The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-01-13
HANGING ON A WORD.
A Fortune Depends the Grammatical
Construction Given to q Sentence.

A Fortune Depends on the Grammatical
Construction Given to Sentence.
A fortune of $11S, 900 is hanging on the
grammatical construction of single word
in the superior court of San Francisco.
A jury, among whom there is not school
teacher or any one claiming to be an au-
thority on grammar, had, up to a week
ago, devoted - days to the consideration
of the point, and at last account, the case
was still unsettled. The learned judge
and some half dozen high priced lawyers
had been helping to disentangle the intri-
cacies of the problem.
The prize depends on the exact meaning
of the word their as it appears in a
clause in a contract. 1t is plain that the
word is pronoun, standing for an ante
cedent noun in the sentence, but there are
two such nouns, and the point is as to
which it refers. This is the Sis, 900 sen
tence:
And at their option the Adams company is
to have the use of all the machinery and coal
hoisting appliances now in use by the South
ern companies.
The Southern companies referred to have
the money which is at stake, and if the
jury decide that the ''their'' refers to
them they will keep it. If they hold that
their refers to the Adams company,
then the Adams company will get it. The
sentence occurs in a contract by which the
Adams company was to unload all the
coal ships of the Southern Pacific Rail-
road company for five years. The Adams
company owned machinery for unloading
the coal, but it broke down, and then the
Southern Pacific company's machinery
was used, the Adams company claiming
the right to use it by virtue of the clause
quoted. After the contract had run six
months the Southern Pacifc's machinery
also broke down, and the Adams company
alleged that the Southern people ought to
repair it. The Southern objected and in
sisted that as long as it used the machin
cry the Adams company should keep it in
order. The trouble thickened, and finally
the Southern company turned the Adams
company out and got another concern to
unload the coal. Then the Adams COM
pany brought suit to recover Sis, coo, the
profit which would have been made had
the contract run its agreed length.
1t is said that the Southern Pacific COM
pany's lawyer did not see the possibilities
in the queer bit of grammar until long
after litigation had been begun. 1t was
admitted in the first answer to the suit,
the San Francisco Examiner says, that the
Adams company had the option of using
the Southern Pacific company's machin-
cry. But the latter company now rests the
entire case Oh the contention that the word
''their'' meant the Southern companies
and not the Adams company. In the sem
tence under dispute appear the words
adams company is, - and the Southern
| companies claim that the word company
| is therefore written in the singular sense
and the word 'their' cannot apply to it.
| If the writer had meant it to apply to the
| Adams company, he would have used the
word ''its'' instead of 'ttheir.'' The other
| side claims that the word ''their'' must re-
fer to the Adams company because the
latter is the nearest noun to the disputed
| pronoun.