Wichita eagle., 1889-06-28
THE TELEPHONE CASE.
continuance of the Litigation Between the
Telephone Company and the Wichita d
Suburban Railway.


Missouri & Kansas Telephone company
against the Wichita & Suburban Railway
company (the Paramount line) came up
again yesterday afternoon before Judge
Reed. The defendant filed a demurrer
but it was overruled. The court, how
ever, on an amendment to plaintiffs petit
ton granted a continuance of the case I'M
til September I'd next The court gave
each side the right to introduce further
evidence and gave assurance that no rights
Of plaintiff should be lost by the continu-
ance. Night before last at the conclusion
of the hearing Judge Reed said it was
sufficiently clear to his mind that the tele-
phone service in certain directions had
been interfered with and that the electric
al wires of the defendant railway were the
cause. The question in his mind was
chiefly one of law. 1t is understood
that by the present arrangement the
necessary changes will be made at once to
correct the trouble and that subsequent
proceedings will determine who shall
finally bear the expense.
In this connection it is due to the tele-
phone company to say that Messrs. Smith,
Mcdaniel and Allen Of the operating de-
partment, and Attorneys F. w. Bentley
Of Wichita, and Gleed of Topeka, all
stoutly deny any desire to stop the opera
ton of the street railway lines or to inter
tere in any way with that company. They
only desire compensation for the in Jury
which they claim has been done to their
property.
1t is certainly to be hoped that the i'm
pared telephone service will be remedied
as the packing houses and good many
other patrons of the telephone company
are at present very greatly Inconvenience.
An interview with Manager Charles G..
Allen discovered the fact that about fifty
subscribers are seriously disturbed by the
presence of the railway lines. Other sub
scribers will suffer when the lines are
completed.
Mr.. w. w. Smith, general superintend-
ent OF the telephone company, is a noted
electrician. He has been intimately asso-
ciated with Edison and is the inventor of
the system Of telegraphing from moving
trains by means of induction. He has in
vented various electric contrivances and is
recognized everywh here as an authority in
such matters. Speaking Of Induction"
one of the causes of the trouble here, Mr..
Smith says Edison has succeeded in get
ting Ineligible signals by induction
distance OF eight hundred feet, the cleo
trical currents passing straight through
the air with no conductors except the in
visible conductors Of atmospheric condi-
tions. Induction killers" are in great
demand with electricians but as yet the
only successful scheme is to put up metallic
return wires for any given current. The
infnitessimal nature of the telephone cur
rents as compared with the street railway
currents make the former easily ruined
for practical USE Mr.. Smith is greatly
pleased with the appearance of Wichita
and regrets keenly the necessity of con-
troversy with any of her citizens.
Attorney G. S. Gleed, of Topeka, thought
there could be little doubt as to the out
come of the controversy as the questions
here involved have been settled in favor
of the telephone companies in Scranton,
Kansas City, st. Joseph, Topeka and
other cities In Akron, Ohio, a decision
has been the other way but as understood
here the Akron decision turned chiefly on
certain peculiar provisions of the state
statutes or city ordinances The courts of
y
pass on the exact facts here involved. Mr..
Gleed thought it was clearly hardship to
have the delicate currents of the telephone
system run down and trodden on and
throttled by the million times more pow
erful currents of the railway. AS to the
law in the case Mr. Gleed did not think it
proper to express any opinion while the
case is pending. He was explicit, howev-
err, in saying that his company had no de-
sire to stop the Suburban railway.
Messrs. Helm and Martin, attorneys for
defendant, thought the petition of plaintiff
was no good because verified by Superin-
tendent Mcdaniel who was, they held,
neither an officer, nor an agent of the COM
pany within the meaning Of the statute.
In this, however, they were overruled by
the court. Mr.. Helm thinks the plaintiff
has no right TO claim the right to use the
earth for returning its currents andsthinks
the Akron decision, for full particulars of
which he is waiting, will settle matters in
favor of his client. The defendant wanted
a continuance by reason of an amendment
to plaintiffs petition on the statutory
right of the railway to enter upon the
streets of the city as it has done.
Superintendent Mcdaniel states that
his company is canvassing the matter of
building new telephone lines to connect
Wichita and Valley Center, Sedgwick,
Newton, Burton, Halstead, Hutchinson
and Nickerson. If sufficient encourage
ment is received at the various points
named the lines will be built at once and
in the most substantial manner. This will
be matter of decided advantage to Wich-
ita as it will put her business men into
direct and easy communication with the
business men of the cities named