Norwich bulletin., 1916-02-21
WESTERLY HEARS OF BIC VERDICT
Daniel J. Suly, Former Cotton King Given Judgment for
 $3O,OOO Against John Hays Hammond-Funeral of
 George G. Newal-Mrs. Susan Burrows, 70, Missing Deaths Mrs. Dexter M Potter, Paul M. Main

Daniel J. Su11y three years ago, by reason of financial reVerses converted Kenneth Ridge, his summer home al Watch Hill, into a modern hotel con- ducted by MT. and Mrs. Sully. The Sullys resided in the town of Westerly when the head of the family was known the world over as the Cotton King. Westerly people are interested in the result of the recent proceedings brought by MT. Sully against John Hays Hammond in the supreme court for the District of Columbia The court awarded a verdict for $30. .000 punitive damages, said to be the larg- est amount ever assessed by jury against defendant as punitive dam- ages or smart money
 MT. Sully sued for $1,500, 900, virtual Iy charging Hammond with islander and defamation in a controversy aris- ing over the ownership contracts of a newly patented cotton gin. Justice Gould instructed the jury that 1t could not award MT. Sully any such com pensation for any loss that he may have sustained and that their sole province was, if they first found that Mr. Hammond's act was intentional malicious and wanton wrong, to assess punitive damages as punishment for the wrong inflicted.
 This suit has attracted wide attention among the legal fraternity as it was surrounded with many unusual fea- lures. It was the second trial of the case, the jury having disagreed at the first trial. The present suit has been running continuously since the begin ming of the year and the defendant adopted the unusual course of placing no witnesses on the stand, althIS gh several were kept on hand in case it should be deemed wise to change this procedure. They rested their case, however, entirely on the plaintiff s presentation of it.
 MT. Sully was on the witness stand 27 consecutive days. He claimed that at the time he made contracts with the General Cotton Securities company for the sale of stock issued on the cotton gin invention, MT. Hammond was his partner, and that, later, by false and malicious statements as to his charac- ter and his connection with the com pany, MT. Hammond prevented him from realizing the benefits of his con- tract.
 On the witness stand MT. Sul1y bit terly attacked MT. Hammond'S charac- ter for veracity and also his standing as an engineer, as did his lawyers and the verdict handed down Saturday aroused much interest and comment.
 Judge Gould, in his instructions to the jury, said, regarding the possibility of a verdict involving compensatory damages, that there was no way in which they could be estimated, as the value of Sully's contracts with the General Cotton Securities company was, of course, entirely conjectura1.
 The first hearing of the case. after mistrial. The gossip at the time was that Il of the jurors inclined to a verdict of $500, 900 for MT Sully.
 Justice Gould of the supreme court of the District of Columbia refused to direct verdict in favor of the de- fense, whereupon the defense decided to rest the case on the evidence of the plaintiff.
 Douglass Fairbanks, the actor, i. son-in-Iaw of the SuIIys, and like them is well known in Westerly. Fair banks is doing stunts in the sunny movie fields of California and he does Lambs in New York city forget him To remind them when the steins are clinking that there is such a fellow he is endowing a Douglass Fairbanks Room in the new addition to tbe Lambs club, and the wires are busied with orders for C1rcassian walnut and polished oak for the woodwork. The task of furnishing the place in a man. ner worth the donor has devolved up- on Mrs. Fairbanks, ('Beth" Sully and since the rules of the club forbid any woman crossing the threshold her task is extremely difficult, how to gauge the number of yards of window cur tain without knowing the number of windows or how to feel the assurance that they did put the beautiful cur tains on which she squandered three shopping mornings plus $15 a yard in 'Doug's Room are problems Mrs Fairbanks is trying to solve.
 The Westerly postoffice will be rep resented at the annual convention and banquet of the Rhode Island State As sociation of Post Office Clerks, to be held at the Narragansett hotel, Provi- dence. next Tuesday. The business session will open at II in the morn ing and probably continue for five hours. Officers will be elected and they will be installed by President s J. Rigby, of the Massachusetts branch assisted by Edward Connors of Bos- ton. The present officers of the state association are: Alfred J. O'Connor Newport, president; Rudolph N. Le- Clair, Providence, first vice president John T. riscoll, Pawtucket, second vice president; Karl G. Anthony, Newport secretary; Leroy N. Fontaine Woon- socket, treasurer; Richard J. Butler Westerly, chairman of grievance com mittee; William J. Mclaughlin, Prov idence, chairman of documentary com mittee.
 At the banquet in the evening Pres ident Artus Fish of the Providence branch, will be the toastmaster and the speakers will be Senator Lippitt Congressman Kennedy and O'Shaun- messy, Lieutenant Governor San Soci Mayor Gainer Of Providence, Treas urer A. Raymond Watson of the Ma tional Association of Post Office Clerks Postmaster John B. Sullivan of New port and John w. Little of Pawtucket There will be instrumental music by an orchestra and vocal music will be rendered by a quartet from the Paw tucket postoffice.
 With Judne Doran on the bench, the superior court for Washington County will convene today at Kingston, with the grand jury in attendance. The petit jurors have been summoned ir