The times., 1899-06-23
COLONIAL DANES IN coUR4.
Rival Societies mt Law Over Right
to Use the Title


to Use the Title
New York, June 22-Justice Bookstayer
in Part of the Supreme Court. special
term. this morning heard the opening tes-
timony in the suit brought by the Colonial
Danes of America against the Colonial
Danes of the State of New York and the
National Society of Colonial Danes OF
| America, of which the State society Is Il
| branch. for an injunction restraining both
/ these associations from using the title
Colonial Danes" The counsel for the Co.
! lonial Danes of America, in the complaint
on behalf of the plaintiff organization. al
| leges that the use by the defendant as
sCciations OF their present names is great
injury to the original society, both 'fnan-
cially and socially" and that the title Co
lonial Danes" attracts members who 9TH
erwise would join the plaintiff society.
| The society known as the Colonial
DANES of America was organized and in
ccrporated on April 13, 1891. Mrs. Eliza
| beth Coralie Gardiner is the President.
| Mrs. Howard Townsend is the President
of the Colonial Danes of the State OF
New York, which is an offshoot of the
Pennsylvania Society of Colonial DANES of
America.
Long before court opened the courtroom
was crowded with the members OF he
.
behalf of the plaintiff association, coun-
sci said: This is a suit in equity, brought,
in part, to secure an injunction to restrain
Mrs. Townsend. as president of the ma
tional organization, from using a title
which is the property, as a trademark, of
the Colonial Danes of America
Mrs. John Lyon Gardiner, the President
of the Society of Colonial Danes of Ameri-
ca, was the first witness. She testified that
fha ufafr TO-, H.nIl
in 1890 at the home of Mrs. John King
Van Rensselaer,, at 102 Lexington Avenue
Mrs. Lamb presided at the first meeting,
according to the witness, to instruct the
organizers of the society as to how it
should be conducted. The question of a
name came up at a second meeting, when
each woman present was asked to suggest
an appropriate name at the next meeting.
AT the third meeting. in November of 1890,
| the name OF the Society of Colonial Danes
| of America was proposed by Mrs. A. G..
King, and adopted by the members of the
society. At this meeting Mrs. King was
elected president, and Mrs. John Lyon
Gardiner. first vice president. Many mot
toes for the society were also considered.
but. according to the minutes of the meet
ing, put in evidence by the counsel for the
plaintiff society, they were all in foreign
languages. and the members were accord
lish at a subsequent meeting.
Mrs. Christine Bidell Cadwalder, of
| Philadelphia, was the next witness. She
rehearsed the circumstances attending the
| formation of a branch society Of the Co.
| lonial Danes of America in Philadelphia,
testifying that Mrs. Arnold, of Philadel-
| phia, was engaged at that time in an en-
deavor to form an organization of Colo
NAL women, independent of the New York
society, and attempted to interest her in
the movement Mrs. Cadwalder said she
told Mrs. Arnold that, as most of her
| friends were connected with the present
society, she preferred to be associated with
that organization, and she begged Mrs.
Arnold to postpone the formation OF the
rival society until Mrs. Gardiner, the act
ing head of the New York organization,
had been heard from. The witness be-
/ lieved Mrs. Arnold gave up the idea of
forming a rival society; but later Mrs.
Arnold announced that she did not see
the necessity of having any connection
| with any other society, and that many OF
the Philadelphia women considered the
! ancestry of the members of the New York
| society inferior to that of the majority
! of the women in Philadelphia; and. there
| fore, had decided to form separate or
| garization.
| On her cross examination, Mrs. Cadwal-
| der said she thought the main ground of
! difference between the women VINO formed
! the New York society and the women who
made up the rival organization in Phila-
| delphia had its inception in ''the jealousy
| felt by Philadeiphians for New Workers" p"
| At the close of her cross examination,
| Mrs. Cadwalder admitted that on April q,
1891, all but four members OF the branch
| society OF the Colonial Danes of America
resigned. This was due to a misunder-
standing within the branch organization,
however, she said, and had nothing to do
with the trouble between the two local
rival organizations.
Mrs. Mary Devoe Hodge, wife of the
! Rev. George Woolsey Hodge, Of Philadel-
phia, a member of the executive committee
OF the Philadelphia branch of the Amer
| lean Society of Colonial Danes, testified
that she protested. at a meeting of the
branch society held in April 1891, against
the use OF their name. as she put it, by the
independent Philadelphia society. Mrs.
Hodge said that the designations OF the
members OF the Philadelphia society were
| rendered owing to feeling that the Phila-
| delphia branch did not receive proper rec
ognition from the parent body.