spectacle icle general and I 1 lit ouan the country in three jumps exactly but what grinds me is that morgan hangs rn on there and wont move that ranch says its and hes going to keep it likes it bet tern he did when it was wag higher up the hill mad madl well ive been BO so mad for two days I 1 find my way to town been wandering around in the bush in a starving condition got anything here to drink general but pm im here now and im a going to jaw law you hear me the innocent general was abaz ed he said paid he had bal suspected before that the people of that territory were fools and now he knew know it but he said arest reat easy rest easy and collect the tho witnesses for the victory was just as certain aa as if the conflict were already over sides bides wiped away his tears and left at two in the afternoon Re referrer fernee ferree hoopla court opened and that re mor horseless seless old oid joker among his sheriffs his witnesses and a packed jury and wearing upon his face a fraudulent solemnity eo po awe inspiring that some of hig his fel rel low jow lad iad lad misgivings that may be be he had not comprehended after all that this thia was merely a joke ajoku an unearthly stillness prevailed for at the slightest noise the judge uttered sternly the tho command order in the court courtl way for the united states attorney the witnesses were called lagis gators high government officers ranchmen ranchman ranch men miner minere indians negroes three fourths of them were called by the defendant morgan but no matter matier their testimony went variably Jn in favor of the plain plaintiff tim tIT sides each now witness only added new testimony to the absurdity of a man mans a claiming to own another mans property his farm had slid down on top of it then the morgan lawyers made their speeches and seemed to make singularly weak ones they really nothing to help the morgan cause and now the general genera with a great glow of triumph on his face got up and made a mighty effort he pounded the table he banged the jaw law books he shouted and roared and howled he quoted from everything and everybody poetry sarcasm barcum statistics history pathos and blasphemy and wound up with a war whoop for free speech freedom of the press tree free schools the glorious bird of america and the principles of eternal justice applause ex governor roop boop leaned his head upon his hands for some minutes thinking profoundly and the still audience waiting breathlessly for his decision then he got up stood erect with bended head and thought again then he walked the floor with long iong ion lon deliberate strides and his chin in his hand and still the audience waited at last he returned to his throne and seated himself the sheriffs commanded the attention ot of the court jud judge koop roop cleared his throat and sald eaid gentlemen I 1 feel the great responsibility th W at rests upon me this day this is no ordinary case on the contrary it la Is plain anat it is the most solemn and awful that every a man was cal cai called led upon to decide S gentie gentle gentlemen I 1 r have listened attentively to M the I 1 evi evl dence dance and the weight of it the overwhelming weight cf it Is in favor avor of the plaintiff sides I 1 have also to the remarks with high interest and especially will I 1 commend the masterly and irrefutable logic of the distinguished gentlemen who represent the plaintiff but gentlemen let us beware how we allow human testimony human ingenuity in argument aud and human ideas of equity to influence us to our undoing at a moment BO so solemn as thie this gentlemen it ill III becomes us worms as we areg bre are to meddle with the decree of heaven it Is plain to me that heaven in its inscrutable wisdom has seen peen fit to move this defendant ranch for a pur put purpose pose we are but creatures and we must submit it if heaven has chosen to favor the defendant morgan in this marked and wonderful manner and if heaven unsatisfied with th the 0 pc eltion of the tho morgan ranch upon the moun mountain taia tala side has chosen to remove it to a position more eligible and more advantageous for its owner it ill III becomes us insects as we arr ari to question the legality of the act no heaven leaven 1 created the ranche ranches and it t is heavens to rearrange them thern to experiment with them to shift them around at its pleasure it is for us to submit without repining I 1 warn you that this thing which has happened is a thing w with tb which the sacrilegious hands bandi and brains and tongues of men must not meddle gentlemen it Is the verdict of this court that the plain tim tiff richard F side bide has been deprive deprived of his bis ranch by the visitant visitation ion lon 0 of godl and from this decision there is is no appeal buncombe seized his cargo of law books and plunged out of the court room a madman almost in all good faith he returned at inight night and remonstrated with roop hoop upon his extravagant decisions decision and implored him to walk valk the floor and think for half an hour and bee eee if he could not figure out some sort bort of modification of the verdict ROOP boop yielded at last and got up to walk he walked two hours and a half and at last his face lit up happily happi lyland and be he told buncombe that it had occurred to him that the ranch underneath the new morgan ranch still belong belfri g ed to sides that his title to the ground itself was just as good as it had ever been and therefore he was of opinion that sides bides had bad a right to dig it out from under therland there and the general never waited to hear bear the end of it he was always an impatient and man that way vay w ay at khe the end 0 two weeks he got it through his understanding that he had been played upon with a joke johe |