Daily globe., 1879-05-21
FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.
A Suit Against the Northern Pacific-Gov.
Dayis' PleA-A Heavy Verdict Against
70 COmDanY.


A Suit Against the Northern Pacifc-Gov.
Dayis' Plea-A Heavy Verdict Against
the Company.
About year ago Mr.. Alex Wilson, foreman
for Mr.. Dalrymple in his large farming opera
tions, was seriously injured on the Northern
Pacific railroad, near Fargo. misplaced
switch threw the car in which Mr.. Wilson was
passenger from the track, and he was thrown
out of the car door, breaking his arm in two
places and being cripple for life.
He brought suit against the company for
$4,000 damages, and the case came to trial b's
fore Judge Wilkin in the district court yester-
day. Gov. Davis appeared as counsel for PLAIN
tiff, and made most forcible and telling plea.
Among other things he said:
ever attempted to shed from your
mind the film of use and habit
and to grasp in any completeness the
conception of that prodigious organizations
For use and habit have SO obscured our very
senses that we seldom pause to observe even
that most wonderful trophy which man has won
from the forces of nature. 1t is as little
thought of by us as the force OF gravitatlon
which moves our world in it's course and yet
itltouches our daily life at a thousand points OF
contact
1t is great organization Of machinery h;yfrs tor
the prOuC OIL "eu 4uoo A"SAiAA~AJ
is the most powerful which !, man
has ever created or dreaded, for slow though
it is, it rises in fearful insurrection at the
slightest relaxation of vigilance. The men
who own and oparate it should be skilled and
careful in direct proportion to the destructive
power of the instrument by which they work
and by which they profit
1t is not an eng inc set up in one place. dam
gerous only to its owner and his servants
special and solitary in its function and whlcn
Y0raQ H..
ing force which transports armies, which trans
plants nations, which conquers famine by
pouring the products of prolific lands into the
very mouth of hunger, which carries the pestl.
lence thousands of miles in week and al
the same time marshal upon tne
scene of death the angels Of charity and cure.
1t has annihilated the pangs Of separation
1t has made the wings of the morning useless
to the criminal for it bears with HIM to tne
nttermost parts of the sea, the law, as Ii
constant shadow. 1t has made great empires
rs solid as little states were once, for 1t ha
cancelled distances and has clamped togethe
in it's unbreakable iron bands great people II
unity, over areas so vast as to make the anclen
empires merely of parochlal dimensions. l
has opened sluice through the contlnen
through which poured the activities ant
richie, of the populous Atlantic, and Of all tn
nations which bask upon its shores with tn
solemn and vast Pacific. All this power 1t ha
simply that it may be privileged to carr
property and persons safely from place t
place.
Equally is it supreme over the minor detai]
Of personal, individual life. 1t creates tn
nsighborhood relation between distant places
1t brightens and keeps strong the family II
between those who separated widely.
gives effective scope to the charities OF tn
world when great city is disastrously burne
touches all the keys and strings Of our mat
rial, daily life. We con6de in it, We pa
tribute to it. We obey. its laws. Awake, "
abandon our free agency to it for miles an
for thousands of miles. We do not in o.
homes enter more confidingly into tt
dusky and brooding dominions of sleep tha
we do when we make our beds upon the boso
of this monstrous power while it traverses tt
trails of day and night.
All this we do and all this is given to it sir
ply that it may carry property and persons saf
ly from place to place.
1t is too great and imperial in it's proportion
to be controllable by one man. 1t cannot
left as empires often are, moving under the il
pulse of their constitutional predestination
the contingencies of the failing health, t.
nerveless hand, or the dimming eye of Of
man grown old in ruling. 1t deman
mental vigor and physical strength in the
unalterable prime. Accordingly it has be-
invested with the attributes of corporate il
mortality. 1t is too costly and too useful
be subjected to the embarrassments of priva
from taxation and received from the pub
domain tracts SO vast that it runs for hu
dreds of miles through it's own principali
Mean or small capacity cannot govern it, a
therefore it is ruled by the ablest men of
age-men who are the very proconsuls of
business world.
All this it has, repeat, simply that it m
convey property and persons in safety FRI
place to place.
The lives of every train load of human freis
depend upon the prudence and care Of the me,
est employe. The brakeman, the switch-tel
or, the telegraph operator, the watchman, ca
for himself holds daily in his the lives
all whom the road conveys. In direct prop
tion as it is strong and benefcent SO it is d
gerous and destructive. A moment work
dreadful change A broken rail, defect
coupling an unguarded switch, change in
instant scene of safety into one of hav
blood, mangled and crushed humanity and p
less death.
To these great privileges the law has attacl
great liabilities. The safety of every hun
being is guaranteed. The taken life must
paid for. The manglel limb must be paid /
80 far as money can compensate for shatter
paralyzed and whitening manhood.
The jury took the case and returned verc
for plaintiff for $4,000. The case will now
to the supreme cOurt.