Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-10-20
CIRCUIT COURT IN
LAST WEEKS SESSION
Wheels of Justice Grinding At
The Court House.
Jury Disagrees on BOScObeI Case. Real
Estate Claims SCttled-MrS. Van
malta Gets $4,000.

The circuit court has made substan-
tiaI progress in dispOsing of the cases
on the calendar and at the present
writing very few cases remain to be
cared for The case of Graves and Ro-
iik, Blue Mound farmers, was settled
by the jury in favor of the PLAINTIFF,
and Judge ClementsOn awarded
Judgment of $3.50 The controversy
in this case existed over the commits
sion of 81 per acre which the plain
tiffs,, Graves and Lampe, claimed was
due them for the sale of a farm owned
by Roiik. ]. P. Smoker, attorney for
the defense, held that the plaintiffs
were not the procuring agents and
that their contract had expired several
DAYS before March 5, 1914, the date OF
the purchase of the farm. The defense
maintained that the agency held by the
plaintiffs was for another farm locat-
ed near Rewey. Fielder and Fielder,
attorneys for the plaintiffs, introduced
testimony showing that Christensen
the farmer who made the purchase,
was not acquainted with Rojik until
he was introduced to him by Lampe,
the agent.
In the case of the Mt. Hope State
Bank VS.. William Proctor, the de-
PENDANT was sued for the sum OF $500
on a note which Proctor claimed he
had paid $3.50 in the form of check
as part payment. The check was sub
mitted as evidence and bore the can
collation. stamp. Mr.. Leighton, cashier
of the bank, affirmed that Proctor had
received cash for the amount of the
check. The jury held that Proctor
had paid the bank the sum mentioned,
and rendered verdict in his favor.
In the case of ]. ]. Blaine, Boscobel
attorney, VS. Roy Mclaughlin ct al,
MIR. Blaine sued Mrs. r. w. Talbot, OF
Steger, Ill, for the sum of $65 and in
terest due him as fees for his services
in securing McLaughlin's release from
prison. The plaintiff held that Mrs
Talbot, who is a sister of Mclaughlin,
had agreed to be responsible for Mr..
Blaine's fee and that she and her moth
er had made him such a promise. The
questions submitted to the jury were
whether Mrs. Talbot had secured the
plaintiffs services to secure the re-
agreed to pay him for the services rem
dered, and whether the agreement was
written or oral.
The jury, after an all night session,
Wednesday, was unable to agree upon
the matter, standing eight to four aft
er eighteen hours deliberatiOn. The
case will probably come again for set
Element.
In the case of Fred H. Lambert OF
Patch Grove, and Albert B. Schnee OF
WyaIusing, in which the plaintiff sued
for S24O due him for commission OF
81 an acre on farm sold last spring
the jury rendered verdict for the de-
PENDANT.
The case of the city of Platteville VS.
James DOlan in which Mir. Dolan was
charged with having run his automo-
bile with the muffler open, the de-
fendant was fined S. and costs. The
case had been thrown out of Justice
TRADERS court in Platteville, and the
city appealed to the circuit court. Mr.
DoIan is quoted as saying he will car
~ the case to the supreme court.
Perhaps the most interesting case
tried this session was that of Teresa
Vannatta VS. the Lancaster Electric
Light and Power Co. Mrs. Vannatta
through her attorneys, j. w. Murphy
and Kopp and Brunckhorst, sued the
company for damages of $4,000 fol-
the death of her son Clifford Vannatta
who was electrocuted on the bridge
about two miles north of the city OF
Platteville on August 13, this year
int IN
show that Clifford Vannatta had met
his death from current of electricity
received while standing upon the truss
work of the bridge. They introduced
a number of witnesses to Substan-
tiate the fact that Clifford in common
with other boys, had at one time OIL
another climbed up the bridge as q
matter of diversion, prior to the time
of the installation of the power line
Mrs. Vannatta's testimony indicated
that Clifford was to a partial extent
her support, and that he had beer
turning over his wages to her weekly
She is the mother of eight children
and is sixty-eight years of age. The
testimony also disclosed that Clifford
had been away from the neighborhooC
of the bridge for two years and was
probably not aware of any changed
condition in the vicinity that would
render climbing the bridge any more
hazardous than it had been in the
past. The three companions who were
with him at the time of the accident
were put on the stand and testified
that they had not seen him get in
contact with the wire as they were
looking for a fish in the stream be-
low. That the last seen of him was
when he was still on the lattice worf
leading to the top of the bridge.
The defense introduced as witness
es, George Angus, manager for the
Electric company, Phil Ryan, fore