The Butte inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1901-1912, 1901-08-16
DEATH OF LITTLE JOSEPH
EGAM MAY BRING ON
LAWSUIT. I
Inquest il Being Held Today to Fig
Responsibility for Death Of the
Child-Bdth Sides Have Law
yers Present and the Evil
dence il Being Taken !;
Down in Shorthand
for Future Use.

A case of damages may grow out Of
the runaway accident on Iron street
which esulted in the death of the fve~
nionths'-old infant son Of Joseph Egan.
AS will be remembered. a horse driven
to a solicitors wagon belonging to the
John Caplice Commercial company, ran
away and ran over a baby carriage con
tanning the infant which had been left
at the rear Of the Egan residence on
Iron street. The horse stood in an alley
or vacant lot near where the baby waa
left for a few seconds by his mother.
and 1t was scared by q COW n ran
away. =
An inquest into the death Of the baby
was begun at Sherman's undertaking.
parlors this morning at 10 o'clock BY
Coroner Johnson. and from the manner
IN which Joseph Egan. the father Of the
baby. and the Caplice company were
both represented at the inquest there
was strong grounds for the assumption
that Mr.. Egan contemplates a damage
suit against the Caplice for
negligence. n that the latter is Yre>
pairing to contest the same.
Both Mr.. Egan and the company had
legal representatives at the inquest, ana
the latter had a shorthand writer taking
the testimony for its benefit.
The testimony in h forenoon covered
the details OF the accident, and the wit
nesses were from the neighborhood
where it happened. Mrs. Van Wood.
Mrs. OConnor and other neighbor wo-
men were on the stand The particulars
Of the accident given in their evidence
agreed with the account published in.
this paper.
The question Of negligence centers
around the matter Of how the unawa
morse was fastened, and whether he was
fastened at all. None Of the witnesses
named would swear positively as to
these matters. None Of them saw
whether the hor\e was fs/tened or not,
and If it was, what the way was in
which it was tied.
}. II. Bryan, the young man who
drove the horse on the morning of the
accident, n who was in a house in the
Iron street neighborhood soliciting when
1t ran away, went on the stand this
afternoon. He swore that he tied the
horse. and illustrated the way in which
1t was tied. A leather hitchiIgs strap, an
inch and a quarter in width, Bryan tes-
titled, was the strap used by him in
tying the horse before he went into
suC AoOSCs was cAulUlIeO. ACCORDING
to his testimony, this strap was snapped
around h horses neck and then
wrapped once around a telegraph or
telephone pole at the place where the
animal was stationed and tied with a
slip knot, the end being passed ehiou.ss
the loop made with the knot after the
latter had been tied. He illustrated how.
this was done showing the usual
method of tying a horse.
This witness testified tina he would.
not think of leaving that horse or any
other without tying it; that he did not
think any horse secure unless tied, and
that he always tied that horse.
John Platch testified hat he had
mended the strap on exhibit. and that
it had been brought to him broken be-
low the ring In which the snap is
snapped. He said hat the strap would
hold a weight of a half ton when new
and that he considered 1t a secure fast
ening for the horse in question. He
could not remember the date when the
strap was brought to him to be mended.
and was excused in order that he might
go out and get his account book for the
date.
Bryan was t~estifying as to his ex-
perience in driving the horse when the
last account Of the inquest was received.