The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-03
UNUSUAL DAMAGE CLAIM.
Bad Hay Shifted to Top of Car and
Shipper Loses Thereby.

Bad Hay Shifted to Top of Car and
Shipper Loses Thereby.
Shippers of all sorts of merchandise
and produce are not slow to turn to the
railroad companies for recompense for
| damages to freight in transit, whether
these damages be real or imaginary, and
/ the freight departments of all railroads
have to employ quite a corps of men
/ to look after these claims and see that
! they are adjusted satisfactorily.
But perhaps the most unusual claim
/ for damages of this sort which has ever
/ been filed against any railroad in the
country for loss to the shipper. and in
/ this case, hardly through the damage
/ to goods in transit, is one which has
| been presented to the freight depart
ment of the AtchisOn, Topeka & Santa
Fe.
Some time ago a man in Usage City
shipped a carload of hay, ten tons in
all, to buyer in St. Joseph. He had
/ bargained to get $3.50 ton for this
/ hay, but on its arrival there the man
to whom it was consigned refused to
accept the hay at all Finally he agreed
to give $3.50 a ton for it and this price
was accepted reluctantly The con-
signer claims that the railroad company
/ is responsible for this dwindling in the
price and asks them to settle for the
difference.
According to the statements made
in the papers filed by the consignor to
substantiate his claim for damages he
loaded the car by placing two tons Of
spoiled hay on the bottom and eight
tons Of good hay on top.
It seems that the car in which the
hay had been loaded in this manner be-
came out of order on the way and It
was necessary, when the car reached
| Topeka, to transfer the hay to another
car. OF course the men making the
transfer were mere railroaders and not
used to stacking g car with hay IN the
proper manner, and they shifted the
load in the easiest possible way.
Naturally as they dumped the hay
from the disabled car to a serViceable
one. the eight tons of good hay went to
the bottom and the two tons of bad
hay landed on top. 1t reached 81.
Joseph in this way and the moment the
consignee saw the hay he refused TO
accept it because the bad hay on top
led him to believe that all of II was
spoiled. He was finally convinced by
the consignor that there were eight
tons of good hay in the car but he re-
fused to pay for any of it at a price
greater than $3.50 a ton, although the
original bargain called for $3.50 a ton.
Now the shipper became convinced,
evidently, that if the hay had been 0e-
livered in the way it was originally
loaded the bad hay would not have been
discovered and he would have received
$3.50 a ton for all Of it. He sets out
these beliefs and facts about the loading
of the hay in his complaint for dam
ages and insists that the Santa Fe
should pay him the difference between
the Drice he had bargained for and the
Drice he received. It is clear to him
that he would have received the bar
gain price If the company had reloaded
the hay in the way it was originally
loaded. And he is just trihe generous
in making the claim. He does not ask
the company to reimburse him at all
for what he lost on the two tons of bad
hay. All that he wants is SIG damages.
OF the two dollars a ton he lost on the
good hay
UNIQUE by the freight department that
it has been turned over to the legal de-
partment for consideration.