If any person shall take up any horse, mare, mule, jack, cattle, sheep, goat or hog as an estray, contrary to the provisions of this article; or if any person, having taken up such animal, shall fail to send it to or notify the owner, if known, or to give information to the ranger as required, or shall fail to perform any duty required of him, or shall abuse such animal, or shall use the same in an unreasonable or improper manner, so that damage shall be done to the owner, or the value of the animal be impaired; or if any person shall take or send away an estray out of this state, or shall trade, sell, or barter the same; or if any taker up shall fail to deliver said estray to the ranger at the courthouse on the day of the sale of said estray, such person shall, for every such offense, be punished as for a misdemeanor, and, in addition thereto, shall be liable to the owner for the value of the animal; and the taker up shall forfeit all compensation for taking up and keeping such estray.Codes, Hutchinson's 1848, ch. 12, art. 1 (10); 1857, ch. 32, art. 10; 1871, § 296; 1880, § 903; 1892, § 1724; 1906, § 1902; Hemingway's 1917, § 1550; 1930, § 5458; 1942, § 4886.
Mississippi Legal Code