A small hitch in laws on parking

Nov. 14, 1891: A business owner decided to test the city’s parking regulations, The Times reported, under the headline “Will Make a Test Case; the Right to Tie Animals on the Street to Be Tested.”

“Ex-City Engineer Fred Eaton set rather a singular criminal case in motion before Justice Owens of the Police Court. Mr. Eaton sets forth in his complaint that two men named S. Mosby and William Geindle are in the habit of having their teams hitched in front of the Burdick Block on 2nd Street, and as the building belongs to him, he thinks he has the right to object,” the newspaper said.

The two men were arrested and freed after posting bail. They pleaded not guilty, The Times said, adding that theirs was “an important case in that it will settle the question as to whether people have the right to hitch animals on the street in front of property that does not belong to them.”