Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1903-12-18
/,couNTY COURT.
LAW POINT RAISED IN A
HORSE CASE.

JIM LA w IOiNi hhioiSD iA' N
HORSE CASE.
The time of the court from Thursday |
to Tuesday afternoon was taken up with
the case of Balm VS.. Haskell, horse case
appealed by the plaintiff from Justice
court.
This was important only because of
the law point involved, whether a party |
was liable for damages who hired team
to go to certain place and did not go a
usual route.
Judge Tyler instructed the jury that
inasmuch as the defendant had gone out
side of the bailment or contract in driv-
ing further after she had got on to the
wrong road, whether knowingly or not, |
the defendant was guilty according to
law, and they must find at least nominal
damages for the plaintiff; (Which they
did and that if in addition they found
any actual damages the measure of
those damages was the difference be-
tween what the horse was worth when
the defendant took the team from Mr..
Balm and what it was worth when
brought back to him. The jury awarded
plaintiff nominal damages 81. The costs
in such cases cannot exceed the sum
awarded, and plaintiff will receive 81
towards his costs.
The effect of this decision. if affirmed
by the supreme court, is that persons
who hire teams to go to any named
place do so at great peril, and if they
fail to go by usual or customary route
they are liable to suit for the full value
of the team driven. This is the first
time this point has been raised in the
state. The decision is based on the old
common law of tort. Cushman and Rus
sell for plaintiff; W. H. Davis for de-
fendant.
Tuesday afternoon Henry Cook, a
was arraigned on information charging
him with the larceny of about $14 in
money and pair of shoes from an en-
ploye of the Addison house stables in
Middlebury a short time since. The
respondent withdrew former plea of
not guilty and entered one of guilty.
Upon representations of Cooks counsel,
j. w. Page, of Bristol, and the state
ment of States Attorney Donoway, the
court sentenced the respondent to serve
not less than one year and not more than
one year and six months at hard labor
in the states prison at Windsor, Judge
Tyler remarking that the House of Cor
rection at Rutland was overcrowded and
that the state prison would be found
more comfortable place of abode.
This case having been disposed of the
first criminal trial of the term was be-
gun. 1t was State VS.. Charles X. Hol-
comb of Vergennes, who was charged
on the states attorneys information.
filed at this term, with the larceny of
five horse blankets valued at $40, the
property of Charles l.. Laboeuf. at Yer
gennes, on the night of October -,
1901. States Attorney Donoway prose-
cuted and +. w. Tuttle, of Vergennes,
represented the respondent. The re-
mainder of Tuesday afternoon was con-
sumed with the taking of evidence for
the state.
! 1t was claimed on the part of the state
, that the five horse blankets which the
respondent was accused of stealing were
in buggy in the yard of Mr.. LaBoeuf
when the members of the family went
to a show in the opera house. After
the show, sometime about IL o'clock,
Mrs LaBoeuf put the buggy into the
barn but did not notice until the next
day that the blankets were missing.
1t was shown that Holcomb had been at
the American house in the early part of
the night, the hotel being next door to
the LaBoeuf house and Holcomb's home
being only short distance away and
across the street. The principal witness
for the prosecution was one William
Tyrrell of Vergennes, who has also been
informed for participation in the stealing
of the same blankets and who has been
confined in the Middlebury Jail for some
, time. Tyrrell testified that he helped
5 Holcomb to conceal the blankets in "a
hole which they dug in the hay in Hol-
combs barn, and that Holcomb told him
he had procured them from lumber
man, but without giving very clear
reason for concealing them. Blankets
resembling some of those stolen were
subsequently traced to Holcomb's pos
session and were identified in court as a
part of the stolen property. There were
about twenty witnesses for the state.
The defence was alibi. 1t was claim
ed for Holcomb that he had been at and
about the opera house where the enter
tainment WAS in PROGRESS all the earlier