The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-03-16
NO WALLER CORN
Wherefore Mr.. Newsome
Sues FOR Mental Angus h
Didn't Want 1t For Himself But F r
Raft Hands. BY Mistake in Message
EaHe Suffered Loss and Anguish to
Tune of $3.50 Per Gallon.

A case which is destined to find &
prominent place in that unique Iega
publication. the office boys digest. is
that of Newsome VS.. Telegraph Com
pany which was. argued last week in
the Supreme Court. The facts set
forth are designed to create a claim
against the corporation for mental an-
guish and they contemplate an extern
sion of that doctrine to a point where
the SUFFERING of the humble citizen
will have a chance to get its surceast
in dollars and cents, without the sac
rifice of a beloved member of the
family circle.
In short the appeal of the plaintiff
Newsome is that. while there may be
anguish stored in the yellow lights OF
the bottle of corn liquor when it is
full and tempting. there is none the
less OF mental despair in the bottle
when a bloated corporation prevents
the delivery of the same to the
thirsty.
The anguish undergone by a man
who is expecting a quart by express
when the train rolls in without his
bottle. is, to include the world in the
moral propaganda. at the least ira
ditional of woe; it has remained. how
ever, for Sampson county to ask the
courts to put a monetary value on
such deprivation.
The record in the Supfeme Court
shows in the complaint that on Feb
uary the Bird, 1902. the plaintiff
Newsome delivered to the office of the
defendant and paid for the following
urgent message to his good friend and
creditor in the we'll irrigated town of
Benson. to-wit:
clinton. N. c.. Feb. 9. 1902.
ITO j. II. Royal. Benson. N. c.:
send by express four gallons corn.
MINIS Siding. Rush. Raft hands.
T. J. NEWSOME."
Whereupon Mr.. Newsome, who was
in the lumber and turpentine business
and had arranged to raft number
of barrels of rosin to Wilmington by
way of Coharie Creek and Black
river. went to MINIS Siding to receive
the goods on two occasions. only to
find the express car empty of it's COM
fort.
Wherefore Mr. Newsone. having
discovered that the telegram was sent
under the name of T. j. Seasons. in
stead of T. ]. Newsome. so that pur-
veyor Royal. knowing nothing of any
hasty customer of that name had re-
fused to ship the corn which was spec
flied in the telegram. sued tie tele-
graph company for damages on sever
al counts. among them that of mental
anguish" and the jury returned YER
dict of 5000 whereupon the defend
ant appealed.
Coura~e foc the Fresh"
1t appears from the complaint that
the purpose of the Plaintiff in arrang
ing for so large a Supply of corn was
that there was spring fresh in prog
ress on the Coharle and he wished to
avail himself or the opportunity OF
h; l.,
do except at high water; that 1T was
the custom OF raft hands to demand
and receive in addition to their regu-
lar wages a due allowance of fire
water to dry them off after going into
the wet and chilling flood and t.Iat the
plaintiff in securing his hands had
agreed with one Alonzo Warren. their
foreman, to furnish them in addition
Iour gallons or corn whiskey; that
said whiskey did not arrive, the hands
left, the rosin remained un-rafted ana
Mr.. Newsome-whose name had been
spelled Seasons. which was not
talismanc WORD to the credit of the
Benson barkeep-thereby suffered ma
terial loss in the way of wages ad-
vanced. loss on the price of his rosin,
damage to his credit and in section
10 of his complaint, as he alleges:
THAT by reason of defendants neg
ligence plaintim has suffered great
mental anxiety. worry and trouble and
has been damaged to the extent of
$1,000"
Among other things. relevant ques-
lions of law and of fact, the defend
ant makes answer that the message
was obscure. the intimation being the
word corn" did not imply whiskey.
Whatever the law may be. that con-
tention is considered by lawyers TO
be frivolous as coming within the gem
eral knowledge of all men that when
a man orders gallons of corn from
out of Sampson county he does not
mean the popcorn variety.
1t is on the mental anguish feature
that this case will be famous. however.
North Carolina has been peculiarly
fortunate in the exploitation of that
doctrine, but hitherto the disappointed
in their liquors have refrained from
going to the courts. And even Mr..
Newsome puts it on the raft hands.
Does Corn" Rank With Children.
Mental anguish for lost liquor re-
calls the case where it was sought to
recover on that ground for the loss
of a couple of fat and promising
shoats and the opinion written at tina.
time by ex-iustice Douglass in which
he put into hog meat poetic quality
rarely equalled in judicial opinion.
Said he:
Our opinion in Cashion's case was
hinged on the solemn fact of death
and the associations inseparable from