Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1879 — A Lawsuit Extraordinary. [ARTICLE]

A Lawsuit Extraordinary.

White Mr. Seward was a member of the New York Bar in active practice In 1848, the Postmaster of Syracuse refused to deliver a newspaper to a Miss, Felton, to whom it was addressed, without the payment of letter postage, the sender having placed upon it the initial letter of his name. Miss Felton thereupon sued the Postmaster in trover for the value of the paper, and the case was tried before a Justice of the Peace, who held the postal instructions illegal and consequently gave six cents damages and coSts of $2.89 for plaintiff. The case was carried by the Postmaster to the Cotrrt of Common Pleas, which affirmed the judgment with additional costa of $2195. From there it was carried to the-Supreme Court, of the State, which added $87.65 to the judgment before rendered, add the Postmaster then ap-

pealed the case to the Court of Appeals, where the judgment was affirmed with the additional sum of (76.64, making (136.19 in all. j Not satisfied with this measure of justice in the State Courts, the Postmaster went with the case to the Supreme Court of the United States, where it was elaborately argued by Mr. Seward, and decided by a very labored opinion of the Court, affirming the finding of the other courts and rendering Judgment accordingly, but with what costs the record does not show. The case as decided by the Court of Appeals in New York is reported in 1 Comstock, 637, and as decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in the 12th Howard, 284, in which volume it occupies nine pages.— Bangor (Me.) Whig.