Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1881-10-12
Washington County Court.


his wife were driving to attend the Dog River
Valley Fair at Mortified. The plaintiff claims
that his horse was frightened by the whistle Of
passing train, and that he was thrown out and
received severe spinal injuries which have pro-
duced partial paralysis. The main defence
set up by the town is said to be contributory neg
ligence on the part OF the plaintiff. The case was
begun on Monday afternoon and yesterday noon
the jurors went to Roxbury on the express train
and inspected the scene OF the accident. They
returned on the afternoon train. There are a
large number Of witnesses in the case and the
trial will probably occupy the greater part of the
week. Messrs. John senter, Clarence H. Pitkin
and william p Dillingham; are plaintiffs counsel,
and for the town are Messrs. Heath & Carleton,
Frank Plumley and zed S. Stanton.
The states attorney has assigned the following
cases for tomorrow at nine AM, but they will
not be taken up until the close OF the present trial
State .. VIM. T. Drew, three cases, burglary and
assault with intent to kill; State u. VIM. H.
Ravey, assault with intent to commit rape State
q. Elkanah s. Wbitcomb, Thos, J. Murphy, John
Il. Evans, Arthur L. Downing, WIN. Miller, two
cases. Fred r. Stevens, 7. j. Hunt, Mark French,
Jesse Cayhue, apt, Babcock & Cutler, VIM.
Blood, apt, all liquor cases. State y. Wilbur +.
Bates, for stealing horse from George N. Cove
State a. Lucus and Richard Smith. assault with
intent to kill; State q. Warren c. Briggs, larceny
State u VIM. Kelley arson; State .. VIM W.
Noyes, larceny; State y. VIM. somerville, adul-
terry. 1t is expected that Drew will plead guilty
to one Of the indictments. Ravey will take trial
The liquor sellers may and may not.
The case Of John Hogan against the Town Of
Gatl tol. l.. ..t..
The verdict WAS sad disappointment to the old
gentleman, and will probably impoverish him, as
his property is mortgaged to pay the costs, which
win be large. As was stated in last weeks report
that the plaintiff, an old Irishman who is unable
to read or write, and gives his age as eghty-five,
although he probably is about sixty-five, was
thrown from, or jumped from load Of hay, on
the Miller hill, part Of the highway leading
from Mortified to Waitsf I'D, on the Both of De-
cember 1878, and suffered fracture OF the right
thigh bone, from which he has never recovered
The knee is permanently stiff, and, while there
has been union of the bone, the leg is shortened
and he Is decrepit cripple for the rest OF his
days. There was q" cloud Of witnesses on each
side, and nearly all seemed to be animated with
an ardent desire to aid the party in whose favor
they testified as much as they could The old
gentleman and his son " Steve (who was driv-
ing the team swore that there was deep gully
in the road, which began at the top f the Hoton
hill and continued to near the foot of the Miller
hill that the horses got frightened in some man
ner, ran away and got into the gully causing the
load to tip. Steve jumped for his life, and his
father testified that he was thrown off and struck
on the side of the road, breaking his thigh. Sew
pral xyitnpsaps thair ahnut ha
depth, width and dangerous condition Of the
gully. The towns Witnesses on the other hand,
made almost nothing Of it and the impression was
conveyed by their testimony. on the whole, that
the road was improved by it. The plaintiff main
obstacle to recovering was on account of the
bad character which the defendant gave a sorre
mare, one of the span which drew the load of hay.
1t seemed that she was a phenomenal runaway,
| and poor " Steve" had had so many hair breadth
| escapes when driving her. that he was fairly
afraid of her. She had dragged him over stone
walls, down precipices and up steep hills innu-
| merabe times and the most remarkable feature
| OF her character was that she always made her
| bursts on the impulse OF the moment without the
slightest obvious reason. She would be trotting
along the highway with her mate as quiet as a
| lamb, when, presto change, she would be careen-
| ing madly over the fields, her hapless owners
cingng to the reins as best they might, or, some
times jumping off and leaving her to her own
| sweet devices. The defendant claimed that such
| a beast was unfit to be harnessed to such team
and for such purpose as the plaintiff was using
her for on the day Of the accident, and also al
legged that the harnesses upon the horses were
insufficient in that they had short and improp
| ar IA ata paal ynkaa Tho fact af
utory negligence on the part of the plaintiff was
made out; and it also appeared that he had not
regarded the surgeons orde In 49, .-s'.'hien' vi
the fracture, but had loosened the splints, and
finally, after six weeks of torture, refused to have
| them on any more The case losted week, and
about seventy witnesses were examined Messrs
ieman Carpenter, Frank Plumley and William
P. Dillingham; for the plaintiff, Messrs Heath
& Carleton, George NJ. Fisk and James N. John
son for the defendant.
The following is resume Of the other case
tried Martin l.. Hambett .. A. A. Bliss. Tn
plaintiff is lawyer in Lowell, Massachusetts,
and he brought this suit to recover the value o
certain property which he claimed belonged t
him, but which had been attached to satisf
debts of his father, Leonard IIamblett of Worce:
ter 1t turned out that the defendant as constabl
-. of Worcester, in August and September 1877!
served three wrts on Leonard Hamblett, one 70
fifty dollars in favor of Samuel Somerville o
Duxbury, one for a small amount in favor {
Iorato Templeton of Worcester, and one fo
two hundred dollars in favor of Jonas {
| Ormsbee of Worcester These suits went
, judgment Mr.. Somerville was paid in money
but large quantity OF hay and grain wa
sold to satisfy the other two. 1t further turne
out that the plaintiff held mortgage notes agains
, his father amounting with the interest to abou
one thousand dollars, and that these notes wer
overdue, and that on the Goth of July, 1879, til
plaintiff took possession publicly of the farm an
hired men to gather the crops and paid them 70
doing so; that since then he has managed tn
property and his father has merely lived upon tn
farm as his guest The defence claimed that i
| point of law there had not been sufficient chang
OF possession to relieve the property of liability
Leonard Hamblett's debts which were contracte
before the alleged transfer of the property to tn
, plaintiff The court held that the defence wa
not good and ordered verdict for the plaintiff
The defendant took exceptions and the case wi
go 10 the supreme court. Messrs. Joseph A. an
, George W. Wing for the plaintiff; Messrs S.
. Shurtleff and Heath & Carleton for the defender
The Town of Marshfeld Us the Town Middle
SEX This is suit to decide which of the tw
Z towns shall support an insane pauper, Georg
Loveland by name, who Is about twenty-eigi
, years old and is now in the asylum at Brattl
boro. This George is the son of Harvey Lovelan
who was once a respectable resident Of MarshfelC
but who during the later years of his life resided
r Middlesex, and died pauper on that town som'
time this last spring or summer, George can
a to his cousins Daniel Loveand, in Marshfeld, G
the 23l OF February, 1880 and stated that he ha
4 come from Connecticut, where he had been pei
. ding 1t seems from the evidence in the case th
n he had been staying few days at Planfeld wit
his sister, Mrs, Harvey Batchelder having con
# from Montpelier on foot, via Barre. lie came
Marshield on foot. carrying his clothes ia "a bul
d die, and having about seventy dollars in none
lie spent some of this money while at his cous
n Daniels, and lost the rest. 1t appeared tn
"a George was in his right mind when he first can
n to Marshtield, and made contract to work I
his cousin, Daniel the next season, but in a fe
days he become SO insane that he had to be han
cuffed. An order of removal WAS made on d
18th Of March aud he was removed to Mddese
" and from there he was Immediately taken
Battleboro. Marshfeld claims that Middes
should support him, because during five succ'
sive years Of his minority, viz: 1868, go, 20,
lr, and ~, his father, Harvey Loveland had IRA
able estate in his own right, the percenta