BECAUSE HE HIT A LAWYER.
B. T. Hardin Is Being Sued by T. B.
Buckner, Also and Attorney.
"Yes, I slapped him and I will hit any man who charges me with what he did," was the statement of B. T. Hardin on the witness stand in Judge Goodrich's division of the circuit court yesterday when the trial of the suit of T. B. Buckner against Hardin for $1,000 actual and $5,000 punitive damages for assault was in progress.
The suit is the outgrowth of a quarrel in Judge Seehorn's division of the circuit court in January, 1907, when these attorneys acted as counsel in a damage suit against the Metropolitan street railway. According to the evidence introduced in trial Buckner accused Hardin of appropriating certain papers connected with the former trial. Hardin resonted the statement and called Buckner a liar, at the same time hitting him with his fist, according to Buckner's statements. John T. Mathis, who was at that time connected with the Metropolitan street railway, and who was assisting Hardin in trying the case, also hit Buckner.
Mathis was at first one of the defendants but yesterday afternoon he was dismissed by Judge Goodrich and the trial proceeded with Hardin as the only defendant.
Besides the plaintiff and the defendant there were several prominent witnesses in the case yesterday. Among these were Judge T. J. Seehorn, John Tobin, clerk of the circuit court; Deputy Sheriff Harvey and jurors who were serving on the case in Judge Seehorn's division of the court at the time of the alleged assault. All were witnesses of the affair.
