The daily sentinel., 1906-01-19
NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SUIT.
A BITTERLY FOUGHT CONTEST

One of the hardest contested cases
that has ever been brought into tn =
county court of Mesa county or into
the district court of Mesa county. in
which local people are Interested, is
that case which involves the suit
of the Webster City Cattle company a
gainst the Denver and Rio Grande
railroad company. This case has
been in the courts for a long period
and its details are pretty well known
to the readers of the Sentinel.
During the past few days there has
been some new developments which
add importance to the case and inter
est to its progress.
Yesterday the United States Dis
trict attorney notified the attorneys
for the plaintiff that he had been or
dered by the attorney general of the
United States to take steps against
the railroad for violation of one of
the statutes of the United States,
growing out of this ease.
The attorney for the plaintiffs has
filed motion in the county court ask
ing that the damage clause be in
creased from $4,000 to $4,000. An
Injunction has also been filed in the
case by the plaintiffs.
1t will be remembered that the
Webster City Cattle company, com
posed of Colorado and Utah cattle
men. and i'm which Charles H. Arthur
of this city, is one of the largest
stockholders filed suit in the Mesa
county court against the Denver and
Rio Grande railroad to recover a GER
tain amount of damages.
The case was called for trial in the
county court. with Judge Sullivan
sitting. last spring. and owing to the
many peculiar features of the case
II attracted much attention. proving
one of the most interesting civil cases
ever called for trial in this county
The evidence showed that on Sep
tember 22,1902, the Webster City
Cattle company turned over to the
Rio Grande Western railroad. at
Thompson. Utah, a train load of cat
tie, consisting of twenty cars, to be
carried to Omaha, Nebraska, where
they were to be placed on the market
The cattle were taken in charge by
the railroad company and. according
to the evidence of numerous witnes-
ses. the cattle on this train were with
out food and water for period of
sixty-one hours, entirely due, accord
ing to the evidence introduced, TO
negligence on the part of the rail-
road officials The train was twenty
hours getting from Thompson to Min
turn. there was an eight hour de-
lay near Leadville on account of a
wreck and a long delay at Pueblo
The plaintiffs claim and introduced
witnesses to show that there We're
several good and ample opportunities
for the cattle to be fed but the EN-
plovees failed to do so. As a result
NJ lie TAI are to feeG Tie cattie q
head of the cattle died before Omaha
was reached and the other cattle were
L., af "
in shape to put on the market i'm
mediately on their arrival In Omaha
The plaintiffs asked for $4,000 dam
ages The jury in the case brought
in a verdict of $1,S70. So for the
plaintiff
The railroad company refused to
settle and took an appeal to the dis
trict court. The matter has been
hanging fire ever since.
Not long ago Attorney Henry r.
Rhone for the Webster City Cattle
company, filed n transcript of the evil
dence introduced in the case with the
United States District attorney, be-
lieving that this evidence would show
that Section 4.3S4 of the
revised statutes of the United States
regulating the transportation of cat
tie. had been violated. The matter
was put before the attorney general
of the United States and tew DAYS
ago he instructed Earl NJ. Cranston,
the United States district attorney
to take the matter up so this will
doubtless bring the case into the
United States courts. Section 1884
of the revised statutes states that
cattle must not be carried for a per-
iod of over 2S hours without provid-
ing food and water for the cattle
for five hours. This regulation APP
plies to every car of cattle and the
failure to provide the proper feed and
water for such car constitutes sep
arate offense The penalty for each
offense is fine of from 500 to $500
and as there were twenty cars in the
cattle train in question the railroad
is subject to a fine of $4,000 If the
maximum penalty was imposed and
SO, 900 If the minimum was imposed.
The plaintiffs introduced evidence
at the trial in the county court show
ing that they had suffered damages
at least to the amount of S2.S00 Be
liveing that the amount of damages
asked for, $4,000 was too small. the
attorney for the cattle company asks
for the above mentioned increase in
the alb damnum clause.