Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-21
MRS. MACERSTO
RECEIVE $4,000

e \ y
Mt. Pleasant, May 10. Especially
There Is new sensation in the
now famous Mayors case. Ever since
the jury awarded the sum of $4,000
damages it has been known that the
attorneys for the defendant intended
to ask for new trial, but not until
last Saturday did the matters develop
to the stage they are now The at
torney for the defendant, Mr.. Kopp,
filed four affidavits with his motion
for rehearing. In these four jurors
stated some Of the ways in which they
arrived at the verdict which they did.
The case was argued before Judge
Smythe yesterday afternoon and even
ing, after which he said that he could
not render judgment on such a
weighty matter Immediately, but
would take it under consideration I'M
til today.
| Uuon reconvening court this after
moo, Judge Smythe decided to grant
$4,0oO damages or new trial allow
ing the plaintiff ten days in which to
accept or reject the judgment render
ed. He said he was 10th to take the
matter out of the hands Of the jurors
and that he felt that $4,000 would be
sufficient damages but would award
$4,000. The defendant will in the
event of the decision being accepted by
the plaintiff take the case to the SUI
pretne court
Jury's Way of Resehine Verdict.
1t appears from tne sworn testi-
mony of four of the Jurors that they
considered testimony not given in the
case, but in the jury room, in decid-
ing the case. Their manner of decid-
ing the case was very unique
and interesting and one that probably
has never been followed by any other
Jury. Three or four Of the jurors
thought they knew how much Mrs.
Mayors was worth. They listed her
various properties, which they
thought would be worth about s16,-
900. They took two-thirds this
! amount and said that this was
Thinks" share in the estate. They
then decided that Thinks wife was en-
titled to half of his estate and that
would doubtless be worth a great deal
more to her than his affection. This
amounted to between $4,000 and
$4,000, but they then remembered that
they had failed to take into account
some money that Mrs. Mayors might
have in the bank, so they made it
$4,000 for good measure. McCoid. at
torney for the plaintiff, based his ar
gument that this was legal on the
ground that they had taken ballot
before they cid any of this and decid-
ed that Mrs. Lille Mayors was en-
titled to damages and that they just
used this method OF determining how
much she should be allowed and that
there was nothing in the law which
specified that the introducing of tes-
timony in determining the amount of
damages was unlawful. Mr.. Kopp for
the defendant, claimed that the Jurors
were guilty of gross misconduct and
that the verdict should not be allowed
to stand. Last evening Judge Smythe
said that this was very large judg-
ment and had been secured only after
a long and hard trial and that he did
not feel like reversing 1t without due
consideration of the matter, but that
the DEFENDANTS rights must be pro-
tected by all means
A Sensational Case.
This is another chapter in one of
the most interesting and sensational
cases ever tried in Henry county. The
case was tried here in district court
some two weeks ago. It was Mrs. Lii
lie Mayors vs. Mrs. Ella Mayors She
was suing her mother-in-law for
$4,000 damages for alternating her hus-
bands affections. The case dragged
over almost two weeks and every inch
OF the ground was most bitterly con-
tested. All the parties live in New
London and are well known there.
Mrs. Lille Mayors claimed that her
husband mistreated her, beat her and
choked her, but that he only did this
on the instigation of his mother and
that she had right to damages for
this. That the jury allowed her
$4,000 damages was a great surprise
to everyone in the light of the evil
dence in the case and the instruction
of the court. However, since the
method in which they reached this
amount has come to light it is seen
that 1t was not a difficult matter to de-
termine in that way. The jury was out
only three hours considering all the
evidence that had been given in a
trial OF ten days length. What the
next chapter in this interesting trial
will be is hard to foretell, but from all
appearances most of the money in
volved is likely to be eaten up by the
attorney fees before a final decision
is reached.
HILLsBoRo.