Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1874-03-25
Washington County Court.
Hon 7. p. REDrIEIp, Presiding Judge.
Hon. JANIS II. llotpES, ! A,,;,,,u, b,d,,,
Hon. WV. y. ORcUTT, AS'''"" '"'v'''

Hon. JANIS III. HOLDEN, A,,;,,,n, L,J,,,,
Hon. WV. u. ORcUTT, H''''''"' '""''''
LUTHER NwcoNB, Clerk.
lloRAcE w LYroRD, Sheriff
WV. p. DfLLNGnAu, States Attorney.
Henry OylATr, reporter.
Joseph Denny rs. James NJ. Emerson an
Edward Neo. The plaintiff and defendan
Emerson own adjoining lots Of wood land i
Mortified. In the spring Of 1879, Emersol
made bargain with yco, by which the latte
was to clear a plat Of ground in the former
lot, and was to receive the crop for his pay
Veo went to work, and on the 18th Of Ma,
burned away parto Of the rubbish. Cd the 10th
soon after dinner, the plaintiffs wood land wa
discovered to be on fire, and several acres o
trees were more or less injured before it was pu
out. Plaintiff now sues for damage, on tn
ground that the fire was caused by the negligence
Of defendants agent Veo. Defendant claimed
dfst, that the land which Denney pretended Il
own, was really the property Of Jonathan
Campbell, to whom Denny had given bono
for a decd some time before the fire. Tn,
court ruled, however, for the purposes Of thi'
case, that Denny was che owner Defendant
claimed, second, that the fire which burned
Denny's woods, did nor spread from the fir,
on defendants land but must have originated
from some other source, the wind having beer
? 10 such q quarter that the fire could not bay,
come from defendants land Plaintiff put on
several witnesses to prove that the wind wa,
from the northwest at the time Of the fire
plaintiffs lot being southeast Of defendants
and defendants witnesses testified that tn,
wind came from the west. Defendant ais
maintained that if the fire did spread from En-
erson'- land, Emerson was not to blame since
he had forbidden Neo to build fire there, anC
he should not be held responsible for Veo'i
wrongful acts, in spite Of his prohibition
There was also considerable conflicting test
mony IN regard to the amount Of damage com
mitted BY the fire. The jury, after staying ou
twonty-f1ur hours, were unable to agree, anC
the papers were taken from them. Carpenter
s Plumlcy for paniiH-Fisk and Heath fol
defendant.
Page Brothers rs. Horace Holmes. Thi.
was a suit involving the settlement Of a little
spite on the part of one of the plaintiffs against
the defendant. Defendant was a school district
tax collector in Painfed, in 1872 Having
bad some dispute With Nathaniel c. Page
father Of plaintiffs, about his taxes, he went tc
| Pages barn and seized four harnesses, on the
9th Of December, ls72 One Of them was
claimed by Alonzo H. Page, one Of the plain
tihs, to be the property Of him and his brother
All the harnesses were returned by the col
lector, the taxes having been paid in an houi
aud q half from the time Of seizure, and there
was no claim but what the defendant acted il
I good faith in the whole matter, and under tho
belief that all the harnesses were the property
Of Nathaniel Page. No arguments were mad,
and tie jury brought in q verdict for the plain
tits Of one cent damages. 4 trhe less than al
/ hour elapsed from the time the jury was called
| TN the verdict was rendered Shurtlefi fol
/ plaintiffs; Heath and lloyt for defendant
/ y. c. Bacon rs j. G Smith and j Savage
/ Plaintiff is an auctionecr in Montpelier. Ii
January, 1873, he was notified to cease holding
auctions in the street, as had been his custom
and therefore made an arrangement with Mr.
( Timothy j. Hubbard, the owner Of large
amount Of real estate on the corner of MAR
and State streets 70 hold his auction in pas
sage way leading west from State street, be
tween Mr. llubbard's buildings On Satur
! day the 2j,h Of January, plaintiff put an old
/ sleigh, one or two old guns and some othel
I trumpery, into the passage-way, and begar
selling them. Savage, driver Of one Of tb'
/ defendants teams, was at that time removing
| goods from a shop in the rear Of Bruce's store
| to q shop in the rear Of Messrs. Fisher, Coltor
| Il knson :, for Mr.. A. a. Simpson 10 do
/ ing this work he passed through the passage
way in question two or three times, agains
the remonstrance OF the plaintiff, and the las
time as plaintiff claims, by violent means, anC
with the assistance of Smith, causing consid
emble damage to the property for sale. 1t wa
claimed on the part Of the defendants, that thu
passage-way in question was public high
way, and plaintiff had no right to obstruct it
l The court ruled however, that the claim wa
not good that the passage-way was the pri
yate property Of Mr.. Hubbard, and the fac
that he allowed the public to use it, did no
affect his rights of ownership The testimony
was somewhat conflicting in regard to the force
used by Savage and Smith in going through
the last time and in regard to the amount o
damage done The jury, however, took a leni
eut view Of the matter, and brought in a yer
dict for the plaintiff of 81 l3. Wing and Liv
ingston for plaintiff, Durant and ShurtlefF fol
defendants.
Merrill Eastman rs Lewis Keith. Thi
was the end, it is to be hoped, of long stand
ing dispute between the parties in regard +
the payment for some land sold by defendant +
plaintiff in December, 1870. The plaintiff wa
to pay for the land with one thousand cords o
sixteon-inch body wood, and the present sui
was to recover for piling the wood, the contrac
STIMULATING that the pilng should be done b.
Keith. There was a tender Of Sos from Keitl
in the case. Verdict for plaintiff, $50 an
costs Wing & Son for plaintiff Heath an,
Boyce for defendant.
T w, Parker rs. A. j, Brown Suit to re
cover damages for false Imprisonment Plain
till is a shoemaker in this village, and defend
ant the well known " Chicken " Brown. Yer
diet for plaintiff S22 S. Wing and Liyings
ton for rlaintiH-Randall and Durant 70
defendant.
Mr.. Charles w Porter, the youngest son q
the Hon. John Porter, of Hartford, was ad
mitted to the Washington county bar on Tues
day. Mr.. Porter has been student in the oil
fee Of B. F. Fifeld, Esq, and, we understand
passed a very creditable examination.
500