The Justice's Carriage Bill.
Not long since Mr. Justice Gray, of the United States Supreme Court, went down into Delaware to hold court, and was met at the railroad station by a deputy marshal. The fees are not large in that section and deputy marshals are not rich men. So this deputy met the Justice on foot.
"Where is your carriage?" asked Justice Gray.
"Well, Mr. Justice, you see the distance ain't great, and the fees are small. If I hired a carriage I should have nothing left."
"You get the carriage," said the Justice. "There is an account to which it can be charged. Write to the marshal in Baltimore, and he'll tell you what the account is."
So Mr. Justice Gray rode into town and the deputy wrote to his superior. Soon after the Justice returned to Washington he received a letter from the Delaware deputy.
"The carriage bill is all right," wrote the latter. "The marshal tells me to charge it up to the account of transportation of prisoners."