Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1916-12-26

|ously injured and will be totally ,nca- pacitated for any work for the balance |of his life. That he will be an invalid land dependent on others for his sup bort and maintenance; that because of said fall and injury his head and spine were injured, and as result of said Injury to his head and spine he has Ibeen thrown into epileptic fits, and made sore, sick and lame; that ever since the said fall said plaintiff has been confined to his bed, and has dis |paired of his life great many times and that he has suffered both in mind and body as result of the accident At the time Mathews filed his tit here, he was citizen of Pine Bluff, Ark, but when the alleged injury oc-. cured, he was working for the rail road at Cairo, H. Just why Missis- |sippi was selected as the place to at tempt to put over" the grand coup has never been explained. It will be recalled that the Railroad Company made the defense that while an acci- dent did occur, yet Mathews was not hurt and that he simulated injury which did not exist, and that the whole case was cooked up" affair from beginning to end. The first trial of the case occurred at the October, 1915, term, and resulted in a hung jury. Some of the jurors were i'll
 favor of awarding damages against the railroad as high as $40,00O00. based upon the belief that Mathews was a hopeless cripple for life. As a matter of fact, there was strong medical testimony to this effect, but against it the Railroad Company pro- duced even stronger medical testimony that there was no injury whatever, and Supplemented this by proving that at his home in Pine Bluff Mathews had been in the habit, at times, of laying aside his crutches and indulging in the art of tango dancing with women of the underworld. No damage suit tried in this county in recent years attracted as much attention as did tie two trials of the Mathews case. The last trial took place in April of this year, and the jury rendered a straight verdict in favor of the Rail- road Company, which, according to the most recent developments ill the case, shows that the jury had cor rectly analysed the testimony.
 It is estimated that the two trials |of the case cost Montgomery county Approximately $l,000. From the num- Der of doctors and experts, and other witnesses, brought here from Illinois, Arkansas and Tennessee, the expense Ito the railroad company must have been enormous, no deubt running into thousands of dollars. From the date |of his alleged injury until last April, when the second trial of the case took place, Mathews got about with the aid of crutches. After spending many weary months ill preparation for the fraud and in the expectation of talk ing a fortune out of the treasury. of the Railroad Company, he no doubt became discouraged following the yer dict of tho second jury, and concluded to make amends by trying out his fortunes upon the briny deep in the service of his country.
 Mathews, and the stir which he cre- ated in the Circuit Court circles of this county, will be long remembered.
 Much has been said and written about the attempted frauds perpetrated upon the railroads through personal injury damage suits, the imposition upon the courts and the people, the taxpayers in particular. Here is concrete case which was pulled off in our own midst, bv reason of which the taxpayers of this county as well as the Railroad Company, were victim ized, and are common sufferers.
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