The recent increase in the price of calico seems to
have affected the imagination, not to say the conscience, of some who suffer by it. In a most comical case tried on Wednesday in the Common Pleas, Matilda Collier, a straw-bonnet maker, sued a Mr. Chaplin for damage done to her dress. She had asked him for a ride, he gave her one, the cart turned over, and some gas tar was spilt on her dress, and she sued her entertainer for the value of the things spoilt. She declared that her silk dress had cost 51. 10s., and that the value of her under-clothing was 301. On cross-examination she acknowledged that she had " put up " the value of the things a little, but the obvious idea in her own mind was that at present
prices nobody could tell what stockings and chemises would cost, andathe-, might as well ask 30/ as anythiggeelse. It was proved that• the upset was caused by the woman'a-soreeming Hoh 'evins I we shall be killed immediently !"—and a verdict consequently given for defendant.
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