The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-08-15
EVIDENCE WIDELY DIVERGENT.
Witnesses in Damage suit Tell Two
Very Different Stories.


All of yesterday was consumed in the
| City Court in che examination of wit
nesses for the defendant, in the case of
Mrs. Elizabeth Evans against the Savan-
nah. Florida and Western Railway Com
| pany, and when the recess was taken, at
| 7;30 o'clock in the evening, the end Of
| the case was not yet in sight or within
d reasonable distance.
Mrs. Evans is suing the railroad com
pany for $4,000 damages for the death of
! her husband, who was. run over and
killed by an engine, at Lakeland. Fla,
in October of last year. She sues not
only for the actual value of her husband's
life, but also for the loss of his love. So
ciety and protection. which latter ele-
ments of damage she is entitled to re-
cover, under the laws of Florida, should
she succeed in making out her case to
the satisfaction of court and jury.
There is a wide diversity in the evidence
that has already been introduced. II is
alleged in the petition that Evans and his
daughter were crossing the line of the
company's road at a point which was con-
tinually used by large numbers of per-
sons for this purpose and which the com
pany had permitted 90 become a public
or private crossing by its license of this
practice. He is alleged to have been in
the exercise of all reasonable and proper
prudence and precaution and taking all
reasonable steps for his own protection,
al the time he was run over and killed
by the engine of the company. These al
legations of the petition were supported in
whole or in part by the evidence of the
PLAINTIFF witnesses
The evidence of the witnesses introduced
yesterday on behalf of the defendant ex-
hibited a quite different condition of af-
fairs. They testified in the first place, that
at the point the homicide occurred there
was no crossing, whether public or pri
vate; that the engine by which the plain
tffs husband and daughter were killed
was running at rate of speed about one
fifth that which had been testified to by
her witnesses; that a f1agman was sta
TONED on the rear of the engine tender
which was being backed a the time, and
that this hagman was provided with a
light which he waved for the purpose
of attracting the attention of the unfor-
tunate man and girl who were run over
and killed, that they stepped almost d.
rectly in front OF the approaching dan
ger, in manner that did not permit the
engineer to stop his engine in time to save
their lives; that the engineer himself was
a man fully competent and qualified to
discharge the duty upon which he was
engaged. Each and every one of these
points in the evidence had been the sub
jet of specific denias in the petition filed
by the plaintiff.
1t may be seen, therefore. that the jury
has some difficult questions to settle, as
there is scarcely an uncontested point in
he case, save that the man for whose
death the suit has been brought was kill
ed by an engine of the defendant COM
pany.
c. NJ. Marsh, CT Lakeland was on the
stand for the defe ndant nearly three
hours yesterday afternoon, during which
time he was subjected to fofcible and
searching cross-examinaticn by Judge
Twiegs The evidence Of the witness was
at entire variance with number of the
contentious of the plaintiff, and Judge
Twiggs exhausted every artifice of the
skill ed cross-eXamiper, and he knows
them all, to induce Mr.. Marsh to go back
on some of the things he had said. He
didn't succeed. The conflict between Judge
Twiggs and the witness surged back and
forth, the former questioning vigorously
and earnestly, the latter answering with
every appearance of nonchalance, but
when ii had been concluded it was the
consensus of opinion that the learned
counsel had come out a decided second
best
The recess taken last evening was until
8 o'clock this morning, when the exami-
nation of witnesses for the defendant will
he continued There is a lingering posi-
bility that the introduction of evidence
may be concluded to-day and that to-
morrow the arguments will be made,
However. this is not more than a bare
chance. and if half the witnesses who
are in attendance are placed on the stand,
the case will last the remainder of the
week