St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-12
An Idea of the Vast Amount
Of Business There Dis
posed Of.
Review Of the Important Civil
and Criminal Cases
Passed Upon.
Yesterdays Court Record and
the Business Of the Spe-
cial Term.

fraction per day. These cases included
actions of every variety. from suit on
a promissory note of s25 to a prayer for
5000 for personal injuries. Five
judges have sat uDon the bench all this
time, while the sixth devoted his atten-
,tion to chamber work while at the same
time endeavoring to catch up with mat
tiers taken under advisement. The as
signment was two judges for jury cases.
two for court cases and one for criminal
matters. One would naturally think
that five judges, active and sprightly as
the Ramsey county contingent, would
have picnic in cracking the legal nuts
that came before them. but such has not
been the cBse. Indeed, all the judges
have been behind in their work to some
extent during the whole nine months,
and il has required herculean labor
night and day to keep anywhere
near even with the band wagon.
The calendars have kept steadily in
creasing despite the best efforts of the
court to expedite the pubic business,
and were it not for the fact that more
than half the cases were continued or
disposed of Summarily at the call. it
would have been necessary to appoint
at least two more judges to keep the
'tab" within reasonable bounds. The
average number of cases ON the calendar
each month has been about $50, divided
and 100 criminal. Two judges have,
by dint of push, and perseverance,
been able to keep the court calen-
dar up to date. and there have
been only a few instances when this
branch of the court has been behind the
call. The court has not been so success
full with the jury calendar, and at nearly
every stage Of the game this calendar
has been from one to four days in the
hole. No trouble has been experienced
in keeping even with the criminal calen-
dar with one judge presiding. County
Attorney O'Brien and his assistant.
Pierce Butler, have been exceedingly
alert. and the expeditions manner in
which this department or the court
business has been performed is due
hitting laborS. All the judges save
Otis and Cornish had an inning at
this rather disagreeable feature of judi
cial work, and Justice was melted out to
some pretty tough specimens of human
ity who are now summering at Como,
Saltwater and other fashionable water
ing places. Judge Brill occupied the
criminal bench during the months of
October and January; Judge Kelly in
November and December; Judge Kerr
in February, March, April and May, and
Judge Egan in June. Judge Kerr
seemed to have penchant for this class
of work and so he was given siege of
four months at it. During the
nine months the six judges dis
posed of over 1000 cases, to say
nothing of special term matters to the
number of nearly 600. These figures
will give some idea of the amount of
work that has been passed through the
hands of the sextette, but they give no
adequate idea of the deep research. the
hours of close application and the Sleep
less nights consequent upon the settle
ment of this job lot of knOtty legal dis
putes. The juries summoned have been
called upon to pass on
Some Very Important Cases.
involving thousands of dollars. The
city railway company has furnished
quite a grist of these. and scarcely
week has passed that has not witnessed
the airing of some grievance or other in
which this unfortunate corporation has
| been the defendant. Taken all in all,
however, the company has Jared pretty
well. considering the number and
| quality of the actions brought. The at
| tOrney of the company, ii. j. Horn,
could not have labored harder were his
| own personal interests at stake, and it
is due to his zeal and splendid ability
| that the Golfers of the road have not
beer fairly depleted. w. W. Bishop,
who was so badly injured in the Selby
hill disaster, got a verdict of $4,000
against the company, and this was
! the largest verdict which any
plaintiff succeeding in recovering
The other cases where recOveries were
had, with the amount of recoveries Oh
tanned. are as follows: Sahlgaard VS..
City Railway Company, $1,000; Steeg
vs.. City Railway Company, $50; Strut
eel VS.. City Railway Company, $4,000;
Lorimer VS.. City Railway Company,
$1,000; Singer VS.. City Railway Com
pany, $500; Lambrecht VS.. City Railway
Company, $500; Ogle VS.. City Railway
Company, S25; Shea VS.. City Railway
| Company, $500; VOgeS VS.. City Railway
| Company, S212.5G. In large number
of the cases verdict was rendered for
the defendant. but a nominal verdict
| for the plaintiff. Other important jury
cases were Gibson against The Sault Ste
Marie Road. where verdict of $4,000
was obtained for the plaintiff. In this
case Messrs. Lovely and John D.O'Brien
conducted the plaintiffs case, and
Messrs. Bright and G. d. O'Brien,
the defendants. Gibson was an engi-
neer on the defendants .rOad and re-
ceived certain injuries by reason of the
| giving way of foOtb0ard on the engine
which he had given orders to have re-
paired. The case of HOlcombe & Will
Jams against Godfrey was also an i'm
portant one. The plaintiffs, who are
attorneys, sued for professional services
rendered. The jury returned the full
amount of the claim asked for, viz,
So, 800 The old case of Thorkild Will
son against the Manitoba road had
second airing. and the result was a
verdict of Sl,750 for the plaintiff.
The original verdict was only $500,
but the defendants carried the matter
to the supreme court, and the case was
remanded for a further hearing, with
brunn against the Germania Fire In
surance company had the final quietus
put upon it after running the gauntlet
with varying shades of success for over
two years. Judge Otis dismissed the
action after the PLAINTIFFS case was in.
In Hanson against The Phillipson Dec
Grating Company, suit to recover S10,-
900 for injuries alleged to have been
sustained by the falling of a scaffOl0 at
the Ryan hotel, after a sharp contest
the plaintiff succeeded in getting a YER
dict of So, 800.
In Court Cases.
the most celebrated was that of Sadie
K. Warner against Lucien Warner.
an action for divorce and ali mony
This action was heard before his honor
Judge Brill, and ten days were occu-
pied in the trial of the issues. On &C
| o0unt of the OrOminpncQ Of the nartiaS
and the reputation of the attorneys
great interest was manifested in the
proceedings. The court decided in
favor OF the defendant, after admins
tering a mild roast to both ends of the
Warner house-to Lucien because of his
parsimony, to Sadie on account of her
nagging nature. The st. Louis River
Improvement Company against The
G. n. Nelson Lumber Company,