An unusual property case was reported from Jamestown on this day in 1916. The issue at hand was the right to ownership of five white pigs, and was being battled out by two local farmers, both claiming to be the rightful owners of the animals, of course. Judge Bigelow presided over the court hearing, and was charged with the task of sorting out the pork problem at hand.

It all began a couple of months earlier, when a man by the name of Charles Woodward stole five young, white piglets from the farm of John Nielson. Woodward lived on Nielson’s farm, and took the piglets without Nielson’s knowledge. Woodward raised the pigs for a short time in secret and converted their branding before selling the pigs to another local farmer, Fred Keaton. Keaton then began raising the pigs as his own, feeding them a healthy diet of grain and bran. The thief Woodward, after making the sale, then left town, never to be seen in the vicinity again. The sudden departure of his farmhand caused John Nielson to acquire suspicions as to his possessions. After looking through his livestock, he came to the realization that he was in fact missing the five white pigs. Eventually, he traced them back to Fred Keaton’s farm, but by this time the pigs had doubled in size. Nielson demanded that Keaton return the animals, but Keaton believed that he should be compensated for the feed that he had been providing to the pigs. Nielson refused to pay him for the grain, and decided to take Keaton to court over the matter.

This was the case laid before Judge Begelow on February 1. The judge “...ordered that the pigs--which [had] now developed into hogs--be returned to Nielson, [but] entered judgement in favor of Keaton for provender and labor and the costs of the law suit, amounting to $24.95". Since the value of the pigs had been determined to be around $30.00, Farmer Nielson ended up making only $5.00 in the suit...but he did have his pigs.

Source:
The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican (Evening ed.). February 2, 1916: p. 2.

--Jayme L. Job

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