The Fairfield herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1849-1876, 1868-01-08

,tsE A couple Of fjudiciai decisions recent.a
ly made in suits between private indi.
viduals and express companies have in
terest9 forthe general readeYssand will
go far5toward inspiringfa feeling of Sc
curityIinthe bosom oEpersons who are
obliged SO entrnst yaluables to those ex.
ceedingly useful 3and generallyfrelable
and liberal institutions.
The first case was that Of young
aladysnamed Livingston, who returning
to New York from visit 10 Washing
ton, delivered her baggage, or rather
the check therefor, to one of the city
baggage express companies. Her trunk
wGs, lost in their possession, aud she
sued for tho full value Of its contents
some $ll00 in amount. Tho defend
ants plead the terms Of the check given
by them, which limited their liability for
lost baggage to value not exceeding
one hundred dollars. The Judge held
that a'stipulution of that character was
not binding, and it having been proved
that the clothing, jewelry, &C., lost with
the trunk were suitable and proper for
alady in her position, Judgment
was rendered for the full amount clam.
ed.
Tie scond suit was that OF mercan-
tile house in Springfield. Mass, against
the Adams Express Company, for the
reluc OF box Of pistols delivered to its
agent Tor shipment to Vicksburg, and
which was lost by the blowing up on
tho Mississippi river of the steamboat on
which it was being transported. A
demand was made for tho payment of
the value of the goods so lost, but the
claim was rejected BY the company, on
he ground that the goods were sent by
the ordinary route and method Of trans.
portatiop, that the steamer CARRYING
them was not under its control, and that
the terms Of the receipt given at tho
time the goods were received by the
company exoneratcd it from dangers
arising from river navigation and steam.
The express company gave no other
reason br declining the responsibility
Of the loss, aud suit for damages was
brought by the losers, before the Supe.
rior Court in June, on the ground that
the company was a common carrier. -
| The court at that time so decided, but
the defendants appealed to the Supreme
Court OF Massachusetts, which has now
sustained the decisions, and made de-
claration in fact that express companies
are common carriers, and are responsi.
Die Tor the safety of the goods which
they are paid to transport.
STARVATION IN SwEDEN-AN Ap
PEAL For RELIEr.-The news from
Sweden is appalling. Three hundred
thousand of her people are reported to
be on the eve OF starvation. The fol.
loving eloquent letter has been address
ed to Mr.. Seward by w. w. Thomas,
Jr., Of Portland, Maine:
Three hund"e4 t..,ousan;! harii.worl.
ed, patients Swedish, are starving in
Norland. The crops for three yea.s
have been bad; last year they were nm
utter failure; and now even their mise.
rable bread, make of straw and the bark
OF trees, has given ont. They sit in
their cheerless huts and die. Ny pr-
vate advices from Scandinavia repre.
sent this calamity as even worse than
the published accounts. /
| FATAL AocIDENT.-On Tuesday
last, tho Greenvillc train brought
down a humber of soldiers from New
berry. aOn their arrival in Columbia.
an attempt was made to form them in
rank IS; but some Of them being under
the influence of liquor, straycd off,
and got behind II locomotive, which
was backing through the yard, when
one Of them was killed, and another
had an arm broken, besides other in.
Jurles. We could not learn the
names oil the unfortunates. -. Phunic.
The pccdle'gun now definitely
adopted by tho Russian War Office, is
OF tho Plussian pattern, but the nco-
die being somewhat shorter and thick
! CT, the rtpidity of tho firino ia mid to