The
Volume XXI
Green
Bag
November, 1909
Number 11
The Jones County Calf Case By J. S. Woodhouse
FOUR calves, the market value of which was twenty-five dollars, were the cause of the greatest lawsuit in the history of American jurisprudence. The litigation started by their sale ex tended over a period of twenty years, was tried in seven different counties before one hundred and fourteen jurors, was four times appealed to the Supreme Court of the state, wrecked the fortunes of eight men, entailing fees amounting to $75,000 for an army of lawyers, and concluded with a final judgment for $1,000 and court costs amounting to $2,886.84. This litigation—a monument to the cost at which legal redress may be secured by a persistent litigant—is known as the "Jones County Calf Case," from Jones county, Iowa. Robert Johnson of Anamosa, to vin dicate himself of a criminal charge pre ferred against him by a "Horse Thief Association" of pioneer days, fought through this long period against seven opponents. Since the conclusion of the case five of the defendants have died without property and two yet live, but have never regained a foothold since the famous lawsuit consumed their wealth. Johnson has prospered, but by strange destiny of fate in his
every enterprise he must cross swords with the opponents in his long legal duel. When he became a candidate for mayor of his city last spring, fifteen years after the settlement of the suit, his opponent was B. H. Miller, a relative of one of the defendants in the twenty years' litigation. Johnson's record in the "Calf Case" for being a persistent fighter, together with a platform for strict law enforcement and a moral city, won him the election. He is mayor to-day. C. E. Wheeler of Cedar Rapids, as a young law graduate of Notre Dame, received his first retainer from Robert Johnson. He made his maiden speech in the "Calf Case" and remained in the litigation from beginning to end. He won his victory after opposing before the juries such brilliant orators as ExGovernor Horace Boies of Waterloo. When final judgment was rendered he was a gray-haired old man and a lawyer of experience. In the early days of Iowa Robert Johnson was a stock buyer in Jones County. In June, 1874, he sold to S. D. Potter in Greene County fifty head of calves. A short time later John Fore man, one of his neighbors, asserted that four of the calves belonged to him, and
