Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1897-10-21
Circuit Court Proceedings.

circumstances it is considered almost
as victory for Powers, the impress
sion in the ne:chborhood being that
Cummings would receive much larger
damages.
Cummings Is nephew Of Powers
and was working for him on his farm
near Patch Grove in the spring of
1895 and living in house on the
farm belonging to Powers. Some i'll
feeling grew out Of dance being
held in new barn, contrary to Pow
ers' orders. Cummings was dis
charged and afterwards re-hired, but
continued to live in Powers house.
Finally Mr.. and Mrs. Powers went to
the house together, ordered Cum
mings to leave and attempted to take
forcible possession and to remove
furniture from the house for a new
tenant. Cummings objected on the
ground that some Of the household
effects were his own and that he had
right to protect them. During the
argument or quarrel Mrs. Powers
struck Cummings over the head with
piece OF iron, cutting an ugly
wound. 1t was this blow Oh which
the suit for damages was based.
Attorneys for Cummings. Brennan
and Cleary; for Powers, A. H. Long
and Bushnell, Watkins & Moses
The second case was the case from
Platteville of John Steinhotf ct al. vs.
VIM. Trenary. This case hinged on
an alleged mistake in weighing hogs.
1t was tried in circuit court once be-
fore but the jury disagreed.
Trenarv sold Steinhoff and Stephens
a bunch of hogs in the winter of 90
The hogs were delivered, weighed and
paid for. A few days later the buyers
claimed to have discovered an error
in the weighing and sought to recov-
er sos they claimed they had over
paid. Trenary would not admit the
business of the claim and a suit at
law was the result.
The jury at this term found for the
defendant, Trenarv.
Attorneys for Steinhoff, Beebe and
Murphey; for Trenary, Cleary &
Clearv.
The third case is that of George
Bresee against the village of Montfort
/ for S., 900.
The claim of Bresee is that in May
1896, about dusk, he was carrying
home on his shoulder sack of flour,
and that when on the street just
south of P. I. Stephens house, he
came to a place in the sidewalk
where plank was broken about the
middle, the broken ends depressed
several inches and resting on the
ground; that he stepped into this
hole with his right foot, made a quick
step over it with his left to catch
himself, lost his balance, and fell
heavily backward; that he felt imme-
diately intense pain in his back, bad
to be carried home and has been
unable to walk without crutches ever
since; that as result of the injury
his right leg is so badly paralyzed as
to make it practically useless and
that before the fall 'he was an able
bodied man.
The village claims that Bresee was
an invalid before the fall; that he was
subject to sinking spells or fits and
had at least three OF them the night
of the alleged injury while he was
being taken home; that Bresee is
probably suffering somewhat from
sciatica but not so badly as he claims,
that his disease is not the result Of
the fall but existed months or years
before the accident; that the broken
board in question was sagged down
less than two inches and did not con-
stitute defect that should make the
village liable for an accident; that
really Bresee did not fall where the
defective plank was at all, but at
point several feet-about Is feet
from it; that Bresee is shamming
about his injuries and that at an
examination by physicians made in
January 1897, there was no paralysis
of the right leg found, nor wasted 81
atrophied parts; that Bresee has re-
peatedly been seen to move about
without clutches since his injury
All Of the positions assumed BY |
both sides have been sustained 9y
testimony and the jury viii have a |
+og1- - 5t4t 80 az; 1l,,oa "a 49, |