Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-05-13
REASON WINS THE CASE
Audubon Man Made Defendant In
Suit for $4,000 Damages Result
ing From Accident Last Elec-
ton Day

ing From Accident Last Elec-
ton Day
The jury in the case of julius
Johnson of Brayton, VS. A. e. Beason
of this city, which was tried in the
Audubon County District Court last
week returned verdict Saturday
evening shortly after nine O'Clock,
finding for the defendant.
No doubt many Of our readers are
familiar with the history of this case
as many heard the evidence present
ed during the progress of the trial
which lasted from Wednesday until
Saturday afternoon. All of the evil
dence was in Friday evening. Sat-
urday morning the attorneys COM
menced their arguments and this was
continued until $3.50 o'clock in the
afternoon. Judge Rockafellow gave
his instructions to the jury shortly
after. The jurymen went into the
jury room at $40. Twelve ballots
! were taken, and we understand the
| first one stood to 5. At nine
O'Clock the jury reported that they
had reached a verdict. They march
ed into the court room and presented
the sealed verdict to County Clerk
Rice. AS Judge Rockafellow and at
torney Boorman desired to leave on
the afternoon train for Atlatnic, 1t
was agreed between counsel and the
court that the clerk be authorized to
open the veridtc which was done.
The verdict was just as people ex-
pected. At no time did the people
believe that Mr. Beason could be
convicted, and it is not necessary to
say that the report of the jury meets
with the approval of the public in
general.
The plaintiffs evidence failed to
prove that Bert Johnson who was in
the employ of Mr.. Beason, ran into
the Julius Johnson car as they claim
ed. Some of the witnesses said they
| felt jar but none of them swore
they saw the two cars collide.
No two witnesses told the same
story of the accident and this made
the matter all the more complicated
In fact one of the plaintiffs witnesses
got cold feet after he had been OH
the stand to tell his story and left
town early next morning. The attor-
neys for the defendant has subpoe-
ma issued for him and placed in the
hands of the sheriff for service, but
the man had decamped and 1t was
| impossible to bring him into court.
The people of Audubon feel sorry
for julius Johnson. The injury he
sustained was painful one but he
certainly failed to prove that the
| Beason car was responsible for the
accident that almost cost him his
| life.
The generally accepted version Of
the accident is that the cars were
racing and just after the Beason car
had passed the unfortunate men
their car met with an accident Of
some kind. These things happen so
quickly at times that no one really
! knows the exact cause. The exact
cause will probably never be known,
though many people may draw their
own conclusions.
Another case for $4,000 damages
has been brought against Mr.. Beason
by Mike Simmersen, who~was in the
johnson car and was also seriously
injured. The fact that the jury
| found for the defendant in the first
case may mean the dismissal of the
| Simmerson action. Much new evil
deHce has come to Mr. Beason since
the conclusion of the first trial that
he will be able to produce in the Sec
ond trial IL. it is ever tried.
The whole affair is a regretable
one. 1t has not only caused the in
jured men much pain and anguish
as well as expense, but II has also
caused Mr.. Beason considerable wor-
ry. He was compelled to dispose of
his automobile business which 1t
took years of hard work to establish,
and no doubt Mr.. Beason has lost
heavily in a financial way.
H. M. Boorman of Atlatnic repres-
ented julius Johnson and Judge
Green, Mantz & White and Ross &
Kerberg represented Mr.. Beason. The
attorneys fought every inch of the
way. The home attorneys made a
clean convincing fight and with the
evidence they produced convinced
twelve good honorable men that they
were absolutely in the right.