The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1912-05-30
PAYS S2S,S28.92 FOR
FAILURE TO MARRY
BUSINESS WOMAN
James S. Sanborn of
PukWana Settles
Judgment
AN UNUSUAL CASE
Plaintiff Showed Actual Mon
ey Loss Because of
Loss of Time
AN UNUSUAL CASE

orlous after much litigation Miss ELLA
Il. bay of Monominec, Mich, yester-
day received a draft of 2 ,S2S.52 in
payment of the Judgment which she
secured IN the United States district
court in this city from James S. San
born of Pukwana, S. d., in a breach
OF promise suit.
The case is m which attracted, at
the time it was tried unusual atten-
ton because of the heavy damages
asked and the large amount of the
verdict of the jury, which awarded
her $4,000. 1t was however devoid of
sensational circumstances which are
almost invariably associated with
such cases. ,
Miss Bay was, at the time she met
S%anborn, secretary and treasurer of
the Kirby-Carpenter Co., of Menomi-
nee, Mich, a large lumber manufact-
uring corcern and was receiving 81
500 per year for her services with
the company. She met Sanborn in No
vember 1905, after the funeral of w.
U. Carpenter, a stakeholder of the
company and relative of Sanborn.
Their friendship soon ripened into
courtship and they We're engaged the
following spring. They were to be
married as soon as Sanborn disposed
of a ranch which he owned near his
home.
Mr.. Sanborn. who is a bachelor, be-
tween forty and fifty years old, has,
according to the testimony in the case
large interests in Pukwaaa and owns
a ranch near that place.
Miss Bay closed up the affairs of
the kirby-Carpenter Co., in 1907 and
did not reenter business.
She produced letters in court from
%Sanborn, wherein he urged her not to
accept offers of employment at $1,000
per year saying that he did not want
her to work and that he would do all
the work. Four hundred such let
tiers were produced and made part OF
the court record.
She spent a considerable amount of
time in helping him dispose of his
ranch and 1000 acres were sold dur
ing the time she was trying to sell
the land. They were to be married
and go out west when the ranch was
disposed of.
In December 1909 Sanborn went to
Los Angeles to spend tie winter and
Miss Bay went there to see him and
he then told her that he would not
marry her. She returned and in June
1910, instituted a suit for breach of
promise and asked for $4,000 in
damages. The case was tried in the
fall term of the court last year before
JudgeTarland. The trial caused con
siderable interest throughout this sec
ton and occupied nearly a week. II
was brought out that the compile had
never had a quarrel and that San
born asked Miss Bays advice upon
many matters of business and other
subjects.
The jury awarded Miss Bay $685.
600 in damages. $500 of the
amount being for the loss of her time
which was valued at that amount. A
motion was made before Judge Will
lard for a retrial of the case and he
ruled against it. He held that the case
was an unusual one, where the
wrongcd woman could prove actual
loss because of the engagement say
ing in part:
I'm the respects above noted this
case is very unusual, and 1t may be
doubtful is a similar case ever occur
before where a woman by reason
of an engagement being broken had
actually suffered a pecuniary loss of
more than $4,000 the obligation of
the defendant to pay this sum does
not depend in any way upon the
amount of money that he has. He
would be under the same obligation
to pay it, if he had only five thous-
and dollars as if he had one hundred
thousand dollars. 1t is not the kind OF
damages that is usually recovered in
an action of this character. Those
are referred to in the charge
of the court wherein the jury are in
structed that they take into consid-
Grafton the disappointment of the
plaintiffs reasonable expectations
and what would be the money value
worldly advantages of such a mar
riaSe; and also the wound or injury
to her feelings and affections, and
her modification and distress of
mind"
Appeal in Vain.
Attol neys for Mr.. Sanborn appeal