Among them were a pair of lawyers with nothing to do because there was no crime.

To escape their boredom, the two attorneys, Pitt Bartlett and Alexander Meggett, decided in October 1857 to stage a kangaroo court. They conspired to trump up charges against a farmer visiting town to sell a pig, and the constable promptly arrested the man for having stolen it.

Court was called to order in the general store, with Meggett prosecuting and Bartlett defending. A jury was formed, and the light should have dawned on the

defendant when the first witness swore that his testimony "would not be the truth, the whole truth, nor anything like the truth."

Meggett and Bartlett attacked each other's witnesses with insults and sarcasm for several hours. After they summed up late in the evening, the jury retired to an adjacent alley, ostensibly to deliberate — but in fact, mostly to consume large quantities of recreational beverages.

As they returned an hour later, Bartlett warned the defendant to keep his hand on his hat and his eye on the door. When the jury declared the farmer guilty of stealing his own pig, he bolted into the street, leaped into the river, and was not seen again in Eau Claire for 10 years.

Everyone else had a good night's entertainment, and soon the town grew busy enough to keep the two attorneys occupied with legitimate cases.

— Wisconsin Historical Society
www.wisconsinhistory.org

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