The Meeker herald., 1919-07-26
How Long Is
Five Minutes?
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EVERY mouse IN tne little tOWn OF Ar
deola had been wiped out by great
connagration." That village no In
significant could be visited by a catas-
trophe of sufficient magnitude to war
rant an application Of the word CON
Migration" may seem paradoxical. but.
In view Of the fact that every splinter
Of its thirty-nlne buildings was con-
sumed In the blaze. no other word
would ut.
Therefore the newspapers Of West
valia chronicled the fire that wiped
out Its little neighbor across the river
as "a great confiagratiOn."
The facts. although given In painful
detail In the columns Of the press the
day after the IRE, were brought out
more entertainingly during the legal
proceedings that followed several
months later.
The people Of the late Ardeola
blamed the Usage Valley railroad for
the calamity. and they were so firmly
convinced that the soulless corpora
ton was the cause of their loss that
thirty-eIght Of them brought suit
against the railroad. The one ex-
home owner who did not seek redress
at the hands Of the court was John
Lester. although his home was among
the first to go.
Lester was lawyer and had been
referred to by the press on several
occasions As promising" The other
thirty-eiRht losers intrusted their case
to him. and In order that he might
60 into the battle as the legal repre-
sentative Of the people, with no inter-
ests other than those assumed In that
capacity he entered NO claim against
the railroad.
II was a very generous act indeed.
considering that the people he repre-
sented. having lost their all. could pay
no retainer; in fact. the amount he
could recover. II any at all, being en-
tirely problematical. no promises Of
compensation were given.
That It was to be bitter tight was
evident. The railroad company, not
satisfied to let Its legal representative
at Westvalia defend It, sent down
three Of the shining lights Of the law
department to assist him. They were
on the ground the second day after
the thirty-eight petitions were filed.
whipping their case Into shape for
trial.
The thirty-eight petitions were iden-
teal. with the exception Of the name
Of the petitioner. and they set forth
that the Usage Valley railroad owned
. bridge extending across the Grand
river from Westvalia to Ardeola. the
said bridge being drawbridge. and
the said draw being operated and con-
trolled by employees Of the said rail-
road company.
On the day Of the hre-in fact. at
practically the instant the IRE start
ed-the draw Of the bridge. having
been opened by employees of the rail-
road company to allow the passage Of
q tugboat, also owned by the said COM
pany. became clogged, and by reason
Of the said clogging Of the said draw
the nre-hghting apparatus from West
valia was delayed 10 reaching the
scene Of the fire. the bridge being the
only means Of communication between
the two towns; and furthermore. that
by reason Of the aforementioned de-
lay the IRE gained such Roadway that
the Westvalia IRE department was un.
able to check II.
II was upon the facts set forth In
petitions that the homeless inhabi-
tants Of Ardeoia hoped to recover.
The first move Of the railroads attor.
neys was to secure = consolidation of
the petitions. agreeing to pay full dam
ages In each individual case II they
lost the case that went to trial.
When Lester agreed to that propo-
sition the petitioners became uneasy
lest they had made a mistake in In.
trusting their cases to the young man.
and when he called only two wit
nesses-one plaintiff to establish the
fact that the IRE had occurred, and
the driver Of the Ore engine to prove
that the open draw had caused con-
siderable delay-and then rested his
case. majority Of them were quite
sure that they had made mistake.
The railroad attorneys were taken
of their feet BY Testers procedure.
They expected to see the entire mem.
bership Of each Of the thirty.eight fam
shNH va VIE "'Uhu Dul tuCy IGCOVeTeO
quickly and began calling witnesses.
The only point they made was that
the draw was open only i've minutes.
The operator Of the draw testified
positively as to the time. and he was
followed by the bridge hagman with
testimony equally positive. They both
stated that they fixed the time by the
arrival and departure Of passenger
train No. 85.
They testified that the train came
Into the bridge block at the Westvalla
end at eighttwenty-nve and crossed
the bridge at eight-thirty. and the en-.
gineer. fireman. conductor and brake.
man on No. 95 corroborated their tes-
timony.
The petitioners were disappointed 10
the cross-examination conducted BY