The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-08-11

 AS WITNESS
wEArHER MANS RECORDS I'M
 PORTANT IN LAWSUITS.
Many Cases Have Hinged Upon the Testimony of Uncle sam's Ab- servers, Backed by the Rec-
 ords of Their Ofices.

| Many CHGeN Have nfH&E0 oHOM tac I Testimony of Uncle sam's Ab-
 servers, Backed by the Rec-
 ords of Their Ofices.
 Washington Post.
 I The weather man has other duties than forecasting and one of the most interesting of these is that of expert
 witness in legal proceedings. His pop ularifk as a testifier has grown so rapidlS that 1t is figured that in the last ten years he has appeared in court no less than 1000 times.
 | In the first part of this month the | Federal aourt in St Paul. Minn., after hearing the statement of the weather | clerk, decided that storm in that city two years previously was a cyclone, and awarded a verdict Of s26,225 in suit for insurance. the contention being
 based on this proposition.
 l In damage suits In criminal trials. including those of murderers. in the I construction of wills. and in nearly every other form of law battle tho weather man is summoned to testify ' An effort to ascertain the number of | times that observers of the Weather | Bureau have appeared in court with | the records of their offices within a l period of ten years resulted in the com pilation of these figures. admittedly in- complete: New York City. 3o1; Chica- go. 22S; Buffalo. 167 Philadelphia, t66; Boston, 1858; Kansas City, 153; Balti- more, I22; Washington, 112: Detroit. 1o2: Albany, sg; Cleveland, 5S; Louis- ville, 53; Cincinnati. 52. and number
 of other cities ranging down from 90 to 20.
 l Ordinarily, the frequency with which records are produced should be ex- 1 pected to depend upon the size of the l cities in which the stations are located. But Professor Cox, who has made 1 study of the subject, says that the geographical location is important snow, ice, and freezing weather hguring largely In the matter There fss a greater demand for weather data In
 courts in Northern than in Southern States.
 opinion of Federal Courts.
 For many years the United States courts have held that a record of the 1 w eather kepeby an observer was conn l nstent evidence In a court of law, and since that time similar decisions have been made by the Judiciary bodies oi various tSates. Within few years the i Supreme Court of the State o1 Mis- l souri has decided that press copies of meteorological forms are admissible as evidence.
 The civil cases in which expert wea- l ther testimony is introduced are gener- | ally those for personal injuries, damage
 to perishable goods or loss by fire of
 storm.
 l An observer was once called upon, te
 testify in a suit in which 1t was ai-
 legged that the plaintiff had been in.
 1ured through. being pitched through
 the window Of a car. It was set forth that on account of the raw, cold wea- ther the plaintiff, a woman, endeavor-
 ed to close a window, and that on ae- | nN a sQ tFa n curve at that particular moment shs
 was pitched headlong out of the con- veyance. Counsel for the railway com uany replied to the testimony of the | other side by producing the weather records for the day In question, which showed that the weather was warm,
 sunny and pleasant.
 In many notable murder cases the ] weather man has been summoned to produea records for one side or tho | other. Tn one the identity of the acc | cused hinged upon the testimony Of
 persons in the vicinity of the crime, 1 who said that they recognized the | defendant as he made his escape. The | records showed that the night was | threatening, and the judy decided, af- | ter deliberation, that at the distance l the witnesses were from the man who | committed the crime 1t was question l whether they could distinguish hts | features He was acquitted
 | Temperature at Zero.
 In another murder trial an effort was
 made to show that the body of the victim remained In state of preser- vation for month after the crime. l The suspect had left the community and taken up his abode in a distant city three weeks before the body was | found, and the defense tried to show l that the killing must have ocurred l Al f~. a .k, Ak~ w&1n 1 of residence, and that he, therefore, was untustly associated with the affair. ! The prosecution supplemented strong | circumstantial evidence with the testi-
 mony of the weather observer. and his records, which showed that the tenn perature was near zero throughout | the entire time in question, and that
 1t was. therefore, probable that the i body should have been preserved. l In @ suit for, divorce woman tes- | tified she had seen her hsuband em- | brace and kiss young woman whom | he had escorted to her carriage after a | visit to his home one night. The hus- band said that 1t was dark night.
 and that It was impossible for his wife. standing on the steps of their cottage | to see tc the driveway. 100 yards away. ] The wi1e's counsel produced the weatb- 1 CT man. who testified that there was
 A full moon, and the verdict indicated | faith in the wife's good eyeslght | In fighting a crudely drawn will. | which a nephew alleged had been writ | fen by the testator on the front porch
 of his home a few days before his | death. a daughter showed by the tes- | timony of a weather observer, that at | the hour at which the paper was said | to have been drawn up it was so dark | person could hardly have seen his | hand before his face. Evidence as to | the existence of snow or ice is often
 very important. Litigants who have brought suit for damages alleged to have been sustained in falling from street car platforms or steps have lost their cases when 1t has been shown
 that the injury was incurred In slip 1 ping on the icy ground after having safely alighted from the vehicle. A peculiar contention which the wea- l finer men were unable to settle for the courts arose some fifteen years or mors ! ago. A pleasure boat, with many lives,