Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-04-27
CIRCUIT COURT,

was engaged In the trial or y. Is.
White VS.. the Tavora Cotton Mill and
c. +. James. The plaintiff in this ac
tion contended that he was arrested
In the town Of Yorkville, by Policeman
j. l.. Sanders, without a warrant. That
after he was arrested, Mr.. Sanders
procured warrant charging the plain
tiff with the violation Of O town ordi-
nance which prohibits the soliciting
or employing Of laborers In the town
Of Yorkville for work outside the town.
Plaintiff further contended that he was
arrested at the instigation Of G. F.
James, who signed the affidavit on
which the warrant was based, and who
was at that time the superintendent Of
the Tavora Mill, and that the mill in
structed, or that James was acting for
the mill in having the arrest made, and
that the warrant was taken out with
out any probable cause, but was done
maliciously and with the intent to in
jure plaintiff and that by reason Of
this false and malicious arrest he was
kept in the guard house at Yorkville
over night, not properly fed and cared
for and was damaged in the sum Of
81, 900. All Of this the defendant denied.
Mr.. James admitted swearing out a
warrant for plaintiff for violation Of
the town ordinance mentioned, but al
legged that he did so upon probable
cause and without any malice toward
the plaintiff. The Tavora Mill Joined
in the contention of Mr.. James, and
contended further. that, even IL plain
tiff's statement as to the false and NAL
icious arrest was correct, that Mr..
James procured the arrest Of defend
ant without authority from the mill
and was not acting within the scope Of
his authority as superintendent In
| swearing out such warrant, and that
therefore the mill could not be liable.
Both defendants contended that Mr..
James swore out the warrant regular
| ly, and If the arrest was made without
warrant, neither defendant authorized
| 1t or had anything to do with 1t. Nu-
merous witnesses were examined as to
whether Mr.. James had probable cause
| for swearing out the warrant, and Mr..
Sanders, the officer making the arrest,
testified that he had the warrant In
his possession at the time the arrest
was made. The plaintiff. when origi-
nally arrested and tried before the
mayor, was acquitted; so one Of the is
sues in present trial, was not the guilt
or innocence Of the PLAINTIFF; but did
Mr.. James have sufficient facts in his
possession to swear out the warrant at
| the time. and as stated, was there such
probability Of the guilt Of plaintiff as
would warrant a reasonable man In
having him arrested. After his honor's 8
charge, the jury remained out a few
minutes and returned a verdict for the
| defendants. Messrs. w. B. McCaw
and F. P. Mccain. represented the
plaintiff, and Mr.. c. E. Spencer ap-
peared for the Tavora Mill, and Mr..
John r. Hart for the defendant, Mr..
James.
| The next case entered into was that
Of ]. o. Hull, administrator Of Annie
s. McManus VS. the Seaboard Air Line
railroad. This was a suit for $780,
900 damages on account of the kill
ing Of Mrs. McManus in the Whiso-
nant trestle wreck near Catawba
Junction on the 8th day Of September
1904. The suit was brought In the
interest of the husband and children
of the deceased. Mrs. McManus was
a passenger on the train that went
through the trestle, and escaped the
fatal plunge with few bruises. She
was killed by the freight train that
came along and went down on the
wreck a short time afterward. The
facts in the case have been twice
gone over In the circuit court Of this
county in the two trials of the suit OF
Waverly Fairman against the Sea-
board Air Line. Fairman was a mail
clerk and went down in the same
wreck. He was not killed but sued
for alleged injuries. In the Fairman
case, or rather at the first trial Of It,
the railroad tried to show that the
trestle went down as the result Of the
work & an incendiary The plant
| iff claimed that the catastrophe was
due to rotten timbers The railroad
people claimed that this could not be
as the trestle had been put in only
about two years before out of per-
| fectly sound timbers, and that the life
| of such a trestle Is at least six years,
the danger line seldom being ap-
preached under eight years. AS the
result of the first trial, the railroad
| people shifted their position little
Unable to prove incendiarism by the
arrest of the supposed incendiary
they undertook to make their fight
on the condition Of the timbers, and
on the ground that the defendant had
not been injured to the extent he
claimed. In the second trial Fair
man got a verdict for $4,000. The
McManus case, however, involved the
additional element of the carelessness
Of the railroad company In running
one train so close behind another
closer in fact than was warranted by
the rules of the company. The ques-
| ton as to the cause Of the wreck con-
tinued to figure, In this trial, and
there was some testimony as before
as to the condition Of the timbers
Of which the trestle was constructed
Quite a number of witnesses for the
railroad company testified that they
were there, very shortly after the
wreck, examined the broken timbers
more or less carefully, and so far as
they were able to see the timbers were
sound. Other witnesses for the plaint-
| iff like those of the defendant, as good
men as there are in the county, tes-
titled that there were rotten and de-
cayed timbers In the trestle. From
the testimony there was no doubt OF
the fact that the trestle was new
structure, only two years old and thai
1t had been constructed Of sound tim
bers; but there was also just as cred
ible testimony to show that several
| bents Of the trestle rested over a
ditch, or what had been a ditch some
ten or twelve feet wide, and that the
butts Of the timbers were in and out
Of the water. according to the con-
dition of the weather. In this way
the timbers are thought by some to
| have been weakened, and the ten
dency Of much of the testimony was
to show that this was probably the
| cause or the wreck. linen tnere was
no question Of the fact that the freight
train that fell on top Of the passenger
train was running contrary to rules.
The case was stubbornly contested by
both sides from beginning to end. 1t
was commenced Tuesday afternoon
and all the testimony was not In until
Thursday afternoon. Messrs. Wilson
& Wilson for the plaintiff and Messrs.
J. L. Glenn and w. B. McCaw for the
defense The speeches consumed
three hours and The judges charge
was concluded at about o'clock.
The jury remained out less than an
hour and returned a verdict for the
plaintiff in the sum Of $4,000. The
| jury was composed as follows: L. G.
Grfst, foreman: John Hall, e. r.
shannon. R. M. Lindsay, w. o.
Glover, ]. B. Stevenson, w. S. Love,
Felix Quinn, B. c. Ferguson, j. II.
Harvey, j. F. Adkins, ]. H. Good.
The court this morning took up the
case Of w. F. Jackson, plaintifr, VS..
the Southern railway. defendant. This
case grew out of a fire that occurred at
Tirzah on October 9. 1903. The plaint-
iff was severely injured while trying to
save property Of the railroad company.
He brought an action for damages, and
upon hearing at the November, 1904,
term. secured a verdict for $4,000. The