The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1868-04-04 00:00:00

CLAIMS FOR RAILWAY DAMAGES.

At the enslave held at Leeds, the cause a!" Greeley v Mid. ,
land Railway Company " has been tried, and was an action
brought to recover compensation fer injuries received by
the plaintiff while travelling upon the defendants' railway.
The negligence WM admitted, and the whole question was
one of damages. it was also admitted by the company that
the plaintiff was now in a dying state, without hope of re-
It appeared that the plaintiff, who was a commer-
cial traveller in the receipt of .6210 a year, besides .61
per day for expenses, left Bradford in excellent health
upon his usual round, and took the Midland express
from Leeds to Normanton. At Methley the train
attained an extraordinary velocity, and, after oscillat-
ing to and fro, at last ran off the line into 11. coal
waggon, killing the engine-driver, and seriously wound-
ing the stoker. The plaintiff, who was in the carriage
next to the engine, was thrown violently forwards and
backwards, and received injuries of which he cora-
-1 plained shortly afterwards. He was taken to an hotel
at Normanton, where he remained in bed nine or ten
days, and from that time had been getting worse and
worse. He complained of violent sickness after food,
of pains in his head, neck, and aide, and all over his
body. He became very much emaciated and low
spirited. Three medical gentlemen, called on behalf
of the plaintiff, gave it as their opinion that he was
not suffering from any organic disease of any kind, but
from spinal irritation and loss of nerve power arising
from the railway accident.
The ease for the deferdants was that the plaintiff
was a man of a convivial turn, a loud talker, and
teller of good stories, and was generally known as
" Sir Roger de Coverley ;" that he was in the habit of
drinking freely, though not intemperately, and that
he was suffering from a diseased liver, and not from
any injury arising from the accident. Witnesses were
called, who stated that immediately after the accident
the plaintiff was walking up and down the line shout-
ing, " the company ; I'll make them pay for it.
I'll make the devils pay. rin a shareholder. and I will
make them pay." Shortly afterwards he began to cry
out that he was hurt himself, though the witnesses
thought he was shamming.
The medical evidence was to the effect that the
plaintiff WM now suffering from a degenerate or a
cancerous liver. Mr. Nunneley, an enunent surgeon
of Leeds, was sent for to the scene of the accident, and
arrived by special train. He found the plaintiff in bed
at the hotel at Normanton. Plaintiff immediately
cried out—" I can't talk to you I can't speak ; I
can't stir." He complained of pain in his neck and
said, "You don't know what an important man you
are speaking to. I'll make you pay for it. I'm an
old cavalry officer." He then pointed to an old scar
on his head and said, "Look here; I got that at the
battle of Waterloo while leading a charge." He was
only 61 years of age. There was no indication of any
suffering, though he complained. His pulse was
regular. He had what the witness described as '
a "commercial traveller's tongue," indicating a
man who took ardent spirits. He complained
that he could not move his left arm, but the witness
said that when he was not on his guard be used
it as well as the right arm. Mr. Nunneley prescribed
or stomach and liver, and, as the plaintiff complained

of his neck, he gave him some linament "to amuse
him." He recommended the plaintiff to go to Harro-
gate, and to keep quiet. He went to see the plaintiff
there, and found him at the head of a table at the
Commercial Hotel talking to his friends, and partaking
of a bountiful tea and lobster salad. Plaintiff's wife
was in lodgings, but plaintiff said it was too expensive
for both to be at the hoteL The doctor told Mrs.
Greeley, "If your husband stays here taking drink as
he has obviously done to-day, he must take the respon-
sihT.ty of Ul6 eels." tr:Lli of 7darell the
plaintiff was examined by Mr. Nunneley and two
other medical men, who concurred in describing the
symptoms and referring them to a diseased liver, and
in denying that he was suffering from spinal irritation
or anything of the sort.
His Lordship having summed up, the jury found a
verdict for the plaintiff —Damages, £1,500.

At the same assizes, the follovring causes have also been
tried

SWIFT V. LONDON AND NORTH-EASTERN RAILWAY CO.

The plaintiff was a tea and coffee merchant, carry-
ing on trade at a profit of £3OO a year. He was a
young man of twenty-six years of age, and had up to
the time of the accident enjoyed excellent health. Is
he was travelling from Middlesborough to Leeds the
train in which he was ran into a luggage train. The
plaintiff, who, according to his own account, was alone
In the carriage at the time, described the collision as
very violent, and said that he was thrown backwards
and forwards in the carriage, and had ever since
suffered from nervous complaints and debility. He
was advised to go to Scarborough, and there he bad
lived in a temperate and moral mower. On the part
of the defendants a witness was called who spoke to
the plaintiff being in the railway carriage with a young
woman, laughing and talking with her, and declaring
that he was not hurt at all by the accident. Other
witnesses spoke to his being at the George Hotel,
Scarborough, night after night, getting drunk on
whisky. and being taken home drunk by the "boots "
and carried upstain; to bed, lie had also been found
drunk in the streets talking to a lamp-post and cursing
the cats, and had also been taken to the police-office
about some light he had had with a sailor.
The plaintiff denied all these statements upon oath.
A young woman was also called by the defendants
upon a subpoena, who deposed that the plaintiff had
visited her constantly during his stay at Scarborough.
This was emphatically denied by the plaintiff.
The medical testimony was, as usual, very conflict-
ing. On the part of the plaintiff it was urged that the
symptoms described were consistent with a shock to
the nerves, and on the part of the defendants that they
were, if existing at all, the result of the plaintiff's own
intemperance and immorality.
No one except the plaintiff had received the slightest
injury in the accident.
The jury found a verdict for the plaintiff- -Damages,
, £25, ' to cover the expenses of the Scarborough
visit."