New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-07-24
rporLEY CARS AND VICTIMS
..r FACTS AND FIGURES THAT WILL
CAUSE EYES TO OPEN WIDE
or QUITS AGAINST THE LINES THAT HAVE
urov m BROOKLYN COURTS BUT ARE
Still. LONG WAY FROM
BEING SETTLED.


STILL LONG WAY FROM
BEING SETTLED.
rr,.n one studies the calendars OF tho brooK-
.ourts Of record and sees what q large per-
w n, the suits pending are actions against
,.r,ous Brooklyn trolley lines for damages
w ..c,den,s. he wonders why II Is necessary
..ve laws and ordinances against excessive
w. Ar overloaded cars compelling the Use
.,,,..be tenders A Tribune reporter yes
- vent through the index OF the Supreme
80 calendar which showed all the cases
..a,,s on January l, 1896 The facts brought
=, by checking the suits against trolley lines
startling The total number Of cases
...;pst trolley companies was $40. the most
= ub,ch we're accident suits. The amounts
....a for by the plaintiffs ranged from $4,000
- COX 600 and averaged. perhaps. $4,000 1t
III thus be seen that the victims Of the trolley
:, p,ooklyn were at that time asking the courts
:. .row them damages aggregating the enor-
nous sum Of SS.46O.OOO.
II will be surprise 10 those who have read
~. details Of the great number Of accidents
,ono-ted by the press to learn that the Brook
lev Heights Railroad Company had large lead.
n, the total number of cases. the Brooklyn
u.,sh,s Company ard the Brooklyn City Com
a..ss II will be seen that this one system will
Attend about two-thirds OF the total number
=, cases OF course, many Of these cases have
been tried and many others settled out of court
during the last six months. But If sympathetic
,uries had granted all the damages asked for
against this one system. the aggregate would
have been s. 10000
The other companies and the number OF their
suits pending follow: The Atlantc-ave. COM
pany 1876 cases: the Brooklyn, Queens County
and Suburban "a cases the Brooklyn City and
Newtown Company, Of which the best-known
line is the DeKalb-ave line. % cases; the Mas
sau Electric Company. n cases; the Coney ISL
and and Brooklyn Company, or Smith-st line
III cases and the Bath Beach and West End
Railroad Company. cases.
A glance down the index would lead one 10
think that the courts were spending most OF
their time considering the havoc wrought by
the Brooklyn Heights system: for instance, on
page Of the index in which the titles are
given OF forty-nine suits, fourteen, or nearly
one third. had this company as defendant 1t 1s
only fair to state. however, that since January
! there has been decided change. The number
Of suits filed against the Brooklyn Heights road
have fallen off President Clinton l.. Rossiter
insists that there has been decrease OF % per
cent ON the other hand. the suits filed against
the Nassau Electric road have largely increased
In the first place that company has leased the
large system Of the Atlantic-ave. company, and
the enormous summer traffic to the seaside in
duced by the five-cent fare has resulted in the
dangerous overcrowding of cars. which is prac-
tically a new element in trolley traffic in this
city.
A COMPANY THAT SHIFTS THE BLAME.
Albert L. Johnson president Of the Nassau
road who seems TO be DESTROYS of laying as
aiuch blame for trolley accidents on his lines on
the shoulders Of his motormen is possible,
estimates that there have been 2.4W accidents
on the system he controls since the Nassau
company leased the Atlantc-ave. lines. The
number Of suits filed against Mr.. Johnson's COM
pany since January ] is probably not far from
80 and that company bids fair in the future
to take the palm from the Brooklyn Heights
company In the matter Of destroying life and
manning the limbs Of Brooklyn people.
The trolley company officials are chary about
giving out figures to the total amount Of judg
ments filed against them in accident cases but
the Brooklyn Heights Company owned last year
10 an aggregate of S1S00O0 In verdicts filed
against il. This, of course. is ridculcusly small |
because three or four Brooklyn law firms
case Judgments aggregate much $4,000 !
q year. For instance 1t is estimated that !
Charles J. Patterson alone has taken in some
thing like 5000 ZOO from the trolley companies /
since they began using electricity four years
ago Mr.. Patterson has now pending In the !
Court Of Appeals verdcts which aggregate 500,
W0 and in the Appellate Division Of the Su- |
preme Court additional verdicts which amount to
Ioo,t
Pearsall. DAILY Bell & Crane and a number Of
ciher well-known firms have as the chief source !
Of their large incomes verdicts against trolley |
companies Some Of the individual verdcts in |
accident cases are so large that one would think |
would be profitable for the trolley lines !
against which they found TO run the cars
for several months within the rate OF speed pre-
scribed by ordinance.
The largest individual verdict given up 10
date was that in favor of eight-year-old Clara
ROst for 81. 800 Edward c. Graves was the
attorney in this case. and Charles J. Patterson
was counsel The little girl was run over by
car on the Halsey-st line near Throop-ave.'
during the strike last year The car was in
charge Of one Of the green motcimen taken on
to suppant strikers. and the car going at
such speed that it not only cut off the little
girls foot but roasted il, so high was
the CURE mt This case is still pending IN
The Appellate Court and when the judgment IS
ahaily paid II Will amount. with costs and IN
teres; TO upward OF $4,000 In addition to this
amount verdict Of 81, 800 given in favor
oi the girls father Ernst Rost. for the dam
age done him through the injury to his child.
Probably the next highest verdict was one OF
s<oVp in favor of the Ehrmann boy who mad
pom legs cut of by a Brooklyn Heights car
Grs. Ericsson received $4,000 because the
brooklyn Heights motorman cut of one OF her
ess' Evidence TO the effect that the facetiOus
n'torinan said 70 a passenger when he ap-
r'ached the woman: See how near ] can come
~ mat woman" probably helped to make the
se,1ict so large. Another large verdict was that
CT for 500 800
tn, .ne trolley companies seem TO be midway be-
In heH rcf r.la hel