The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-04-06
CITIES MUST HELP.



The supreme court denied the appli-
cation on the ground that good roads IN
the country were as important to the
city as good streets, and that the city
property should bear its share with
country property in improving the
roads up to the city limits. The entire
sum of $35. 900 will be used in improving
country roads in Lyon county, and the
city must have a separate tax to i'm
prove its streets.
A man may keep an exceptionally
large supply of liquor in his own home,
but unless he sells it, he can not be
prosecuted for violation OF the pro-
hibitory law, under the ruling OF the
Kansas supreme court today in the
appeal of z. Penquite from Sedgwick
county Penquite had considerable
stock of liquor in his home, when
spotter from the attorney generals Of
fee brought some of it, and Penquite
was sentenced to five months in jail
and to pay a $500 fine for maintaining
a nuisance. The evidence on which
the conviction was obtained was
chiefly the seizure of the liquor which
PenQuite had in his cellar. The SUI
preme court held that simply because
a man had liquor it was not prima
facie evidence that he was maintain
ing a nuisance, and as long as there
was no evidence of sales or that per-
sons cOngregated at the house for the
purpose of drinking the liquor, Pen
quite could not be convicted. But in
this case sales had been made ana
PenQuite must serve his term in Jail
and pay the fine.
The lien of a laborer employed by
the contractor cannot be defeated be-
cause of payments made by the owner
to the contractor, according to a su-
preme court decision today. The case
was appealed from Allen county by
Robert Rankin and the Monarch Ce-
ment company. Robert Rankin con-
tracted with the cement company TO
plaster the company's buildings. Ran
kin employed his son, Hannibal RAN
kin, to work for him. The Cement
company paid the father for the work,
but the father did not pay the son in
full for his labor. The son filed a lien
or the company and upon his father
as contractor and won his case in the
Allen county court. The supreme court
in affirming this case held that the
property owner was liable for a Ia
borer's lien even though it had paid
the contractor for doing the same work.
Charles S. Luengene, a Topeka Daily
Capital pressman, who was injured in
the gas explosion in the Capper build
ing two years ago won his damage suit
in the supreme court today. In affirm
ing the decision of the Shawnee dis
trict court the supreme court held that
an injured person who has exercised
proper care for his own. safety is not
bound to show by what means the
gas was ignited. The court held that
the Consumers Light, Heat & Power
company had had sufficient notice that
there was a gas leak in the neighbor-
hood of the Capper building and that
the company sent a man to inVestl-
gate this. The court also noted the
testimony of the superintendent of the
gas company to the effect that he was
a subscriber to the newspaper which
contained an account of the gas ex-
plosiOns in the city. The court held
that the gas company is not absolved
from the consequences OF its neSl1-
genee in permitting the escape of gas
causing explosion in a particular place
merely because gas, also escaped ana
accumulated in the same place through
the negligence of another department
In the trial of the case the gas COM
pany had tried to share liability with
the city of Topeka, alleging that the
city had without notice to the COM
pany placed a water pipe over ana
resting upon a gas main in such man
ner as to cause the main to break and
leak gas. The explosion that damaged
the Capper building and injured the
presSman was caused by gas leaking
from the gas eompany's pipes into the
telephone conduit and the building
The cause of the ignition of the gas
was not absolutely determined but the
court held that it was not necessary
in order to establish the liability of
the gas company for damage for the
accident
Islands in Kansas streams which
have been declared navigable by the
government are school land property
and open to settlement the same as
other land in Kansas.
Fred Hurst settled on an island in
the Arkansas river near Hutchinson.
ieIa the stream which
ran along the farm of Helen Obee
Dane and she claimed the island as an
accretion and a part of her property,
and brought a suit to GUST Hurst from
possession. Mrs. Dane was given pos
session of the land by the district
court of Reno county, but the supreme
court reversed this decision land held
that the island was school land, ana
not a part of any property on the
mainland After making this decision
which affected many islands in the
KaW and Arkansas rivers and would
add several thousand acres to the state
school lands, the court allowed, a re-
hearing that the legal phases of the
questions involved might be presented
at greater length. The court handed
down a decision today sustaining its
former opinion and holding that all
of these islands in the two rivers are
omen to settlement the same as unoc-
cnnied school lands and the state is
to have the money derived from their
EaIe.
The owner of property must maintain
the property so that no dangerous
nuisances are created which might
cause loss of life. of tenant under a
ruling Of the supreme court in the ap-
neal of Milton Z. Bailey against John
Kelly from Cloud county. Kelly owned
some property in Concordia and the 10
year-old daughter of Bailey was en-
ployed as a servant by the tenants then
using the house. She fell into a cistern
and was drowned, and her father