The Savannah morning news., 1901-01-22
MANY SUITS FILED
RETURN DAY IN CITY COURT KEPT
CLERKS FORCE BUSY.
ACTIONS FOR DAMAGES,
MANY PLAINTIFFS SEEK SOLACE
FOR THEIR INJURIES.

capacitated for Practice of His
Profession by Railroad Accident.
COIored Church the Defendant in "A
Suft on PromissOry NOtes-PulasISi
House Proprietor Sued by "A Man
Who Fell Down the Shaft of the
Elevator.
A stream of cases to be filed flowed all
of yesterday into the office of the clerk
of the city court. il was the return day
for the February term and the last day
upon which cases made returnable to that
term could be filed.
Jaffee e. Bates, of New York, flied suit
against Dixon, Mitchell & Co. for $4,215.75,
damages for breach of contract. The
plaintiffs petition sets forth that in July,
1899, they purchased from the defendants
two hundred tons of old railroad iron,
plaintiffs at $1O.5O per ton, delivered on
the cars at Alexanderville, Ga, and was
to be delivered during the four months
succeeding the date of the contract. The
plaintiffs Immediately paid the defendants
$2,1OO
delivered within the four months pre-
scribed in the contract and that only thir-
ty-five tons of it have been delivered at
all. This was in March. 1900. The re-
mainder of the iron, consisting of about
165 tons, has never been delivered, though
the plaintiffs aver they have been ready
and anxious to receive it at any time.
1t is claimed by the plaintiffs that at
the time the iron was to be delivered it
was worth on the cars at AleXanderville
So. So per ton. Because of the failure to
deliver the hundred and sixty-fve tons the
plaintiffs claim they have been damaged
in the sum of $4.2l575 for which amount
they ask judgment. The plaintiffs are
represented by Messrs. Lawton e. Gun
ningham.
Stephen ]. Hayman is suing the Sa-
vannah, Florida and Western Railway for
$4,000 damages. His suit is for personal
injuries alleged to have been received by
him through the negligence and care
lessness of the servants and agents of the
company.
His petition sets forth that on Dec. "a,
1900, he Purchased a ticket from Fort
Meade to Tampa Fla. and return. He
waited in the waiting room of the station
at Fort Meade until 1880 o'clock in the
evening, when the train he was to take
pulled in. 1t stopped and the conductor
swung himself from the steps to the plat
form of the station and yelled, "All
aboard"
Hayman says that as soon as the train
stopped he left the waiting room and
started for the steps of one of the cars,
catching hold of the rail when he reach
ed it. AS he did so, the train was start
ed suddenly and violently forward, with
jerk and a jolt, the violence of the start
| serving to loosen the plaintiffs hold
from the rail and throw him under the
platform of the station.
Hayman says that he had two ribs
broken by the violence of the fall his
chest was bruised and crushed his right
shoulder blade was fractured and one of
his thumbs dislocated. His injuries have
caused him to be confined to his bed
for some weeks and have caused him
great physical and mental pain and an
guish. He is advised and believes, fur
thermore that his injuries are perma-
nent and that he will never again en-
joy complete and perfect bodily health.
The plaintiff shows that at the time
of the accident he was a dentist. in the
active practice of his profession, and
was in receipt of a professional income
ranging from $1,000 to 5000 per year. Be
cause of the injury and shock to his
nervous system he received in the acct
dent. he ayers that he win never again
be able to perform the intricate and den-
cate operations that the practice of his
profession requires.
He AYERS that he was without fault or
blame in the matter and contributed
nothing TO the occurrence or result of
the accident. He charges that it was
due solely to the negligence of the COM
pany's agents in suddenly and without
warning starting the train
The Beth Eden Baptist Church, colored
is the defendant in suit on promissory
notes brought by the E. H Stafford Com
pany. The plaintiff charges that the de-
PENDANT is indebted to it on three prom
issory notes for $1SS15 each, dated De-
cember IA, 1897, and due respectively three,
six and nine months after date, which ii
neglects and refuses to pay.
]. o. Macarthur is suing Charles f. Ora
ham, proprietor of the Pulaski House, for
$3.50 damages for personal injuries. 1t
was while the plaintiff was in Savannah
last July, in attendance upon the conven-
ton of clerks, marshals and sheriffs of
the state, that he received the personal
injuries that form the basis of his suit.
He was a guest of the Pulaski House
at the time His petition has it that he
wished to take the elevator, to descend
to the negro boy, who had several times
run the elevator Tor him, and as the door
of the shaft was open he stepped inside
supposing that the elevator was on a level
with the floor upon which he was at the
time. The elevator was not on a level
with his floor, however, and he was pre-
cipitated to the bottom of the shaft
AS he fell he endeavored to break the
force of the fall by clinging 10 the ele-
vator rope and in consequence his hands
were terribly bruised and lacerated. His
feet were shattered and the bones crushed
and broken by the impact of his fab and
for some time he was unable to use them
or 20 walk at all. Even now, he alleges,
he can walk only with a limp, and he
AYERS that he will never be wholly free
from this defect.
The plaintiff says that he has already
paid bills amounting to $50 to physicians
and has suffered a great deal of pain and
anguish. For this suffering, his perma-
nent disability and the expense to which
he has been but he asks 81, $50 damages.
1t is the contention of the plaintiff that
ID was the duty of the defendant to keep
the elevator door shut when the elevator
was not on a level with that floor and
that It was gross negligence to do other
wise The plaintiff is represented by
Messrs. Osborne & Lawrence.
Bunyan Davie wants $500 from the Cen
trial of Georgia Railway for the liberation
that his feelings received upon a day
last year He claims that some of the en-
ployes of the Central handled him roughly
upon a Tybee train and subjected him to