Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-01-07
The DELAYS of Litigation

ApcHcNttF [ lttFN ana ANregftScF.
Miss Minnie Heinrich, of Minnesota,
has sued the Pullman Car Company for
$2j,0 900. She was travelling on a Pullman
car. when revolver dropped out of the
pocket of a cOlOred porter, struck on a
cuspidOre and was discharged, the bullet
entering the thigh of the Young woman.
who was in the toilet-rOOm combing out
her bangs. We are sorry that Mr.. Pull
man did not give check Tor the amount
at once, as he can well afford to do, and
thus put a stop to the litigation, for if
the matter once gets into the courts
there Will be no end to it, and the
poor young lady will be too old
to enjoy the money before she gets
1t. In the first place the defendant will
apply for continuance owing to the alb
sence of an important witness, and will
proceed to show that the important wit
ness is a travelling man who saw the bull
let as it sped to its mark, and he is on a
trip to the Pacific Coast. The court will
grant the continuance, and the girl will
have to wait till the March term of court
At that term the travelling man will be on
hand, but a continuance will be asked,
owing to the absence of another important
witness by whom the defense expects to
prove that the plaintiff has been heard to
say that the bullet did not hurt her very
much. This witness is girl who at
tendedthe injured young lady, and though
the injured lady is prepared to demon
strate that she never said any
thing of the kind, and the bui-
let nearly killed her, the case will
be continued till the November term. BY
the time the November term is ready, the
girl Will he ready to settle for $4,000, but
the case will have to be continued from
time to time on account of the absence of
Mr.. Pullman, who has gone to Europe for
his health. \ charge Will about this time
be made in the daily papers that the
woman who was shot placed herself in a
position to receive the bullet, in order to
bleed the company, having bribed the
cOlOred man to drop the pistol, and the
cOlored man will be interviewed, while he
will not admit the story to be true,
for fear of being discharged. he
will hint that he has been approached,
and public attention will begin to
turn from the plaintiff, who wishes she
had settled for $1,000. Before the next
term of court the story will have been
pretty generally circulated that the girl
inherited tendency to gunshOt wounds,
several of her family having been thus
afflicted. and the case will be continued
on the ground that a witness, who knew
several Of her relatives who had been
shot, is not to be found. BY this time the
girl will be old enough to be married, and
a change of venue VIII be moved bY the
defendant on the ground of prejudice on
the part Of the Judge, and the glrl Will
get married, and the defendant will
move for a nOn-suit on the ground that
! there is no cause of action, when
it viii be ably argued that if she is able
to get married she cannot have been in
iured and, in fact, it Will be shown that
/ the nOtOriety she attained by reason of
! the shot secured for her a suitOr and
/ husband, and the company will put in
I claim for a commission on the transaction.
/ By the time the case comes into court the
1 lawyers will have died, the Judge gone
/ crazy, the injured woman will be grand
mother, the company will prove that on
the day the accident is alleged to have Oc-
/ Cured that there was no railroad at the
/ place designated in the complaint, and
that there is no such person as the plain
| tin, who is alleged to be an unmarried
young person, when the company
I can prove that she Is married and grand
mother, and not the person at all, the
/ cOlOred porter will have been gathered to
! his fathers, revOlVers will have gone out
| of style. and in all probability the Pull
man company will recover a Judgment
against the plaintiff for $4,000 for mali
/ ciOus prosecution. and she and her hus-
band will have to mortgage their farm TO
paw it, and do washing for the balance of
I their natural lives TO pay their attorneys.
/ This is about the way of such litigation
these days. ii Mr.. Pullman will not pay
the amount claimed by the plaintiff. he
should be put under bonds not to get a
/ Judgment against the girl.