The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-05-16

2 of the roads counsel. He took tn
highest ground,-the ground tina
2 ithe public had no right to question
: the management of the road ;that til
! company owned il and had the RICH
10 manage it as other property i
: managed by private corporation
/ itbat is, he denied the fact that III
public is cirtud0g a partner In
: railroad companies. which it create
; and lifts into power by grants o.
J franchises and land, Indeed thi
. distinction between public and pri
J Vate corporations has been carefully
ignored by the Judiciary of the
country aud 10 this the present
alarming domination of railroad
corporations is mainly traceable
+ may say, for the encouragement
of those who look Ia the courts
for deliverance from railroad tyr
amy, whose bonds the judiciary
seems willing enough TO rivet, that
in every trial, my counsel carried
the jury with him, one single juror
of the forty-eighth excepted. This
Juror was said 80 have been former
BY an employee OF the New York
/ and New Haven Railroad. The &C.
.tion of the several juries, so far as
the public is concerned in il, is salts.
faiory and cheering; for il indicates
4 unmistakabiy that the spring of
| railroad power in our courts is not
IN the deliberate Judgment of in
telligem men; but the judges char
ges were in effect restatemenfs of
| the counsel for the railroad touch
| ing the general question of the
rights and powers of railroads.
| The juries were instructed that the
pnblic has no voice in the affairs of
railroads; that contracts with pass
| engers were TO be made on condi-
lions fixed by one party, the rail-
road that if q passenger violated
its regulations, an assault upon him
by the agents of the corporation was
| iustifiable though these latter
must be careful to avoid excess of
violence. The juries were also in
structed that If they found that, in
this case, the defendants had en-
ployed an excess of violence, they
must not allow punitive damages,
but only such as would compen-
safe the plaintiff for his injuries.
Despite these instructions the four
juries promptly brought III verdicts
III my favor, each one giving heavi-
er damages than its immediate pre-
decessor. On the second trial the
jury disagreed, owing to one of its
members l am informed that many
of his associates desired to award
me $4,000. The first jury agreed
upon a verdict of S 10000; but one
OF their number, versed in the ways
of coarts, suggested that it would
probably be set aside, and that l
would consequently be subjected to
great trouble and expense SO they
reduced the figures to $500, which
was increased 10 s 3, 500 on the last
trial.
Such, briefly sketched. were some
eff The features of my railroad fight
in court. The reader will recollect
that Ia man not rich and i'll able
to afford the time or expense of
such q contest with an opulent
corpoation-was compelled to re-
peat this fight three times first. be-
cause the verdict of $500 awarded
excessive damages for one of the
most brutal assaults ever committed,
and the infiiction of lifelong injur-
les; and subsequently upon preteXts
even more trivial. The judges rul-
ed that the roads had all the rights
in the case, and had none. They
ruled th2t in an order given by an
unauthorized person, and confess
eddy no regulation, was a reg
ulaiion, and that, if vio-
lated il, | must take the con-
sequences. They declared in effect
that railroad ticket was q contract,
though it bore no government stamp
and was made by Il single party.
They suffered the wild and contra
dictory swearing of the roads wit
ness to go unnoticed. Bat IN spite
of the judges, and their rulings,
the juries were Cor me.
My fight out of court has been a
different matter. The publication
of my first article has called
fourth commend from the press in
every part of the country. l haye
seen more than one hundred no.
| tees and articles based upcu il, all
of which, with three or four eX
captions, applauded my course, and
express The public sympathy with
me in terms which i could not re-
| produce without seeming to turn to
my own honor a matter which | ain
anxious to regard in an impresonal
| light. These articles have appeared
| in the most important Journals of
| the country; | believe that no jour-
nal of influence has left the case un-
noticed and the country press has
has treated it as generously and
courageously as the great newspa-
pers of the city, which are supposed
| to be less susceptible to local iDflu-
ences, and more Independent OF adj
vertisements and free passes. No
thing could be more instructive
and interesting than this almost
universal expression ofpublic opin-
ion by the public press in regard
to the arbitrary and despotic man
agement of our railroads, Many OF
the journals recur 10 the subject
again and again, and all testify to
the fact that every railroad passen-
ger has seen or felt some outrage
or oppression agaisnt which he has
ionged to protest.
This fact is even more wildly
enforced by private letters which
have not ceased to come TO me
since the publication of my paper.
They are frnm women as well o.
men, and persons Ill every
station in life and every de.
partment of business, in nearly every
State OF the Union; and they con.
graduate me, not only upon my
personal victory, but also upon ms
demonstration of the fact that il is
possible for an individual TO stand VI
in defence of his rights against {
railroad corporation. They Tecit6
1.-THE tyrannies and WEAKNESSES oil
different railroads, and catalogue
the stratagems by which railroad
managers bind the hands that should
protect the people from their en-
croachments. Ii it were possible &c
print these letters together, they
would constitute an indictment
whose force would impress evei
The most easy-goiug aud spiritles'
citizen. | make an extract from
one of them which brief as it is, car
ries tremendous significance. The
latter was written by resident o
; another state, who, like myself, hat
dared to sue railroad. III
writes: -
"But L am not get out Of III
, woods, as the case is again befoT
q the lolceT court, 9rhere IL IS detGyet
. from the fact that most Of our Judge
gre disqualified from trying the case
, one is secretary Of the company; 9th
. ers are Stockholders; Others, 6efo4'
their elerdtion to The bench, tceT
> regular coRsel for the company.
t What is true in that state is ;ru
!. in all; the trail Of the railroad
o over every judicial bench in III
e country. In one OF the great State
n of the West, q correspondent write
!. that one of the Judges of The Su
; preme Court permits railroad cor
;. poration, which is party TO sewers
| mi fs nnndinr hHfnla him To tram