Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1893-04-15
Handed Down Yesterday
in Supreme Court.
left Wilson is Granted
a new Trial.
The Brothers of John D. Walker
win Another Victory.
TWO Unfavorable Decisions to the
Southern Pacific are
Confirmed.

The supreme couat yesterday con
c,pded the consideration of all cases
rroperly presented and handed dowr
decisions in number of cases many
(Which are of interest throughout the
territory. The written opinions will be
presented later.
The first bv Chief Justice Goodlnl
WAS in the case of JEFF Wilson appel
liant against the territory. Wilson who
is now in the Maricopa county Jail un'
der sus pended sentence of execution
gets new trial.
The circumstances OF the crime Of
which he was found guilty is well
known to most readers of THE REPUB-
LlCAN. Wilson was soldier in a
colored troop stationed on the White
Mountain Reservation. At a dance
one night comrade of Wilson's was
murdered and he with three others
we're accused. Wilson, who it appears
was less intimately connected with the
murder than either Of the three others,
WAS tried first aud convicted.
At the trials OF the other three the
most damaging evidence which had
bee adduced against Wilson was re-
isctei as unreliable and the defen-
dants were acquitted. On this cir
cumstaDce is based the reversal which
remsnds Wilson for new trial.
In the case OF McGill VS. the South
ern Pacific Railroad company, appel
liant from Pima county, the judg-
ment OF the lower court was affirmed.
This decision was handed down by
Justice Kibbey.
The appellee was in the employ OF
the appellant as a bridge carpenter. A
vashout had occurred and McGill was
sent on a construction train in charge
Of a conductor to repair the washou :.
Before returning to the place OF start
ing, through the negligence OF the COM
pany's agents other than McGill, a col
iision occurred in which he suffered
severe permanent injury. In the
lover court he was awarded judg-
ment for $4,000. The railroad COM
pany appealed on the ground that as an
employee, McGill's authority was con-
current with that OF the conductor and
that he was technically at least, re-
sponsibe for the alleged negligence.
The supreme court holds that his au-
thority was not concurrent.
In the case OF Bertha Tomlinson VS..
the Southern Pacific, appellant, from
Pinal county, the judgment of the
lower court was affirmed. Decision by
Justice Sloan. The plaintiff brought
suit to recover for herself, her four
children and the father and mother Of
her husband, who had been killed by
one Of the defendants trains. The
jury returned verdict for $50, 900,
which it divided among the plaintiff
and the others for whom she had
brought suit. By agreement with the
court she RENTED 1872, 900 Of the YER
diet.
The points raised by the appellant
bring suit for the other relatives of her
husband, second the power OF the court
to permit the remittitur alleging also
that the very fact OF the remittitur
showed the verdict was excessive which
IN turn showed that the jury was preju-
diced, Influenced by passion and there.
lore incompetent.
As to the first point Justice Sloan
sad the widows right TO sue for herself
and others had been long established.
Her power to remit a part OF the verdict
could not be denied and the question as
to whether or not the jury was incom.
Petent was not within the province OF
the court to decide.
Another case probably the best
known in the territory was that of the
widow Of John d. Walker, appellant
rom Plnal, vs. A. j. Doran, administra-
tyr OF the estate, appointed upon the
application OF the brothers of the de-
ceased, John D. Walker.
The propriety of Doran's appoint
heht had been tried in the district
court and a verdict rendered against
Ihe plaintiff by eleven members OF the
jury, the twelfth member dissenting.
lie chief justice decided that IN mat
Iers not OF common law a verdict by a.
majority Of the jury was proper.
Ihe Instructions given by the lower
court as to insanity with which Walker
vas charged at the time OF his marri-
age 10 the plaintiff was sustained and
le entire finding OF the lower court af-
/ lrmed.
ms case, however, since its appeal
Ds' taken on a new and interesting
Phase. Evidence has been collected to
'aow that Walker who had become a
Sniei among the Pimas, had married
.l1o the tribe and that fruit of that
marriage is Juana Walker a school
s gu! at Mesa City for whom formal
S .i has been made upon the admi-
nsltator for possession Of the vast
@a'e, The original case with which
's'ders OF THE REPUBLICAN are famI-
a% Is most interesting one, but the
wiHIIng in OF a new fonnd daughter
makes It even more romantic that the
famous Blythe case of California.
AN UNEORTIINAT GvRIaN