1236 
‘Tht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Legal Questions 
The Hen and the Chicken Thief 
If my neighbor’s hens come on my 
premises and do damage and 1 notify him 
to that effect, have I the right to shoot 
them if he neglects to pay any attention 
to them, or what redress have I in the 
matter? o. H. F. 
Massachusetts. 
This is the old. nevei’-ending trouble be¬ 
tween neighbors. A hen’s claw will pull 
more friendships apart than a steam en¬ 
gine ever could. A trespassing hen vio¬ 
lates much the same law as a trespassing 
elephant. The difference is in their size 
and the damage they do. A trespassing 
hen does not become a wild animal, as 
some people claim. You can fence her 
out, or you can entice her into a house 
and yard and keep her until her owner 
pays damage. You can go and fight the 
■ owner or call him names at a safe dis¬ 
tance. The shotgun remedy is practiced 
by many exasperated farmers and gar¬ 
deners. After repeated damage they write 
the owner that if the hens come back they 
wlil be shot. If after this warning the 
hens come back, you may shoot them and 
take the consequences. After shooting 
the hens throw them over the line on the 
If such order be issued and the owner 
fails to kill such dog as required therein, 
a duly designated representative of the 
Department of Farms and Markets or 
any peace officer shall kill such dog on or 
off the premises of the owner, and any 
person may kill such dog if running at 
large off the premises of the owner. 
The Cow and the Car 
Will you inform me what we can do in 
regard to this case? We met half a 
dozen cows in the road, driven by a dog. 
The owner was six or eight, rods behind. 
All but two of the. cows were on the left 
side of the road; those two,were directly 
in front of us at. the extreme right, .and 
walking slowly, so we started to turn the 
car (which we were driving slowly) be¬ 
tween them, to avoid running into them, 
but just as we turned the dog jumped and 
bit one of them, and she jumped and land¬ 
ed directly against the front end of our 
car. badly smashing it. so we couldn’t 
guide it, and before we could stop the 
right wheel was in the ditch. The owner 
has over 200 acres on one side. of. the road 
and was driving the cows along the road 
to pasture. Is he liable for damages, or 
how would it be? lie made no offer to do 
anything about it. and we said nothing, 
preferring to wait until we knew the 
rights of the matter. Must a person stop 
and drive stock out of his way to avoid 
the barn and take my horses, or keep a 
truck, when the family car will answer 
both purposes? A man told me that the 
.State police are looking up people who 
are using their cars in that. way. If a 
farmer can use a car only for pleasure it 
would be a poor investment. About two 
months ago my brother sent his boy to 
town with his car; he had been doing the 
same thing for a year. This time they ar¬ 
rested him and fined him $1 and $3.37 
costs, and made him take a 25c license to 
drive a car. f. e. s. 
Chautauqua Co., N. Y. 
We sent this complaint totlie Secretary 
of State at Albany. As to the first ques¬ 
tion he says: 
“If the body of the car to which you 
refer in your letter is not changed in de¬ 
sign from a pleasure vehicle, it will not 
require a commercial license. If, how¬ 
ever, you add a box or a rack, or change 
it from a pleasure vehicle' in any way, 
then the car must be registered as a com¬ 
mercial vehicle.” 
As. regards, the question about fine and 
license, Mr.’ ITfigo says: 
“I think your reader is in error. This 
department does not issue a license for 
which a 25-cen't fee is payable, and there 
is ifo, other department in the State that 
is authorized by law to issue licenses to 
operate motor vehicle?.” 
Damage by Bull 
I own a farm where the pasture land 
that the public highway road goes through 
is not fenced and never has been. The 
road has been there for a great many 
owner’s premises. If the owner is large 
enough he may thrash you or he may 
bring suit for the value of the liens. You 
may bring a counter suit for the damage 
they have done. It is all a very small 
and irritating business, and perhaps the 
smallest specimen of a man is the citizen 
who will persist in letting his hens de¬ 
stroy the neighbor’s gardens. 
We people in this section are losing 
hens and chickens (many of them), as 
chicken thieves are taking them right and 
left. If I find one of them stealing my 
hens, what is the penalty if I give him 
some fine bird shot in his lower extrem¬ 
ities ? C. P. 
It. is not likely that any thief would 
ever come back to exact a penalty. You 
have the right to defend your property, if 
you have a gun license. Our advice would 
be to use coarse' salt instead of fine shot, 
and aim low. It is bad work to shoot 
at anyone, especially at night, yet a 
charge of salt well applied in the legs will 
cause many a thief to run away from fu¬ 
ture temptation. 
-1 Typical One-room Sehoolhouse in 'New York Slate 
The Dog on the Road 
A family in this neighborhood has a dog 
which chases automobiles, horses and 
wagons, pedestrians, or anything which 
passes. By frightening horses several ac¬ 
cidents have nearly happened. The fam¬ 
ily make no effort to stop this annoyance. 
They have been told to keep him off the 
road by a person whose horse he has 
badly frightened several times by his 
barking and chasing. They will not keep 
him tied up. What can he done about it? 
The dog also runs over the neighbors’ 
crops and damages them quite a good 
deal. Can this dog be shot at the time 
he is barking at a rig on the highway, 
and if he cannot, and can be disposed of 
in any way, to whom can we apply to 
have this done? He is certainly a great 
nuisance. F. H. A. 
Onondaga Co., N. Y. 
We should think such a case would fall 
under the new dog law. Section 139-a 
reads as follows. On complaint the own¬ 
er would be obliged to kill the dog, pro¬ 
vided he does what you claim. It would 
do little good for some victim to talk to 
the owner. Go to the justice of the peace! 
If a dog shall attack a person who is 
peaceably traveling upon a street or high¬ 
way or is otherwise peaceably conducting 
himself on premises where he may law¬ 
fully be. or shall attack his horse or team 
or any domestic animal having a commer¬ 
cial value, which is peaceably traveling 
on a street or highway in charge of such 
person, or on premises where it may 
lawfully be, and complaint thereof be 
made by the person attacked, or if a child 
by his parent or guardian, or in case of 
an animal, by the owner or person in 
charge of the same, or by a duly desig¬ 
nated representative of the Department 
of Farms; and Markets, or any peace offi¬ 
cer, to a justice of the peace of the town, 
or, within a city, to a police justice or 
judge of a municipal court having the 
general jurisdiction of a justice of the 
peace, such justice or court shall inquire 
into the complaint, upon notice of not less 
than three days to the owner of the dog. 
If upon investigation of the facts lie is 
satisfied of the truth of the complaint, 
such justice or court shall order the own¬ 
er to kill the dog immediately. An owner 
who fails to kill such dog within 48 hours 
after the service, either personally or by 
registered mail, upon him of such order, 
shall be subject to a penalty of $25 and 
the further penalty of $2 for each 24 
hours thereafter until the dog is killed. 
running into them? This man has land 
enough to have a lane in which to run his 
stock, without using the public road. 
Michigan. j. g. 
In a Massachusetts case a dog ran into 
an automobile, causing it to skid into a 
horse, thereby causing the horse to rear 
and descend upon the automobile with its 
front feet, inflicting serious injury upon 
the automobile. Suit was brought against 
the owner of the dog. .and he was found 
liable for damages. Practically the same 
case was settled in the same way in the 
State of Maine., and no doubt such would 
be the la"' in the State, of Michigan, and 
a judge would be obliged to charge the 
jury that if they found that the dog was 
the proximate cause of the injury to the 
automobile, the owner of the dog would 
be liable in damages. However, strictly 
speaking, it would be difficult to find a 
jury of farmers who would give damages 
to the owner of an automobile, claiming 
injuries received from a cow. While the 
owner of the automobile undoubtedly has 
a right to bring suit, and might be able to 
recover, there is more than the even 
chance that his attorney’s fees, trouble 
and time would more than eat up any 
judgment which he might receive. My 
advice to him would be the same that it 
would be to Germany—forget it and go to 
work. c. B. 
The Voter’s Age 
What is the necessity or reason or 
common sense in making a woman tell her 
age before allowing her to vote? What 
difference can her age possibly make, pro¬ 
vided she is over 21 and under 99? How 
much more does the Government know 
about her age after she has given figures? 
Is there not enough falsehood in the world 
without deliberately tempting every wom¬ 
an in the United States in this particular 
way? Is not man lofty enough and loyal 
enough to repeal this odious law or cus¬ 
tom ? L. B. 
In New York State woman has now 
as much to say about repeal as man has. 
If that requirement is offensive it should 
be cut out. It is not essential, and we 
are sure that many election officers do not 
enforce it. But, men will ask, why should 
a woman object to giving her exact age? 
A Commercial License for Cars 
Regarding automobile license, suppose 
I have a family ear, and I wish to take my 
eggs or berries into town, or want to get 
a few bags of feed, have I a right to carry 
it in the car without the State police ar¬ 
resting me? Must I let my car stand in 
years. I have stock in this pasture, 
which a bull runs with. If this bull 
should do damage or chase a'ny person, 
what could the person do? If I post my 
farm with signs of “No trespassing on 
farm,” what could the person do if this 
bull should do injury to anyone? Could 
I make the town fence this highway? 
This is not an ugly bull, but makes a 
great noise at strangers. E. A. H. 
New York. 
You cannot jnake the town fence your 
bull in the pasture. You must do that. 
If your pasture is not fenced and your 
bull should come on the highway and 
injure anyone, rightfully there you could 
be held responsible for the damage. As 
a general thing bulls have a reputation 
of being of an ugly disposition, and to 
allow one to pasture along an unfenced 
highway, even though his disposition has 
so far been good, cannot be said to be 
taking the proper care of him. A grown 
bull is a dangerous animal, and the own¬ 
er of one must take reasonable care of 
him. It is cheaper in the long run to 
take good care of him than to pay the 
damage he does in one way or another. 
If he makes a great noise at strangers, it 
is only a question of time when he will go 
further. 
Fence Across Road 
A road leading to State road is only 
used by a few people. It is the nearest 
way for our children to go to school; to , 
go by way of other road doubles distance, 
and at times it is the only way V can get 
out with a car. In order to drain wet 
land II has his tenant, A, tear out bridge 
and build a wire fence at his line on the 
north and one at road fence beside State 
road. He says road commissioner gave 
him permission, but they didn’t erect 
signs or notify anyone of it. Have they 
any right to close this road? If not. what 
can V and L do to have it opened and 
bridge repaired? C. B. 
New York. 
It is quite likely that this short cut 
road is a private road. If it is not, but 
is a public road. II has no right to fence 
it, and the road commissioner has ex¬ 
ceeded his authority in telling him he 
could do so. If it has been or is a public 
road it would have to be annulled by ap¬ 
propriate proceedings before II would 
have the right to fence it. If it is a pri¬ 
vate road, of course II may fence it un¬ 
less V and I. and their predecessors have 
used it for more than 20 years, in which 
case they have undoubtedly obtained a 
August 2.3, IP 10 
prescriptive right to use the road with¬ 
out a fence or drain across it. See the 
town road commissioner and find out from 
him if the road is a township road. If 
it is, tell him you would like to have it 
kept open as a public highway. If it is 
not, see II and tell him you have used it 
so long you have obtained the right thy 
prescription) to the use of the road with¬ 
out fence or ditch. If this be not the case, 
you will have to take what H gives you. 
Joint Deed to Husband and Wife 
Will you give full details of joint deed 
of husband and wife? Can the wife go 
in town in Vinter to live as long as she 
takes care of herself? Wife paid same 
amount of money that she worked for 
when they bought farm. MRS. E. G. 
New York. 
Land conveyed to husband and wife in 
New York makes them tenants by the 
entirety ; that is, each one has a complete 
interest in it, but neither can sell or dis¬ 
pose of it in any way without the other, 
and on the death of either, complete title 
would immediately vest in the survivor, 
l he wife may go. to town and stay as long 
as she pleases, .and nothing her husband 
can do would defeat her interest in the 
property. ' . 
Chemical Closets in Country Schools 
The accompanying cut shows a' typical 
one-room sehoolhouse in New York State 
with the outdoor closets that have now 
fallen under the ban of the Educational 
Department. In 1916, the Regents or¬ 
dered that all such detached closets b> 
done away with, and that interior toilets, 
directly accessible from the schoolroom or 
a common hall through a connecting ante¬ 
room. be installed. The time limit for 
thus alteration is now stated to expire 
with the current year, except in districts 
where the sehoolhouse is unfit for use' and 
must be remodeled‘or replaced in the 
immediate future ; where consolidation is 
to be effected or where the district valu¬ 
ation is below $20,000 and the school 
attendance is small. 
This sehoolhouse is prettily situated 
upon the bank of a stream in the valley, 
and the closets are nearly hidden by the 
trees and shrubbery that line the water¬ 
course. As required by law, the closets 
are separated from each other by a tight 
board fence and are perhaps 30 feet apart. 
The instability of fences, however, is 
shown by the fact that a wide board is 
missing from this one, forming a con¬ 
venient gateway through the screen, and 
that the whole structure is tottering upon 
rotted posts. The writer does not recall 
the condition of this fence, if indeed it 
was there, when he -taught a Winter term 
of school in the district some 30 years 
ago, but the old sehoolhouse stands, as 
it has stood for generations, witnessing 
revolutionary changes which have con¬ 
vulsed the world, but which have not in 
any way altered its mission or changed 
the peaceful dreaminess of its July set¬ 
ting. 
The patrons of the school, which now 
numbers but 10 or 12 pupils, are by no 
means convinced that an order compell¬ 
ing them to spend $250 to replace the out¬ 
side closets with inside toilet facilities is 
a reasonable one, and they have instructed 
their trustee to resist the enforcement of 
the law as stoutly as possible. The over- 
ready club of the Education Department, 
withholding the district’s quota of public 
money, is held over them, however, and. 
though they would prefer losing this 
money to incurring the greater expense of 
what they deem unnecessary changes, 
they well understand that their trustee 
would become personally liable for its loss 
if he refused to carry out the Depart¬ 
ment’s orders. 
The property valuation of this district 
is $51,290, and the present tax rate is $(! 
per thousand. In this they are far better 
off than are scores of other districts 
throughout the State where similar 
changes must be made. There seems now 
no reason to believe that the old-time 
attendance of 30 or 40 pupils will ever 
again be attained by these country schools, 
and there is no question that toilet facili¬ 
ties meeting all the Education Depart¬ 
ment's requirements as to convenience and 
sanitation, as well as to decency in sur¬ 
roundings. can be provided at consider¬ 
ably less cost than will be involved in 
installing the chemical closets which the 
Department says have proved to be “the 
only practicable ones” for rural districts 
where flush systems cannot be used. At 
this sehoolhouse. for instance, the present 
well-built closets would answer every pur¬ 
pose if they were set upon tight, above¬ 
ground. concrete vaults directly in the 
rear of the building and connected with 
it by just such anterooms, or passage¬ 
ways, as are prescribed for the chemical 
toilets. Ventilated passageways would 
prevent offensive odors from reaching the 
schoolroom, and the above-ground and fly- 
tight concrete vaults, provided with a 
plank trapdoor at the ground level, would 
be as easily cleaned as are the chemical 
closets. The continued expense of chem¬ 
icals and the necessity of supplying the 
underground tank with water c f regular 
intervals would be avoided, and the loca¬ 
tion of the closets and their connection 
with the schoolroom would place them 
under the supervision of the teacher. 
- KT. B. p. 
“Yes. ini teaching stenography, we are 
strong on accuracy.” “How are you on 
speed?” “Well, the last girl we gradu¬ 
ated married her employer in three 
weeks.”—Judge. 
