The Business Master (3rd Edition)/The Business Master (3rd Edition).iso/files/deskhing/rubicon1/rup22c.exe/TEXT.ONE

Text File | 1991-04-01 | 5KB | 97 lines

At that time, in Kentucky (said the Hon. Mr. K--), the law was very
strict against what are termed ``games of chance''. About a dozen of the
boys were detected playing ``seven-up'' or ``old sledge'' for money, and
the grand jury found a true bill against them. Jim Sturgis was retained
to defend them when the case came up, of course. The more he studied
over the matter, and looked into the evidence, the plainer it was that
he must lose a case at last--there was no getting around that painful
fact. Those boys had certainly been betting money on a game of chance.
Even public sympathy was roused in behalf of Sturgis. People said it was
a pity to see him mar his successful career with a big prominent case
like this, which must go against him.

But after several restless nights an inspired idea flashed upon Sturgis,
and he sprang out of bed delighted. He thought he saw his way through.
The next day he whispered around a little among his clients and a few
friends, and then when the case came up in court he acknowledged the
seven-up and the betting, and, as his sole defense, had the astounding
effrontery to put in the plea that old sledge was not a game of chance!
There was the broadest sort of smile all over the faces of that
sophisticated audience. The judge smiled with the rest. But Sturgis
maintained a countenance whose earnestness was even severe. The opposite
counsel tried to ridicule him out of his position, and did not succeed.
The judge jested in a ponderous judicial way about the thing, but did
not move him. The matter was becoming grave. The judge lost a little of
his patience, and said the joke had gone far enough. Jim Sturgis said he
knew of no joke in the matter--his clients could not be punished for
indulging in what some people chose to consider a game of chance until
it was proven that it was a game of chance. Judge and counsel said that
would be an easy matter, and forthwith called Deacons Job, Peters,
Burke, and Johnson, and Dominies Wirt and Miggles, to testify; and they
unanimously and with strong feeling put down the legal quibble of
Sturgis by pronouncing that old sledge was a game of chance.

``What do you call it now?'' said the judge.

``I call it a game of science!'' retorted Sturgis; ``and I'll prove it,
too!''

They saw his little game.

He brought in a cloud of witnesses, and produced an overwhelming mass of
testimony, to show that old sledge was not a game of chance but a game
of science.

Instead of being the simplest case in the world, it had somehow turned
out to be an excessively knotty one. The judge scratched his head over
it awhile, and said there was no way of coming to a determination,
because just as many men could be brought into court who would testify
on one side as could be found to testify on the other. But he said he
was willing to do the fair thing by all parties, and would act upon any
suggestion Mr. Sturgis would make for the solution of the difficulty.

Mr. Sturgis was on his feet in a second.

``Impanel a jury of six each, Luck versus Science. Give them candles and
a couple of decks of cards. Send them into the jury-room, and just abide
by the result!''

There was no disputing the fairness of the proposition. The four deacons
and the two dominies were sworn in as the ``chance'' jurymen, and six
inveterate old seven-up professors were chosen to represent the
``science'' side of the issue. They retired to the jury-room.

In about two hours Deacon Peters sent into court to borrow three dollars
from a friend. [Sensation.] In about two hours more Dominie Miggles sent
into court to borrow a ``stake'' from a friend. [Sensation.] During the
next three or four hours the other dominie and the other deacons sent
into court for small loans. And still the packed audience waited, for it
was a prodigious occasion in Bull's Corners, and one in which every
father of a family was necessarily interested.

The rest of the story can be told briefly. About daylight the jury came
in, and Deacon Job, the foreman, read the following verdict:

We, the jury in the case of the Commonwealth of Kentucky vs. John
Wheeler et al., have carefully considered the points of the case, and
tested the merits of the several theories advanced, and do hereby
unanimously decide that the game commonly known as old sledge or
seven-up is eminently a game of science and not of chance. In
demonstration whereof it is hereby and herein stated, iterated,
reiterated, set forth, and made manifest that, during the entire night,
the ``chance'' men never won a game or turned a jack, although both
feats were common and frequent to the opposition; and furthermore, in
support of this our verdict, we call attention to the significant fact
that the ``chance'' men are all busted, and the ``science'' men have got
the money. It is the deliberate opinion of this jury, that the
``chance'' theory concerning seven-up is a pernicious doctrine, and
calculated to inflict untold suffering and pecuniary loss upon any
community that takes stock in it.

``That is the way that seven-up came to be set apart and particularized
in the statute-books of Kentucky as being a game not of chance but of
science, and therefore not punishable under the law,'' said Mr. K--.
``That verdict is of record, and holds good to this day.''

--Mark Twain (1870)