Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 March 1910 — A Calamity. [ARTICLE]

A Calamity.

A noted judge was examining a candidate for admission to the bar. All the questions had been satisfactorily answered and the lawyer-to-be had passed so brilliantly that the judge decided to put a simple question to terminate the ordeal. Gazing benignly at the young man, he asked: “ ’What is the liability of 4 common carrier?’ "Although lawyers the world over and from time immemorial have wrestled with this problem, though -■millions of words have been taken into the record of various cases in which this unanswerable question was involved, the fledging calmly eyed the judge and at last solemnly replied: “ ‘Your honor, I must beg you to withdraw that question. I did know ,the answer, but unfortunately I have forgotten.’ '] “For a minute the judge eyed the young man, then turning to the lawyers who were grouped around him, remarked: “ ‘Gentlemen, this sad case, in fact, a calamity. The only living man who ever knew the liability of a common carrier has forgotten.’ ”