out of the rule of Deposit which the Chairman has laid down in his manual as follows : — "The delivery need not be direct; it is sometimes implied by the bailee's coming into constructive possession in the pursuit of business beneficial to him. Thus the merchant is liable for the loss of a customer's watch and chain, taken off, and at a salesman's suggestion put in a drawer while the customer is trying on clothing, if ordinary care is not exercised toward it, but not if it is stolen. Woodruff v. Painter, 150 Pa. St. 91; 16 L. R. A. 451; 30 Am. St. Rep. 786. And so where a customer trying on a new cloak removes the old one and lays it on a counter, and the mer chant provides no place for it, fails to notify the customer to look out for it, and makes no rules requiring employees to look out for it, he is liable if it is lost. Bunnell v. Stern 122 N. Y. 539; 10 L. R. A. 481. Followed in Buttman v. Dennett (N. Y. Com. PI.), 9 Misc. 462, where wraps and other wearing apparel were temporarily laid off in a restaur ant by a customer." Just now it is held (Powers v. O'Neil, 89 Hun. 129), that a shopkeeper is not liable for the loss of a pocket-book which a customer lays upon his public counter, while trying on a hat. Speaking of barbers reminds the writer of a story recently told to him by a prominent member of the Buffalo Bar. This gentle man always walks to and from his office, and so regular is he that for several months he used to meet the same man at about the same point and the same hour. At length he missed him for a long time, but finally meeting him again, he stopped him, al though he did not know him, and asked him why he had discontinued his morning walk. " Oh," said the in terrogated, " that man's dead." " Dead! why what do you mean?" "Why, I am a barber, and I used to shave that man every morning while he was sick. Shaved his corpse, too!" Our friend passed on in silence, and now, he says, he minds his own business. The Chairman is in the habit of asking every barber who ministers unto him, if he knows why he has a red and white striped pole at his door. He has
found but one who knew, know?
How many of his readers
Civility to Servants of Corporations. — Robinson v. Rockland etc. Street Railway, 87 Maine, 387; 29 L. R. A. 530, is a novel case in that it rec ognizes the duty of passengers to be civil to the ser vants of carriers. The plaintiff sued for ejection from a street-car. The plaintiff, while in a car of the de fendant, filled with passengers, one-half of whom were ladies, was rebuked by the conductor for the use of profane language; whereupon he called the con ductor a damned liar, said he would swear as much as he damned please, and that he would be God damned if he would be put off the car; whereupon the conductor put him off. The plaintiff had a verdict of $1,187.27. Held, that even if the conductor was in error at first in charging him with profanity, he was justifiable in ejecting him for his confessed breach of the peace; and the judgment was reversed. Wal ters, J., said these good words : — "We are reminded by the plaintiff's counsel that in Goddard v. Grand Trunk R. Co. of Canada, 57 Me. 202, 2 Am. Rep. 39, a verdict for very large damages was sustained. Certainly. And our present decision is in harmony with that decision. In that case a servant of the railroad com pany used exceedingly foul and profane language to a respectable and unoffending passenger. Here a passenger used very offensive and indecent language to a respectable and unoffending servant of the railroad company. We pro tected the passenger in that case, and for the same reason we hope to be able to protect the railroad servant in this case. Both decisions are in favor of morality and decency. In that case the servants of railroads were taught to treat passengers with civility, and in thiscase we hope to teach pas sengers to treat the servants of railroads with civility. To call a street-railroad conductor who, in a crowded car half filled with ladies, is endeavoring to maintain order and suppress profanity, a damned liar, is a poor foundation on which to rest a suit for punitive damages."
