A big-city lawyer was representing the railroad
in a lawsuit filed by
an old rancher. The rancher’s prize bull was
missing from the section
through which the railroad passed. The
rancher only wanted to be paid
the fair value of the bull.
The
case was scheduled to be tried before the justice of the peace in
the back room of the general store.
The attorney for the
railroad immediately cornered the rancher and
tried to get him to settle
out of court. The lawyer did his best selling
job, and finally the
rancher agreed to take half of what he was asking.
After the
rancher had signed the release and took the check, the young
lawyer
couldn’t resist gloating a little over his success, telling the
rancher, „You know, I hate to tell you this, old man, but I put one
over on you in there. I couldn’t have won the case. The engineer was
asleep and the fireman was in the caboose when the train went thr
ough your
ranch that morning. I didn’t have one witness to put on
the stand. I
bluffed you!“
The old rancher replied, „Well,
I’ll tell you, young feller, I was a
little worried about winning
that case myself, because that durned bull
came home this
morning.“
