Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-02

and, hence, that the witnesses no doubt
were hired. But he did not know how to
prove 1t. {.
Quietly he sent for the weather records
and fortified himself with official proof that
the weather had been very rainy and
stormy all day. Then in cross-examiation
he skilifuily led the bribed witnesses to be-
lieve that he wanted to entrap them into
an admission that they could not have been
standing on the street because 1t was too
blustery. Eagerly they swore that the
weather had been sunny and bright. The
lawyer produced the weather records. called
the official government weather man and
ousted the enemy triumphantly. with the
result that an indignant jury brought in a
verdict for SIS 000-many times the amount
that the victim could have dreamed of in
an ordinary fair trial.
Usually Helps Defendants.
Still. the weather records usually are more
useful to the corporations than to the plain
urs In personal Injury cases. because. how
ever corrupt corporations may be in defend
ing suits. the number Of fraudulent plain
tiffs Is enormous.
Thus one of the United States weather
observers was called in case where
woman alleged that she had been trying
to shut a window which had been left open
carelessly on very cold, windy day. and
that she had been pitched out as the car
rounded curve. The weather observer
showed by his records that 1t had been q
very warm, perfectly calm day, and that
there was no occasion for shutting the win
dow.
A suit for a very large amount was
brought some years ago in Chicago against
railroad company by the owners of some
property which had been destroyed COM
pletely by fire. The claim was that sparks
from passing locomotives had started the
flames. and for a time 1t seemed as IL the
case were surely going the plaintiffs way
because the railroad really had been no.
oil OF fho last
ment. however, the railroad company's at
torney thought of the weather records and
they showed conclusively that on the night
of the fire high wind was blowing directly
away from the property and toward the
railroad This testimony was SO convincing
that the Judge ordered the jury to bring
In verdict for the railroad.
The great storm that wrecked Galveston
caused many intricate lawsuits not only
in Galveston. but throughout the whole
country where the effects were felt and
the weather records played important parts.
NO doubt the San Francisco earthquake
will have the same effect. The Galveston
tidal wave was not the subject of the
weather bureaus testimony. any more than
the earthquake probably will be. But the
weather records were and viii be vastly
important as bearing wind conditions,
and thus casting light the causes that
set certain buildings af1re or caused walls
to fall after the earthquake had passed.
Three days after Galveston was wrecked
gale carried away the top of a freight
car near Chicago and dropped 1t on an
other railroad track just In front of flying
passenger express train. 1t caused a bad
wreck, although one was killed.
At the trial of the first damage suit the
attorney for the railroad called the observer
at the Chicago weather bureau station and
required him to trace the track Of the great
Galveston storm The observer did So
showing that had passed northward with
greatly diminished energy after wrecking
Galveston but that it redeveloped and
gained new strength on reaching Kansas,
and that after changing its course to .he
northeast 1t was conferred over Iowa on
that day 1t crossed the great lakes with
hurricane force, reaching a velocity Of
ninety miles at Chicago.
The Lawyers Clever Plan
When the lawyer addressed the jury he
showed what his purpose had been In In
Producing the weather records. He i'm
pressed on the minds of the Jurors the fact
that the cause OF the accident was the
great Galveston storm and. therefore. one
OF those natural catastrophes for which no
human being could be held responsible In
this attempt he was successful. The jury
returned a verdict for the railroad
Two years afterward there was another
almost equally severe storm In the middle
western states. In Indiana the wind blew
a freight car from siding to the main
track and then pushed 1t two miles till
II ldihiAcO a p1SScff6cT tram n-tiu-Ol1 LII tue
darkness, killing and wounding many per-
Sons. The railway company could not hope
TO escape paying damages, because the car
could not have passed from the siding II
the switches had been set properly. But
the weather records were Introduced. just
the same. in the hope that evidence show
Ing the great and unusual severity of the
storm would lessen the amount of damages
to some extent. and this was achieved.
There are innumerable lawsuits every
year over damages to perlshable freight
and many times the weather bureau records
have figured in court to show the temper
AZURE along shipping routes from Loo to
5000 miles long.
A common cause of street car accidents Is
the failure to stop in time, end the
railroad company often pats In the defense
that the rails were slippery, so that the car
could not be stopped. A slippery rail can
be caused by sweating" In which case
the company would be held responsible by
most 1uries. or 1t car be caused by recent
rain. This raises fine questions. because
sometimes the hums6tty or other atmos-
pheric conditions are such that the eyap-
grafton OF the moisture. or the drying up
of the rail may be delayed for several
hours after rainfall has ceased.
The tssnow-And-xce Defense.
Egtdsnoe+a = = n6ost ana - r. - 0oorua,