The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1917-10-11
MANY COMPLAINTS Received
Mrs Emma Werve Stewart is Named as
Plaintiff in Suit Brought to Test the
Liability of Wis. Gas and Electric
Co. for Gas Being Furnished Here.

The Wisconsin Gas and Electric Com
pany was named as defendant in new
suit on Tuesday afternoon when sum-
mons was served on the company in an
action brought by Mrs. Emma Werve
Stewart The complaint was not served
with the summons but it was not diff
cult to get the facts by applying to
Attorney Calvin Stewart, husband OF
the plaintiff, who with Attorney Wal
lace ingalls, of Racine as attorney of
counsel fled the summons in the case
sThe complaint is not completed, /"
snapped Stewart, "but it is going to
be the last word to find out whether or
not there is any liability on the part of
utility company which sends poison
Gus and nauseating gas through its
mains. My wife is i'll at home and I
am drawing this complaint for her. 1t
demands damages in the amount of ten
thousand dollars, It is not money that
we are looking for but we are deter
mined to test in some court of record
the liability of company for furnish
ing the kind of gas that is now being
supplied in Kenosha. We feel that it
is civic duty that we are performing
in bringing this suit and we give a
pledge that it will be carried right
through the courts of the county and
through the courts OF the state" The
attorney stopped second to get his
breath. "Mrs. Stewart was taken i'll
right after dinner as result of the
condition of the gas. I called up the
manager of the company and protested
and got about as much satisfaction
from my protest as horse gets when
he flaps his tail and misses horse-fy.
Then got busy. I called up score
of people in different parts of the city
on the telephone. [ asked every one Of
them to give me an unbiased report on
the condition Of the gas in their homes.
Believe me, if that report ever gets into
court, and it may be barred on account
Of some of the language used, I can't
see how any court can permit com
pany to continue such service. If the
P1611hb1A1 LII Uu1S CCtSS WCI0 dIOuc Ill uCI
complaint, there might be some reason
for the company to pay no attention to
it, but know that there are hundreds
of women in Kenosha who are anxious
to have this question of the condition
of the gas get to an issue and get to
an issue in court which will have some
power to force reforms -
"Don It you thinl. that the proper
place to take such complaint is to the
commission" was suggested. "What
for?" Stewart replied "This very
matter has been before the commission
before and the commission passed it up
when the company's officials told the
commissioner that it would furnish bet
ter gas"
The officials Of the gas company have
blamed the condition of the gas to the
coal that is being secured by the COM
pany. 1t has been asserted that the
difficulty in getting eastern coal for the
gas plant has made it impossible to
furnish gas free of sulphur.
There were many complaints on gas
conditions on Tuesday. They came
from scattered parts of the city. At
torney Stewart was busy much of the
afternoon interviewing people who had
suffered from the same troubles as had
been emphasized in the Stewart home
and impressing upon the minds of these
people that they might be called as
witnesses in the case against the COM
pany.