Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1912-12-20
ADDISON COUNTY COURT.
Taken Until Monday,
December 80.

The suit for damages, for injuries
alleged to have been received in an as
sault of Pola Hunt VS. William j. Lee
was in progress when our report closed
last week, Judge Button for the plain
tiff and Mr.. La Fleur for the defendant
having made their arguments to the
jury for their respective sides on Thurs
day afternoon and Mr.. Moloney having
got his plea nearly finished in closing
for the defence before the court took
the recess until Friday morning. Mr..
Moloney finished in a short time Friday
forenoon and Mr.. Donoway closed the
case for the plaintiff in an hours argu-
ment All of these pleas were strong
and of noteworthy excellence.
Judge Miles used up 25 minutes in his
charge and gave the case to the jury at
II o'clock, after having appointed
Carlos S. Martin of Ferrisburgh as their
foreman. The jury were out until 8 AS
O'Clock in the afternoon, at which hour
they came back into court with ver-
dict. The verdict was that Defendant
Lee was guilty of the assault as set up
in the plaintiffs declaration and for the
plaintiff to recover $500 damages and his
costs. The amount of damages claimed
in the declaration was 81, 900. The ver-
dict came as somewhat of a surprise to
many of those who were interested in
the case and had attended the trial all
through.
Outside of those directly interested
there seemed to be widespread interest
in the case and the court room was
packed to its full capacity every after
noon during the three days of the trial,
many ladies being present each day.
Although large number of exceptions
were taken during the trial, it is ex
tremely doubtful that this case will be
carried up to the higher court.
After the foregoing case had gone to
the jury another civil case was got
started and jury empaneled before the
noon recess. This was the case of
Erwin G. Piper VS. The Boston and
Maine Railroad company. Mr.. Piper
brought suit to recover $195. 25 from
the company for their negligence in
failing to get a carload of livestock
from Bellows Falls to the Union Stock
market in Boston in time for the weekly
market sales, in March of this year.
This shipment consisted of 10 milch
COWS, one beef "crtter' and 80 calves,
and it left Middebury over the Rutland
railroad on March 2l and got to Bellows
Falls in good season for the transfer to
the Boston and Maine, but this company
did not get them to Boston until 2 :25
clock on Tuesday, March %, after the
market had closed for the week. In
consequence Of this delay Mr.. Piper had
to hold his stock over for week, dur
ing which time the stock shrank several
hundred pounds in weight and the price
dropped half a cent per pound, the whole
figuring up the $l95. 25 sued for.
Allen r. Sturtevant and Mr.. Dono-
way of Middlebury and Mr.. Moloney of
Rutland were the attorneys for Plain
tiff Piper and Edwin H. Lawrence of
Rutland had charge Of the railroad com
pany's interests. Mr. Piper was the
first witness on his side and at the
very outset Mr.. Lawrence claimed that
the case was not within the jurisdiction
of the court, but should have been
brought before the Interstate Com
merce Commission. Argument on this
and collateral points took up most
of the time the case was before the
court Friday afternoon and Saturday
forenoon, the court finally ruling against
the defense on every point made by
them and admitting the testimony sub
ject to the objections of the defense.
Mr.. Piper and j. P. Murray, freight