Don't Drink and Swap

The household of our veterinarian friend, Mike O'Hearn, included his older brother, Dennis, a bachelor who earned a living as a day laborer.

One autumn morning in 1914, Dennis awoke with a hangover and a troubling memory of having swapped his horse, which he valued at $150, for … well, for something that wasn't worth $150. In fact, a piano. He'd gotten drunk and swapped his horse for Jesse Long's piano. Could he even play the piano, I wonder? — because he had sold the piano right back to Jesse for $20.

Dennis wasn't happy. Even when his hangover wore off, he wasn't happy. He hired a lawyer and sued Jesse to get his horse back. Jesse, it turned out, had sold the horse to William Juhnke for $65. So William was dragged into the case as a defendant as well.

The matter came up for hearing before Justice of the Peace John Mathews on November 21, 1914. Dennis was represented by attorney D.P. Blake, the defendants by R.R. Peddicord. The substance of Dennis' case was that Jesse and William had conspired to get him drunk, and while his mind was befogged by spirits, they had induced him to make that lopsided trade. He was perfectly willing to return the $20 he'd made by selling the piano back to Jesse, and in fact had already tendered it to the court. Now he just wanted his horse back.

Judge Mathews heard all the evidence and retired to consider the case. After several hours' deliberation, he decided in favor of the defendants. Dennis may well have been drunk when he made the trade, said the judge, but there was no evidence that Jesse and William had gotten him into that condition. So William could keep the horse, Jesse could keep the piano, and as for the $20, Attorney Peddicord immediately issued an attachment to hold it for payment of court costs. "The $20 will look pretty sick when the costs are all paid," said the Gazette.

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A couple months after this case, Judge Mathews announced his resignation as justice of the peace, a position he had held for 28 years continuously except for a four-year term when M.W. Jory served. Mathews, a Civil War veteran, was then 80 and "beginning to feel the weight of the years." Henceforward he intended to do only notarial work. His resignation left Hobart Township with only one justice of the peace, John Killigrew.

If any of his docket books ever reached the Hobart Historical Society, I haven't found them yet.


Sources:
♦ 1910 Census.
♦ "Horse Case Settled." Hobart Gazette 27 Nov. 1914.
♦ "Justice John Mathews Retires After 28 Years of Service." Hobart News 11 Feb. 1915.
♦ "Resigns as Justice." Hobart Gazette 12 Feb. 1915.