The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-24
WILL GO TO THE JURY TO-DAY.
FOUR HOURS OF ARGUMENT YES
TERDAY IN THE POLHILL CASE.

TERDAY IN THE POLHILL CASE.
Railroads Attorneys Take the Posi-
tIOn That the Plaintiff Was Not In
jured in the Collision and That He
Has Been Feigning-POIhiIrs At
torney Insists That His Condition
Has Been Serious and That the
Collision Resulted IN Permanent
Injuries.
This morning Judge Speer will charge
the jury in the suit of Polhin against the
Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad
for $4,000 damages for injuries alleged to
have been sustained in a collision on that
road
Yesterday was given to the arguments.
7. r. Ravenel, Esq, led off for the plain
tiff in half-hour's able discussion of the
case, given up Largely to the law of dam
age cases. MIR. Ravenel took the position
that it had been shown that Mr.. Polhi1
had received injuries in the accident re-
ferred to which had made him a nervous
wreck, incapacitated him for continuous
effort in business and rendered him in
danger of losing his life from meningitis.
His earning power had been seriously i'm
paired, and it was for the jury to say
what damages he should receive.
s. B. Adams, Esq. who argued the case
for the railroad, spoke for two hours. Mr..
Adams reviewed the evidence in the case
in detail and pointed out what were to
MIN Inconsistencies in the testimony for
the defense, as well as charging that Mr..
| Polhil was guilty of feigning injuries
which he had not received. Il was IN
comprehensive TO Mr.. Adams that Mr..
Polhill, occupying a seat in a car, could
have been thrown into the aisle in a col
| lision and stunned so that he lost con-
| seriousness without the man who sat next
| TO him, or Two men who sat opposite TO
| him, and who were awake, seeing any
| Thing of the occurrence. 1t might be pos
sible, but as Mr. Adams viewed it, it
was highly improbable that any such
| thing occurred. No one else in the car
professed to have been hurt some of the
passengers described the collision as SEEM
| ing merely ike rough coupling of cars
and after his alleged injuries Mr.. Polhll
left the car and went out to find out
what had happened.
| From the time of the accident to the
present Mr.. Adams traced the course pur-
sued by MIR. Polhill, pointing out that his
| evidence was directly contrary to that of
| physicians who had treated him. Mr. Pol
hill had declared that when taken from
| Brunswick to several places where physl-
clans treated him, his mind was a bank,
he knew nothing of what took place. Yet
| the physicians agreed, Mr.. Adams said
| in describing him as a person of rational
mind, and one of them, the day after
| he saw Mr. Polhill, had written a de-
tailed account of the accident and its eff
feets as described to him by Mr.. Polhin
| at time when the plaintiff declared his
| mind was a vacancy. This, and other eV-
| idence, Mr.. Adams declared justified the
belief that MIR. Polhin was malingering
If Mr.. Po.hill had received any damages
| at all in the collision he had, the attor-
| ney asserted. exaggerated them i'm the
| hope of securing substantial damages
from the railroad. He directed atten-
ton especially to the testimony of Dr.
! Thayer of the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
| This physician, who had attended Mr.. Pol
| hill for month at the hospital, and who
had been described by Mr. Polhilrs own
attorney as a distinguished physician of
! the highest character, had refused 20 give
| evidence until required 10 do so by an or
der of the United States Court at Balti-
more. His evidence, Mr.. Adams claimed.
showed that Mr.. Polhil had an exagger-
ated, or assumed an exaggerated, idea of
the injuries he claimed to have received.
Mr.. Adams pointed out that the hosp-
tai doctors more than intimated that Mr..
PolhilFs condition of nervousness was
considerably due to the influence exerted
over him by his wife and that her pres
ence greatly retarded his improve nent.
When he left the hospital the physicians
pronounced him able to go to his regular
| work in month without further treat
ment from them. Since then he had in
| dulged In shooting in the field and other
wise, and, as Mr. Adams viewed it, shown
his own claims to be false.
Mr.. Adams also took the position
that the whole case had been sedulouslv
| worked up more by Mrs. Polhiu than nv
| her husband. He showed that four davs
after the collision she had written to the
| railroad asking about damages. Then.
when she took her husband TO John
! Hopkins Hospital the doctors were speed-
! lily convinced that a damage suit was he
ing worked up. He insisted that the owl
dence OF the physicians must be accented
as proving that Mr.. Polhin was largely
feigning, and that his claim for damages
was not well based
Attorney Symmes closed for the Main.
tin, speaking for an hour and half Mr.
Symmes INDUCED in considerable witt
cism. He left the case TO the iurv with
confidence that it would recognize that his
client had been hurt as he claimed ana
that his injuries entitled him Ia bea,,,
damages.