St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-10-20
MINNEAPOLIS NEWS.
NOTED SUIT ENDED.
The Exposition VIII Have to Fay
Ring d TObin S3,796.5

y
Ring d TObin S3s796.5 So.
The case of Ring g. Tobin, stone contractors.
against the Minneapolis Industrial EXPOSE
ton, to recover money alleged to be due,
partly on contract and partly for extra labor
and material furnished at request of the Ex-
position managers, was concluded in the dis
trict court yesterday, alter having been
on trial one week before Judge Lochren and
jury. The charge was given to the jury
about 10 O'Clock yesterday morning, and at
O'Clock in the afternoon a verdict was re-
turned giving the plaintiffs $3,596.53. The
case is an interesting one, inasmuch as
it was the first suit against the
Exposition; and it was an important one to
builders from the fact that considerable ex-
pert testimony about the measurement of
stone work was brought out. E. A. Camp
bell, brother of the United States marshal
conducted the case for Ring & TObin, while
c. H. Benton and E. NJ. Wilson represented
the defendants with their usual legal dex-
terity. the main point of dispute was in re-
gard to measurement of Mankato stone in the
building. the contract reading that Ring 81
Tobin would be paid at stipulated price per
superficial foot for all the exposed surface of
tine stone in the walls when completed Ac-
cordiug to contract, which was somewhat
am biguous in the phraseology the plaintiffs
claimed measurement of the exposed surface
of the stone on the interior side of
the wall when completed when said side of
the wall had been bush-hammered, chiseed
and pointed, as the case may require, accord
ing to terms of contract or by order of the
officials of the Exposition building. They
further claimed that the wall was completed,
so far as their contract was concerned, as
soon as the mason and brickwork was per-
formed. The defendants. on the other hand,
alleged that Ring & Tobin were entitled to
nothing for the work on the inside; that the
oil of cd tbo
finished, and that the inside was not exposed.
since it is covered up by the wainscoting
The difference in value Of the stone in the
entire structure. as measured by the litigants,
amounted to upward of $4,000. There were
other elements to the case, but of
MINOR significance. Many experts in
Guiding leading architects and build
ers. stone cutters and masons, tes-
tilted pro and con as regards the custom of
measurment Of stone walls, applicable to the
terms of the contract The evidence was
conflicting as may be imagined. each expert
giving the measurement according to his own
Interpretation of the contract In his charge
to the jury Judge Lochren asserted that the
evidence given in the case by experts salts
fed him that there is no custom in the
measurment of stone. The verdict as rem
dered would indicate that the contractors
were entitled to the measurement of portions
of the exposed surface of the stone on the in
terror side of the walls when the mason work
and brick work were done. The case
is therefore an important one to mechanics
and contractors, as well as all interested in
the erection of buildings, as it may serve as
precedent for future cases i'll the courts.
Whether the case will be fought further by
either side is not yet known, but the pre-
sumption is that the case is at an end, as the
Exposition managers, during the trial, offered
$4,000 to the plaintiffs to settle the suit 1t is
due to e. A. Campbell to say that he handled
the case in mastery manner against his able
opponents, Benton and Wilson, and that he
has added considerably to his reputation as
an attorney by fighting them successfully
and alone, an gaining victory for his
oil