The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-07-03
MRS. GORDON WON
Awarded Dover Right in Hus-
bands Estate.
Will Consequently Get Half the
Property.
CONTRACT HELD VOID.
Pre-Nuptial Agreement Set
Aside by Court.
Clarence Young Acquitted For
)NTRACT HELD VOID.
Clarence Young Acquitted For
Selling Impure Drugs.

Three important cases were decid-
ed by Judge Dana of the district court
today They were the Gordon-Munn
case, the star Grain and Lumber
company case, and the Clarence
Young case.
In the first, Mrs. Jennie S. Gordon,
widow of the late Stoddard Gordon,
sued DR.. L. H. Mum and his wife,
Lille Gordon Mum, for a partition
of property. Mrs. Mum is the only
daughter of the late Stoddard Cor
don. After the death of her father,
Mrs. Mum and DR.. Mum brought
suit against the widow, Jennie S. Cor
don for an accounting, and submitted
a pre-nuptial agreement in which
Mrs. Gordon. upon her marriage with
Stoddard Gordon, waived her right to
half the property on certain condi-
lions, among them that Gordon deed
to her certain portions of the proper
ty. Mrs. Gordon'S defense was that
the pre-nuptial agreement was void,
as the deceased had failed to tulf11l
his part of the contract. She then
brought suit against the contestants,
Mr.. and Mrs. Mum, for a settlement,
and the decision of Judge Dana to-
day, gives her the widows right,
or one-half of the entire estate or
the late Stoddard Gordon. Gordon
Shawnee county. After his death, his
property was valued at 100000. Mrs:
Jennie S. Gordon, his widow, married
him a short time before his death.
The controversy between the WIDOW
and the heir has been in court ever
since a short time after Gordon's
death last year. 1t began in probate
court, when the widow applied for ap-
pointment as administrative.
The Star Grain and Lumber case
is one of the bulkiest cases ever sub
rnitted to the Shawnee county court
The plaintiff, corporation DONG an
elevator business throughout the
state, sued the Santa Fe Railroad Co.
for $4473.61 for damages alleged on
account of the failure of the defen-
dant railroad to furnish cars for the
shipment of plaintiffs grain at va
rious elevators. Several hunoreo
counts were included in the informa-
ton, in which small sums were asked
on each count for loss by variation of
the market, deterioration of grain
and other causes arising from delayed
shipments. The case has been IN
court for nearly year, and has been
pruned down gradually In his de-
cision the court had to furnish over
go findings of fact His decision was
an award of 1915 damages to the
plaintiff.
The case of the state again Clarence
Young was a test case of the 1907
pure food laws. Young, who operated
a drug store at sol Kansas avenue,
was arrested on a charge of selling
headache powders which contained
acetanilid and cocaine. Prisoners IN
the county Jail were the principal wit
nesses. One Roy Dutton, a prisoner,
claimed to have purchased the head
ache powders which were submitted
in evidence. Young was given a pre-
Iiminary hearing in the court of To-
peka, and bound over to stand trial
in the district court. Here he was
tried by Jury. On account of the
character of the principal witnesses,
the jury failed to agree, and after
hanging out for many hours, was dis
charged. At the next term of court,
Young was again tried, and his attor-
neys waived jury trial.
d. C. TilIotSon, for the defense, then
raised a question of law, contending
that there was nothing before the
court, as Judge E. r. Simon, of the
court of Topeka, had failed to certify
the complaint upon which Youngs
preliminary was heard, and he was
bound over. Today the court ruled
that Tillotson'S point was well taken.
After careful investigation, he finds
that the papers upon which Young
was bound over and tried, were not
certified by Judge Simon, and were
therefore worthless. This lets Young
ont and the first pure drug action
to be brought in Shawnee county, is
a closed incident.
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