The town of M---- in Pennsylvania had just elected a new Justice of the
Peace. He was, of course, a Pennsylvania German, and the first cause
that came before him for adjudication was a peculiar one. A man had
attempted to shoot another man in the street of the business part of the
town, but the man that was shot at dodged, and the bullet smashed a
plate-glass window in a store. The owner of the store sued the man with
the gun for damages, but the Justice, after hearing the evidence,
decided that the man that was shot at and dodged the bullet must pay,
"because," said he, "don't you see, if that man hadn't dodged, the
window wouldn't have been broken."