Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-02-09

$3.50,
and produce are not slow To turn to
the railroad companies for recompense
Tor damages to freight In transit.
whether these dangers be real or i'm.
aginary, 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 adjust.
ed satisfactorily.
hut 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.
u In this case, hardly through dam.
age to goods In transit, Is one which
mas been presented to the freight de-.
partment OF the Atchison. Topeka 4
Santa Fe.
Some time ago a man In Usage
City shipped a carload OF hay, ten
tons In all. to q buyer in st. Joseph.
he had ~bargained to get $50 q ton
for this hay. but OF It's arrival there
the man to whom II was consigned re.
FUSED to accept the hay at all. Fin
Any he agreed to give $3.50 q ton for
Y and this price was accepted reluc.
~ ntly. The consignor claims that
the railroad company Ia responsible
tor 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
s~ubstantiate his claim for damages he
loaded the car by placing two IONS 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
became out Of order on the way and It
was necessary. when the car reached
Topeka, to transfer the hay to an.
other car. OF course the men making
the transfer were mere railroaders
and not used to stacking a car with
hay In the proper manner, and they
shifted the load in the easiest posi-
Die way. i.v
Naturally, as they dumped the hay
from the disabled car to a s~erviceable
one, the eight tons of good hay went
to the bottom, and the two tons of bad
hay landed on top. II reached St. 10
seph In this way and the moment the
consignee saw the hay he refused to
accept 1t because the bad hay on top
led him to believe that all OF It was
spoiled. He was finally convinced by
the c~onsignor 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 II the hay had been
delivered 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 1t. He sets
out these beliefs and facts about the
lOad1ng OF the nay IN his complaint
for damages and insists that the San.
ia Fe should pay him the difference
between the price he had %bargained
for and the price he received. 1t is
clear to him that he would have re-
ceived the bargain price If the COM
pany had reloaded the hay in the way
1t was originally intended. And he is
just a trifle 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 SIC damages, or the
two dollars a ton he lost In the good
hay.
The claim has been considered 80
unique by the freight department that
1t has been turned over to the legal
department for consideration.