The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1892-10-29
Here is the opening of the article

!
! The cas. of De Mahy against the Southern
Pacific railroad company. which was decided
| last week before the Cour, Of St. Martin in ia
vor of plaintiff. will b. carried to the Supreme
Court for a second Judgment. The amount of
suit was placed az $1,000, but the decision of
the lower conr, set the amount TO $4,000 which
was very charitable on the part Of the court.
The editor makes mistake in supp0s,
ing that the amount asked for was $2J,-
coo. The plaintiff had asked 10000.
and the jury, composed by the way Of
~ honest and air-minded men. basing
their judgment upon the evidence. gave
the full amount. aid not one of the nu-
merOus persons present but thought
that they had not upheld their oath and
could have acted otherwise upon the tes-
timOny ELECTED at the trial.
Not speaking in any way on the defense, We
may say that the railroads of the country are
prosecuted to q great extent. Taking the rail-
roads out Of this State. would be virtually tax
ing everything else out. Their value is posi-
lively incaiculable, but 10 few recognize the
fact that it costs money and good and econoni-
cal endeavors TO maintain one of these corpora
tiOns, without consideration of the risk and
returns. A railroad will be laid several hun
dred miles at an enormous cost. with it's right
of WY granted from the State, and finally come
in contract with little worthless neck of land
belonging to come progressive, public epirit-
ed farmer" who wants a cheap and convenient
system of transportation for his produce, but
who docs not want TO sell his land ut any price.
He would consent to part with his land il he
We're paid enough but would, in preference to
selling. turn the survey fifty miles out of it's
course.
This is indeed queer reasoning and any
one who has followed the trend Of events
must confess to the absurdity of the
statement that railroads are prosecuted.
Had the writer intended to he fair he
would have known that in every case
were the r. R., has been brought up be-
fore the legal authorities nine times out
Of ten it was at fault.
These things have been 80 well attest
ed that it is simply waste of time to 60
over the subject, for the simple reason
that every reader of the Press knows
this so WELL
We are sure that Mr.. De Many would only be
partly paid, lin his own imagination.) had he
won suit Of $4,000 for damages done his
wife and child, from which the outrageous de-
cision was founded.
This is an assumption of belief that
in no ways concerns the case, but,
should it be any satisfaction to the wri-
ter we can inform him, that not single
, disinterested individual who heard the
sworn evidence in Court did but believe
that DR.. dc Maby had placed the DANA
ges at 5 times less than he should have
done, and it would not have been cent
more than the justice of the case de.
manded.
Since the railroad branch has been laid from
the main line to the town of st. Martin vile,
the corporation has met the encouragement of
Sll,Oo0 total loss, including from this. the
amount which will probably be paid in the De
Many case. reaching nearly $4,000.
SO say Mr.. Owen and the editor, and
as they are both honorable men, it may
be 80. But it reminds us very forcibly of
the story OF the boy, who said his father
and mother had daughter but that she
was not his sister. Only one explana-
ton Of the statement could be suggested.
The boy lied.
But To got back TO the case. Mrs. De Mahy
} and here child were slightly injured being no
4 fn,,ir Al
their employ. The matter was accidental,
brought by the carelessness of plaintiff and it
would be just if the Supreme Court reversed the
decision. without regard to the parties in inter-
est. and ret aside the ridiculous verdict.
As We stated before. the Jury acted
purely upon the evidence submitted to
them. As far as the injury TO Mrs. de Ma
by is concerned. it is unfortunately but
too true, that she is crippled for life.
The member injured is practically use.
less.
What the Supreme Court may do we
have no means Of knowing, but as they
are fair minded and will follow the law
and evidence they will uphold the deci.
sion OF the lower court. At least such Is
our earnest belief
To sum. up we must say that not since
the gaunt knight Of La Mancha sailed
forth on Rossinante to battle boldly
against sheep. and cattle. to war with
wlndmilis. and to play mock heroics
for reputation has their been anything
more ludicrorus than the editor of this
paper defending the K. r. against ina.
ginany foes.