The first court proceedings in Blackfoot, perused nearly 150 years later, read like the screenplay to a comedy. Legal advice from the audience. A judge that might not be able to read the summons and his constable that claims the writing has "gone cold" and thus prevents him from reading it, too. The random retrieval of six jurors from the courtroom audience--and when that is deemed improper, the rounding up of six others from down at Uncle John's Saloon. A witness who leaves the courtroom and then is retrieved by the constable--who fails to find him on his first attempt at home, his second attempt resulting in the apprehension of the wrong witness (the "first Dutchman" he sees). The jury sent to the "keno room" to deliberate, the verdict ready in ten minutes but not given until the jury gets their pay. And that's just the first case.
The second case held just as much humor. the defense counsel insists the Chinese plaintiff swear the oath on a dead chicken, since healthens will otherwise lie. The Judge adjourns all to the saloon where the jury gets drunk and the judge gets drunker. The trial lasts all day, deliberation lasts much of the night with the jurors seemingly more concerned with which of the two Chinese, the plaintiff or the defendant, is more likely able to pay their fees.
Fiction could do no better.
Ralph Thurston is the author of "Tilden", a novel set in turn-of-the-century (twentieth) Bingham County. You can find a copy in Blackfoot at Kesler's Market, in Idaho Falls at Winnie and Mo's, and online at https://www.amazon.com/Tilden-Ralph-Thurston/dp/166557223X?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
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