A big city lawyer was called in on a case between a
farmer and a large railroad company. The farmer noticed that
his prize cow was missing from the field through which the
railroad passed. He filed suit against the railroad company
for the value of the cow. The case was to be tried before
the justice of the peace in the back room of the general
store. The attorney immediately cornered the farmer and
tried to get him to settle out of court.

The lawyer did his best selling job, keeping the
conversation moving and not letting the farmer get much of a
word in. The farmer finally agreed to take half of what he
was claiming to settle the case. After the farmer signed
the release and took the check, the young lawyer couldn't
help but gloat a little over his success. He said to the
farmer, "You know, I hate to tell you this, but I put one
over on you in there. I couldn't have won the case. The
engineer was asleep and the fireman was in the caboose when
the train went through your farm that morning. I didn't
have one witness to put on the stand."

The old farmer replied, "Well, I'll tell you, young
feller, I was a little worried about winning that case
myself. That durned cow came home this morning!"