Daily Kennebec journal., 1904-11-26
READY FOR JURY.
CONTINUED from page -

!
| John A. Mccoy of Somerville, Mass.
was called. Mr.. Mccoy is employed a'
| general Superintendent Of construction
of the lines of the y. l.. Tel. Il Tel. Co.
! in massachusetts,. He stated that IN"
employment of a lineman was extra
hazardous. so much So IN Fact, 'hal
| lnsuranc" companies have refused |"
| assume the risk of inslir'ng men. Ana
! further. that all, men i'll his employ
We're always warned ~el"atcdly. about
| coming in contact with high voltage
| wires of other companies. Because OF
| late years the high voltage wires q
electric light companies has made the
/ "Ork Of the lineman a rerilnuS occu-
| patton. Further Mr.. Mccoy told Of
numerous incidents in his career as an
electrician. explaining different steps
h. had taken in the business to assume
his present position
\. {. F. Jacobs. manager of conStruc~
| zion Of the New England Telegraph 4
Trlenhnne Co. throughout the State
! of Maine, was the next witness. Mr
Jacobs testified as the previous wit
ness. as TO his idea Of the duty Of a
foreman toward waning his crew Of
men of danger ii live wires. H."
| claimed that frcmrn We're not sup
posed 10 warn tn" men of the proX-
! unity of highly charged wires. they are
supposed always to be on the lookout
| for them. On being shown the several
| exhibits of Wire. INTRODUCED as evi-
| dcn,e. he identified and gave tht
weight Of each. He ha! been to tn"
| scene of the accident, and had talked
! with several of the men in regard to
! the occurrence, but as far as personal
| knowledge went, he knew nothing as
he was not an eye witness of the acci
| dent At the conclusion of Mr.
Jacobs testimony court adjourned un-
/ til 2.13 o'clock.
/ AT the resuming of the hearing At
/ torney Williamson. began his cross-e>-
animation Of the last witness. Mr..
! Jacobs. The cross-cXamination brought
out nothing new in the way Of new evi-
I dtnce.
/ William Hilton. a tlerk in the employ
of the Konn"bec Light and Heat CO..
was the next witness called. He testi-
lied to several times having the power
on the state street wr's shut off at the
| rtuucs of the defendant company, and
presented the data Of the same. In
reply To the inquiry as to whether h
would always shut off power al the re
quest of any company. he said he
would only in eases where it W Ould not
| effect the service OF his lines. This hr
explained would mean on dark after
noon. or toward evening. when it would
! ne necessary to furnish lights for the
patrons.
Michael Hurns. proprietor Of tn
riverside hotel. was called upon to
testify To his knowledge of the tele-
phone crew. This crew boarded at the
hotel during the summer of 1903. The
first he knew of the accident was when
he crew. with the exception of MI
Finn, came i'll for supper. The crnVeT-
satinn overheard by Mr.. Burns. at the
hotel after considerable controversy
between counsel was ruled out of the
evidence as inadmissabie. In regard To-
Mr.. Finn's physical condition, the wit
ness said that he considered the plain
inf had lost considerable in weight
and appeared suffering from nervous
debility. The testimony was concluded
with the examination of Mr.. Eurns.
The maps, plans and numerous ex-
hibits. during the examination present
ed by the contendiag counsel. were pre-
sented and accepted as evidence
The argument for the defence was
presented by Attorney L. G. Cornish |
He began his plea before the jury at 3
O'Clock, and for over an hour held the |
close attention of both jury and specta-
tors. His argument was sound and
convincing argument, and was pre-
senteG in mastery manner. In his |
plea he tried TO prove thai the defend |
ant company We're in no way to blame |
for the accident. inasmuch. as the |
plaintiff Lad furnished no prof of neg |
Ilgence on the part of the company. |
Furthermore that the evidence tended |
to prove that he plaintiff himself hal !
been guilty Of contributing to the ac-
ridcnt, BY not guarding against the |
danger. he should have known would .
be lurking in the wires Of the kcnnebec |
Light & Heat Go. Further, Attorney
Cornish in his review of the testimony,
disputed the statement of the defend
ant that the men themselves We're sup
posed 70 lock on all wires as dead. un-
less otherwise notified by his foreman
This he claimed was an absurtlity, as
all ln"m"n. counsel cl"imed. look on
all Wi'cs as full nf death dealing cur
entire argument vas given in his Gus
tpmary able manner and was very in
tereStin"
At the conclusion Of this plea the
court enjoyed a short recess. On re-
suminG the session Attorney Burleigh
addressed the jury in behalf of tn,
plaintiff. Mr.. Eurleich proceeded in
dehberate way to plac" the finder of .
responsibility on the defendant com
pahY. He rejected the claim &C the de-
1ndlng counsel. that Mr.. Finn was
gully of contrbutory negligence on
mat fatcful afternoon in August, 1903.
he presented q close analysis of the
evidence and tried 10 show spacific in
stances of neglect on the part of the
New England Telephone & Telegraph
90" IN not warning the men of dan
ger, OF requesting The owners of Other
wires to shut off power. The argumen,
WAS very strong one. and proved in
tefes'iiig TO the large number of spec
tators present.
Al the conclusion of Mr.. Burleigh's
t1 hA