Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1907-04-26
THE CIRCUIT COURT.

The court Of common pleas has put
in practically the whole week up to to-
day on the case Of w. w. Auten VS..
the Catawba Power company The
trial was taken up on Monday after
noon, and was not concluded until this
morning, the jury retiring with the pa
pers shortly after 10 o'clock.
This Is the first Of the suits against
the power company for damages on
account of back water from the dam
There are other suits pending, and
still others, 1t Is understood, to be
brought as may or may not appear ad-
visable as the outcome Of the Auten
and other cases.
The plaintiff owns a farm on ALI
son creek some distance from the riv-
er, and his complaint is based upon
damage sustained to his bottom land
on account of the creek filling up with
sand for lack of fall and the land be-
coming water sogged for the same
reason. He also set up that the dam
had caused his family to have mala-
ria, and by reason Of the injury to the
land and prejudicial to health asked
for damages in the sum Of $4,000.
The complaint asked for actual dam
ages, punitive damages and contin-
uing damages: but after argument the
court ruled that the issue must be
confined to such actual damages as
may have accrued up to the time Of
the filing Of the complaint in 1905.
The testimony offered for the
plaintiff bore more particularly on the
question Of the filling up Of the creek
by sand, the water sogging Of the bot
toms by reason Of improper drainage
conditions, the killing Of timber the
breeding of mosquitoes and the extent
to which the back water in the river
contributed to these conditions. The
testimony of the defense, Of course,
tended to minimize as far as possible
the defendants responsibility for these
conditions.
The plaintiff in the Auten case Is
represented by Messrs. Finley & Jen-
nings and w. B. McCaw, and the de-
PENDANTS by Messrs. Wilson & Wilson,
Spencers & Dunlap, Thos. F. Mellow,
N. A. Coke and r. G. Lucas. There
were three arguments on each side,
those for the plaintiff being made by
Messrs Jennings, McCaw and Finley,
and those for the defendant being
made by Messrs. C. E. Spencer, Thos.
F.. Mellow and w. B. Wilson.
Judge Dantzler overruled a motion
on the part Of the defendant to trans
fer the case Of r. A. Bratton VS.. the
Catawba Power company and ]. r.
Wallace VS.. the Catawba Power COM
pany to Calendar 1, and the question
was appealed. The appeal operates
as a stay of proceedings.
The court is now engaged on the
case of Allen Parker VS.. the Carolina
& North Western railroad; Spencers
G. Dunlap for the plaintiff, j. H. Mar
ion and w. B. McCaw for the defense.
The plaintiff is asking for $4,000 dam
ages for injuries sustained by reason
Oh his nOl DeliS diIO"Su liihC ~ oSN
off a train. He sets forth that he is
blind; that on October Z, 1905, he
bought a ticket at Chester for Lowry
Vile, and that at Lowryville, the serv-
ants of the railroad paid no attention
to him, leaving him to get Off the
train as best he could, and not allow
ing him time in which to do so. He
was thrown to the ground, his left arm
dislocated and he was otherwise in
jured. The defendant denies negli-
gence in the matter and claims that 1t
should not be held responsible. The
case will probably consume the bal
ance of the day.
The understanding now is that there
will be no more jury cases after that
Of Parker VS.. the C. & NV. railroad;
but Judge Dantzler expects to remain
over until next Tuesday.