This day in history: Man with no teeth argued beer with egg his only option to avoid starvation. Bailiff backed butcher’s beef

From 1976: A bailiff who cooked some hamburger helped settle a small claims court case in Spokane.

A Spokane woman bought a side of beef from a butcher, but she then took him to court because “it isn’t fit to eat … it smells up the place when you cook it … it’s tough.”

The defendant said it was perfectly good. So the plaintiff suggested that Judge John C. Cooney settle the matter by taking some of the meat home to cook and eat himself.

The judge did not believe that was appropriate, but then someone suggested that Bailiff Ronald Bledsoe try it.

Bledsoe took it home, where he and his friends tried some round steak and some hamburger.

The verdict?

“That meat is really tasty,” Bledsoe told the judge. “It’s delicious. Where can I get some more of it?

The judge then ruled that the defendant had won the case. The plaintiff responded by offering to sell the rest of her meat to the bailiff.

From 1926: Gus Nelson had an unusual excuse for making 26 bottles of home -brewed beer. He claimed it was his only option for avoiding death by starvation.

Nelson recently had his teeth pulled and “could not eat a beefsteak” or any other solid food, nor could he keep milk down. The only nutrition he was able to consume was his beer, mixed with a raw egg.

Nelson tried to convince the deputy sheriffs, but they arrested him and suggested that he try that alibi on a judge. He made the attempt, but the judge found him guilty and suggested he find a different liquid diet. He fined Nelson $10.