sels. I will now mention
another instance of my administration as general supervisor of the
town. There were several squatters on the landing at the river,
which, according to the plan of the town, was several hundred feet
wide. The lots fronting on this landing being the best for business,
commanded the highest prices. But on account of the squatters the
owners were deprived of the benefit of the open ground of the landing
in front of their property, and they complained to me. I called upon
the squatters and told them that they must leave, and that if they
were not gone by a certain time, I should be compelled to remove them
by force, and, if necessary, to call to my aid the troops of the
United States. This was enough; the squatters left, the landing was
cleared, and business went on smoothly.

In addition to my ordinary duties as a judicial officer and as general
supervisor of the town, I acted as arbitrator in a great number of
controversies which arose between the citizens. In such cases the
parties generally came to my office together and stated that they had
agreed to leave the matter in dispute between them to my decision. I
immediately heard their respective statements--sometimes under oath,
and sometimes without oath--and decided the matter at once. The whole
matter was disposed of without any written proceedings, except in some
instances I gave to parties a memorandum of my decision. Thus on one
occasion a dispute arose as to the rate of wages, between several
workmen and their employer; the workmen insisting upon twelve dollars
a day and the employer refusing to give more than ten. To settle
the dispute they agreed to leave the matter to me. I heard their
respective statements, and after stating that both of them ought to
suffer a little for not having made a specific contract at the outset,
decided that the workingmen should receive eleven dollars a day, with
which both appeared to be well satisfied. On another occasion parties
disputed as to whether freight on a box of crockery should be charged
by measurement or by weight, a specific contract having been made that
all articles shipped by the owner should be carried at a fixed
price per hundred pounds. They agreed to leave the matter to my
determination, and I settled it in five minutes. Again, on one
occasion a woman, apparently about fifty-six, rushed into my office
under great excitement, exclaiming that she wanted a divorce from her
husband, who had t