The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
?.5 
Legal Questions 
Vifiage Indebtedness 
I have recently bought a farm within 
the corporate limits of a town—830 ft. 
of frontage on the street. Recently the 
village voted to build a reinforced con¬ 
crete pavement the full length of the 
street. From the point, where my farm 
begins to the mid of the street there are 
but four houses, owners of two of which 
do not want the pavement, but the pe¬ 
tition was put through by getting the 
signers on the other side of the street. 
Now I believe in good roads as much as 
anyone, but we already have a good road 
with hard bottom. The town is already 
in debt over $30,000 (this road will bring 
it close to $00,000) on a valuation of 
about $500.(100. anil I do not feel that I 
should be compelled to pay up towards 
$11,000 for something not absolutely neces¬ 
sary. Is there any way I can g'-t out of 
it? Is there a legal limit to the amount 
of debt a town can have? My place is as¬ 
sessed for $3,000, which makes my share 
of the bonded indebtedness over 30 per 
cent of assessment on farm. E. 
If your village was chartered under a 
special charter granted by the Legisla¬ 
ture, as many of the older villages were 
incorporated, the charter will probably 
provide a limitation on the amount of in¬ 
debtedness oil the village. If it was in¬ 
corporated under the general village laws, 
the village will be governed by a section 
of the village law which provides “a vil¬ 
lage shall not incur imjehtednes if thereby 
its total contract indebtedness, exclusive 
of the liabilities for which taxes have 
already been levied and obligations issued 
to provide for the supply of water, shall 
exceed 10 per centum of the assessed val¬ 
uation of the real property of such vig- 
lage. subject, to the taxation as it ap¬ 
peared on the lost preceding village assess¬ 
ment roll." >’.T. 
that might be put up if second owner did 
not want to put money into a better 
fence at present? llovv soon after a de¬ 
mand for a new fence is made must sec¬ 
ond owner put up fence? What is the 
time limit before legal action may he 
taken? If demand is for an immediate 
rebuilding must second owner ..ply or 
wait his own Convenience, and how long 
may lie wait? These fence questions are 
for Western Massachusetts? C. B. 
New Jersey. 
Statutory fence in Massachusetts is 4 
feet in height in good repair. There is 
no specified material from which tile fence 
shall be constructed. If an adjoining 
owner fails to construct a fence, com¬ 
plaint may be made to two or more fence 
viewers, who will require the adjoining 
owner to build a fence wirhin a reason¬ 
able time, not exceeding 15 days, and if 
it is not built within that time the com¬ 
plainant may build the fence and recover 
the value thereof from the adjoining land 
owner. N. T. 
Property Exempt Under Execution 
Will you advise me just how much 
property (real estate and personal) a 
man and wife can hold that will be im¬ 
mune from law? Just how much is one 
allowed in this Stare for his living? 
New York. mbs. v. ar, 
I assume that a judgment has been 
entered against you and what you wish to 
know is how much property is exempt 
from sale under an execution. A house¬ 
holder is entitled to household necessities, 
family books, not exceeding in value $50. 
10 sheep, one cow, two swim* and neces¬ 
sary food for those animals, necessary 
food and groceries actually provided for 
family use, and, fuel lor family for OR days. 
the tools and implements of a mechanic 
necessary for the carrying on of his trade 
not exceeding value $35; also working 
tools, team, professional instruments, food 
for team for 00 days are exempt from 
levy and sale by virtue of an execution 
when owned by persons being a house¬ 
holder having a family for which he pro¬ 
vides, except, where the execution is is¬ 
sued after a judgment recovered only 
upon one or more demands either for 
work performed in the family either as a 
domestic or for the purchase money of 
one. or more articles exempted as herein¬ 
before set forth. 
Real property is not exempt, and if a 
man is earning $12 or more a week his 
wages may be attached to the extent of 
10 per cent thereof. N. T. 
Damages for Trespassing Horses 
What should we do in a case like this? 
We have three horses running in a lot. 
Sunday night they broke the fence and 
went in a farm quite a way from here. 
Monday morning we went to look for t.he 
horses and found that the owner of the 
farm had them in his pasture, and said 
that we could not have them unless we 
paid $25 for the damage they had done 
to his carrots, and for the trouble he 
took to chase them into his pasture. We 
went to se ( > the damage, and there were 
no carrots injured that amounted to any¬ 
th big. At the most there was $2 damage. 
A - we needed the horses to do work, and 
did not know any better, we paid the $25 
and got a receipt. Was he right to say 
that we could not have the horses? If 
not. what should we have done to get 
them? If we had Ter him keep the horses 
could we have sued him for the time they 
were losing, as we needed them to do very 
important work? Did we do right to pay 
the $25? If not, tan we do anything 
now? P. A. I. 
New York. 
If the animals in question were found 
trespassing on the real property of the 
person who made the seizure, having en¬ 
tered thereupon from a street, highway 
or place, he had a Tight to make the 
seizure. It was his duty immediately 
thereafter to file a petition with the jus¬ 
tice of the peace of the town in which the 
seizure was made, setting forth the facts, 
describing the animals, and giving the 
name of the owner and the amount of 
damage which he had sustained. On re¬ 
ceipt of the petition it was the duty of 
the justice to issue a precept directed to 
the owner of the animals. On the return 
of if the owner had a right to put. in an 
answer and submit evidence. The high¬ 
handed way in which some farmers lock 
up the cattle of their neighbor and exact 
large sums for damage should be brought 
to a halt. There arc hut very few who 
seize cattle who attempt to comply with 
the law. and if all the facts which you 
state are true and you have witnesses to 
support the facts, yon no doubt could 
bring an action against the person who 
seized your cattle for the recovery of 
money paid to him. No doubt, however, 
it would cost you more than you have 
paid, and it might be wiser for you to 
charge the $25 to your educational ac¬ 
count. N. T. 
Married Woman’s Property in Iowa 
What is the law in Iowa for a married 
woman to dispose of property in her 
name? Can the property of the wife be 
held for the personal tax of the husband? 
Iowa, MRS. H. D. 
A married woman may own property 
in her own name under the laws of the 
State of Iowa and may manage, sell, con¬ 
vey and devise the same to the same ex¬ 
tent that the husband can property be¬ 
longing to him. Neither husband nor 
wife is liable for the separate debts of 
the other. The husband or wife is en¬ 
titled to one-third in fee of all the real 
property possessed by deceased during 
marriage which has not been sold at 
judicial sale or to which survivor has 
made no relinquishment of dower. N. T. 
■riftPob!' 
C3- ''V. ** 
Title to Real Estate in Pennsylvania 
I am about to buy a place in Pike Co.. 
Pa., owned by a man whose wife died 
September. 1020. leaving no children, hut 
one sister and niece in New York City. 
Does her share in property revert to her 
husband, and has her sister any claim to 
her dower rights? The property was not 
in both names, only in name of the hus¬ 
band. It has been difficult fur me to get 
information about this point in Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and should there be an outside 
claimant would hesitate to take this 
property. E. A. w. 
Brooklyn. N. Y. 
The laws of the State of Pennsylvania 
provide that where an intestate shall 
leave a spouse surviving and other kin¬ 
dred. but no issue, the surviving spouse 
shall be entitled to the real or personal 
property, or both, to the aggregate value 
of $5,000, anil if sueh an estate shall ex¬ 
ceed in value the sum of $5,000 the sur¬ 
viving spouse shall be entitled to the sum 
,if $5,000 absolutely, to be chosen by him 
or her from real or personal estate or 
both, and in addition thereto shall be 
entitled to one-half part of the remaining 
real and personal estate. 
This applies only in the case of persons 
dying without leaving a will. If the 
title was all in the name of the surviving 
husband, ‘the wife's dower right never 
materialized, she having died first, and 
the husband can convey. x. T. 
Payment of Interest on Mortgage 
C blivs farm and gives S mortgage for 
$1.250,‘and then sells to C. who accepts 
mortgage and receives warranty deed. C 
sells to R. who accepts mortgage and re¬ 
ceives same kind of deed. When R goes 
to pay his interest $ informs him that 
there is $80 back interest that G neg¬ 
lected to pay. as the bond shows, and S 
also admits that it might have been paid 
off. but she neglected to record it. and it 
G will show his interest receipt it would 
be all right. C claims that nil receipts were 
destroyed after selling to C. but is posi¬ 
tive all interest was paid. Now 8 wants 
R to pay back interest and threatens to 
foreclose mortgage, which will be due in 
a short while. Who is responsible for 
the $80—G. Cor R? R - 
New York. 
If R look title to the property in ques¬ 
tion. and assumed and agreed to pay the 
mortgage which was on the premises at 
the time, ho is liable in the first instance 
to the mortgagee. In the event of an 
attempt to foreclose the mortgage for the 
$80, which is claimed by the mortgagee, 
R could produce any evidence that he 
might have to show that the interest was 
paid by G, (» having signed the bond, is 
liable also for the interest. X, T. 
Legal Fence in Massachusetts 
I understand that either of the two 
owners of a dividing fence may be com¬ 
pelled by either party to rebuild and keep 
in order said fence. Say the fence is 
neglected by both and becomes a mere 
makeshift, if one party decides to keep 
cattle and rebuilds his share in a strong 
way. chestnut posts, etc., can lie compel 
the other party to build the same kind of 
fence, or will a number of wires strung 
along line trees answer the purpose? Is 
there any legal right to demand any par¬ 
ticular kind of fence, and is there any 
limit to the makeshift quality of fence 
Increased Milk, Production 
-and a better grade of mil 
M ORE and richer milk is well worth trying for. It means more 
money on the profit side of dairying. And it is far from being 
just a dream. In every herd there are certain cows that are not 
yielding up to capacity, just because of some reduced vitality of genital 
or digestive organs—some sluggish condition of the milk-making organ¬ 
ism that proper medicinal aid would quickly correct. 
It is just such conditions—very common to hard-worked milch cows 
—that Kow-Kare is able to clear up; because this famous cow' medicine 
has properties that act directly on the organs of production and 
reproduction, making them function as Nature intended. Besides effec¬ 
tively preventing the ailments that make cows unprofitable, Kow-Kare 
has a nation-wide reputation as a reliable remedy in the treatment of 
Barrenness, Abortion, Retained Afterbirth, Scouring, Bunches, Milk 
Fever, Loss of Appetite, etc. 
Play safe; know' what to do when a cow is sick. Send for our free 
book on cow' ailments, "The Home Cow' Doctor.” It tells the right treat¬ 
ment for various ailments, and has a wealth of information valuable to 
cow owners. 
Kow-Kare is sold by general stores, 
feed dealers and druggists, at tha 
new reduced prices—65c and $1.25. 
DAIRY ASSOCIATION CO., INC. 
Lyndonville, Vt. 
“Penny-a-Day 
Prevention” 
The cheapest health ln- 
tunneo you can Invest In 
U to use Kow-Kare reg¬ 
ularly a part ol esery week 
during the winter to heep 
the assimilation. and di¬ 
gestion In good order and 
tfuow off disease. Many 
t( the most serious dis¬ 
orders that arise during 
calving period can. he pre¬ 
vented try using Kcvw-Kara 
for a couple of weeks be¬ 
fore and af'er Pori't 
overlook this suggestion. 
