The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-03-14
SOME DISCREPANCY IN oPPos-
ING CLAIMS.
Thornton Alleges That He Lost
$1,000 Worth of Property in the
Fire While Witnesses for the De-
fense Fix the Amount at Less Than
S2,oo0--More Evidence Tending to
Support the Allegation That the
Blaze Was of Incendiary origin.
Seventh Day of the Trial.

the National Assurance company OF
Ireland. which have been on trial be.
| fore Judge Archibald in United States
circuit court for the past seven days
| moved with n little more celerity yes.
| terday. Fourteen witnesses in all were
| examined.
| All except one of the witnesses were
| for the defense. The exception was
l.. A. Darte, of Kingston, who on ac-
count of illness could not attend the
| day before. He was called to corrobor-
ate the claim of the plaintiff that the
| insurance companies kept possession
| OF the goods rescued from the burning
| house for at least a month. His tes-
timony was that the building in which
| the goods were stored was hired from
him by Insurance Agent Hoban and
| that John II. Lenahan, attorney for
| the companies paid the first months S
| rent. On cross examination, Mr. Lena
| han brought out testimony from which
| 1T might be inferred that the defense
| paid the rent only when Mr. Thornton
| refused to do so. and because Mr..
| Ddrtc would not let the adjustors en-
| ter the building rItil the rent was
paid.
THAT INVENTORY.
Much stress was laid by the defense
on the alleged self-contradiction of the
plaintiff as to the time he made the
catalogue and inventory of his library
and household goods. On the witness
stand, Mr.. Thornton testified that they
were made seven or eight days before
| the fire. The stenographic report of
his examination in Mr.. Lenahan's Of
| ! G,n ,l,N hat
| he then testified they were made eight
| months before. When the stenograph-
er's report was shown Mr.. Thornton on
cross-eXamination Monday last he
averred that he had never said eight
months and strongly maintained that
| the report had been tampered with.
This intimation was born of the fact,
possibly. that his signature was at
tached to each page of the report at
| testing it's accuracy.
Adjustor Hemingway. when on the
stand yesterday morning. testified that
| Mr.. Thornton told him few days after
| the fire that he had no memoranda of
| his library and catalogue. Frank Bat
| tie. stenographer in Mr.. Lenahan's Of
| flee, read from his original notes to
prove the correctness Of the disputed
report of Mr.. Thorntons testimony,
regarding the time he made the inven-
tory and catalogue.
This report of the examination in Mr..
| Lenahans office was submitted to Mr..
| Thornton in typewriting, and he made
| various corrections and interlineatlons
| before signing it. His testimony at the
| trial and his testimony at the exam
| inaton did not harmonize, and in one
| Of these instances a correction of the
| report in handwriting contributed to
| the discrepancy Mr.. Thornton denied
| that the correction was made by him.
| Mr.. Battle, yesterday, testified that
| every correction and interlineation ap-
pearing in the report was made before
Mr.. Thornton returned it to Mr.. Lena
hans office. On cross-eXamination, Mr..
| McGahren tried to have it appear that
| Thornton said "a month instead of
| eight months" as the stenographer
had it.
DISCOVERED THE FIRE.
James l.. Finnen, Kingston boy,
| told that he discovered the fire ut 1915
| p. m., or about a quarter of an hour
after the plaintiff and his wife locked
up the house and went back to Wilkes
| Barre.
Captain II. II. Holmes. chief of police
of Kingston, testified to having broken
| in the door and helped carry out the
| goods. He also told of being sum-
! moned, eight days after the fire, by
Adjuster Hemmingway, to witness the
packing up of some of the debris gath
cred in the hallway. where the fire is
supposed to have started. He told that
| through a fire was picked up in the
| house, and that some of the articles not
! wholly consumed smelled of kerosene.
Sixteen photos of the house were sub
mitted by Photographer Woolworth to
show that the fire was confined to the
| Railways, stairways and attic, and that
no flames got inside any of the rooms.
| This was to support the defendants
claim that the only goods consumed
were such as We're in the hallway.
! Wheelwright Wright, chief of Kingston
| fire department, fixed the time of the
| sounding of the alarm at 1925 p. m, and
corroborated the claim that the flames
did not enter the rooms. On cross-eX-
animation Mr.. McGahren brought out
the statement that water was poured
into the building for nearly three hours,
j. S. Mack, a contractor and builder,
| who repaired the house, also gave tes-
timony to show that the blaze was con-
| fined to the Railways and stairways
VALUE OF GOODS.
A raft of testimony was produced TO
show the value of the goods collected
after the fire. The plaintiff claimed
| that he had $1,000 worth of books and
household effects in the building, and
| that an auction of the remnants real
| Zed less than 5000 The defense main
tains that only few hundred dollars
worth of goods We're entirely destroyed
| by fire, and that the value of both the
books and the household goods not con-
sumed was less than $1,000 when bran
| new,
W. Il. Phillips. a furniture dealer, OF
| Wilkes Barre and +. G. Daniels. fore
| man of the Scranton Bedding company,
| testified to ADVERTISEMENTS they made,
| at the instance of the defendants, OF
| the furniture saved from the fire. MIR.
| Phillips fixed it's sound value at $754.9O,
| and it's damage at 1894 CO. Mr. Daniels
appraised the goods AS being worth
| $S60.70 when new, and s532,S2 as they
were when he examined them after the
| fire.
Mr.. Puckey of the firm of Puckev
! Bros book dealers. of Wilkes Barre,
| testified to an examination of the books
saved from the fire. He took a list of
| them, noted their condition. and estl-
| mated what they would bring in "A
second hand store. There We're 54S vol
| umes, he said. Many of them were wet,
some were discolored by mud and some
had their covers torn or warped, Most