The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-06-05
JUDGE NORWOOD ON TRILBY.
THE TRUNK OF THE PARIS WAlF
vs.. THAT OF THE PRIAIA DONNA.

Miss Sarah c. Mills Suit Keeps
Twelve Men GuessinE-It Raises
Pretty Points of Law-JudSe Nor
wood Acknowledges That Conflict
ing Decisions Have Surrounded
Him with CIOuds-The Case Prom
Uses to Worry Gray-Haired Sages
as Well as Interesting the Society
Folks of the Town.
Judge Norwood and twelve men of Chat
! ham county are kept guessing as to what
| is baggage on a railroad train, by the is
sues Of the case of Miss Sarah C. Mills
| against the Florida Central and Peninsu-
| lar railroad for damages for the total loss
| of two trunks and the contents thereof.
The trial was heard by the court day
before yesterday and the jury is still
| hanging over the perplexities which arose
| with the complications of the case.
Miss Mills, after unsuccessful efforts to
procure the damages sustained, brought
suit against the railroad corporation for
the sum Of 81, 9O9 asserting that the two
trunks contained such articles of use and
| convenience as could not be replaced for
she brought forth evidence to show the
cost of the varied articles contained in
| the trunks, and there was no effort on
the part of the counsel for the defendant
railroad corporation to offset the issue of
the amount of the loss sustained in the
wreck on the road at Swansea station.
| Miss Mills had been spending the summer
| at Asheville, a summering place of fash
| ionable modes and customs and showed
by the testimony of her mother that the
value of her costumes was all that was
claimed in the petition to the court for
recompense
The attorney for the railroad company
held that the value of the baggage was far
in excess of the ordinary uses and conve-
niences of the average traveller and rested
it's claim upon decisions of the supreme
court that extraordinary baggage could
not be held against the railroad company
for the reason that it was out of proportion
to the cost of transportation fares.
The case was fully argued Thursday, but
Judge Norwood did not charge the jury
until yesterday. He delivered quite a
lengthy and exhaustive charge reciting the
various decisions of the supreme courts
He showed that the United States supreme
court had decided for $4,000 damages in
a case brought against a railroad com
pany for SIS, 600, the principle of law be-
| ing that $4,000 was an extraordinary value
| on baggage carried for the comfort and
needs of a traveller, although in this case
| the traveller was a wealthy Russian wo-
man, who deemed it necessary to carry this
| amount of baggage with her.
Judge Norwood quoted another high au-
thority, Mr.. Hale, who says that baggage
| consists of such articles as a person car
ries for his personal use or convenience
either while travelling or to be used during
his stay at the place to which he is trav-
| cling.
Judge Norwood quoted so many differ
ent authorities of this nature that he de-
clared to the jury that he was like man
! sailing in a balloon, the further up he
went in the study of the case the more
| did he become enshrouded with clouds.
He laid great stress upon the decision of
| the supreme court of Georgia in the
twelve Georgia reports, which states that
it rests largely with the evidence and the
opinion of the jury as to whether the
articles of baggage are of use to the trav-
eler or may be used for their conven-
fence He said that the conditions OF
ones social position cannot be lost sight
OF in estimating the value of their bag
gage, and along this line he illustrated
most forcibly that Trilby the poor de-
spised little waif in the streets of Paris
could not hope to establish much of a
claim for damages to baggage for her use
and convenience, but Trilby, the splendid
singer who, under the spell of SVengali,
| held audiences spell-bound in the metropO-
| lis of the world, and appeared in splendid
costumes, of necessity could claim far
greater damages than she might have
| done as the waif in rags, who had no
need for such dresses, even if she had
| possessed them.
So It is with the society girl in compari-
son with the sally in Our Alley" The
one has use and convenience for fine
| dresses, the other is happy in the posses
| sion of a plain calico frock, decked with
a few daisies fresh from the meadows.
| Such was the trend of the charge.
With such complications, 1t Is no Won
| der that the twelve men have been sitting
| steadily for twenty-four hours trying to
solve the equitable key to the situation.
| There are so many conflicting statements
| from authorities as to the law i'm such
| cases. and yet such plain evidence estab-
| lished and admitted that the contents of
Miss Mills two trunks had the value ask
ed for, that the jury finds it difficult to
| determine what they should do in point
| of equity.
They we're still hanging over the case al
a late hour last night. The suit for dam
ages by Miss Mills has not only attracted
a vast deal of interest among the society
folks of the city of Savannah, but has al
the same time completely perplexed the
sage judge of the city court and twelve
! jurors, and put to test the authorities of
| the highest courts.
II promises TO be a case that will be
| heard from in the volumes of law that
are to be written in the future
| s-o-s-
HYGIENE IN SCHOOLS.