From the Aug. 31, 1907 NYT:

George Palmer, a well-to-do farmer of Parksville, Sullivan County, has brought suit for $2,000 in the Supreme Court against John J. Reisler, proprietor of the Herald Square Barber Shop, at Thirty-eighth Street and Broadway.

Palmer wants the $2,000 as balm for the loss of as fine a crop of whiskers as ever tossed in the breezes of Sullivan County, and he alleges that one of Reisler's barbers, through stupidity, cut off his beard and shaved his face while he slept in the barber's chair...

When he was awakened by the application of a hot towel to his face Palmer realized what had happened.

"My whiskers!" he moaned. "Oh, my whiskers! My whiskers!"

For twenty years the Palmer whiskers had been the pride and delight of their owner...

Palmer went to the office of Jacob S. Strahl, a lawyer, of 280 Broadway, told his story, and called upon him to begin suit for $1,000,000 [$22,129,527 in 2006 dollars]. The lawyer told him that he could not sue for as much as a million, and finally got him to consent to a suit for $2,000 [$44,259 in 2006 dollars], which was brought immediately.