Weekly Caledonian. (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1919-1920, 1920-01-14
CONSOLIDATED
CASE AGAINST
INSURANCE co.'s
Williams Manufacturing Co.
Suing for Insurance On
East Haven Mill


! county court, adjourned from Dec
! IS, 1919, convened again III st. johns
] bury Tuesday morning with Judge
Frank l.. Fish Of Ncrgennes plesit-
ing. The new jury were empanellcd
, and received from the Court the
usual instructions relating TO their
/ duties and the meaning Of their oath
as iurymcn.
1t was announced that the case to
be tried was the consolidated case OF
| the Williams Manufacturing Co. Of
Northampton, Mass, against six in
surance companies that held policies
on the plaintiffs property at East
J Haven that was burned On Jan. II,
1909. These compmanies are the
Boston Insurance Company, the
, Connecticut Union Insurance Co., the
Royal Insurance Company, the ORR
ent Insurance Company, the Hart
ford Fire Insurance Company and
the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance
Company.
| 1t took nearly an hour to get Il
jury. Fred Burpee of Burke was OK
, cused because he was Il witness when
one of the cases against one Of the
insurance companies holding policy
on the property was tried before. c.
S. McLam of Ryegatc was excused
because he said he wa; Il conscicnti-
Gus obiector. Seven others were
excused before the panel was drawn,
The Northampton corporation is
represented by John W. Redmond
OF Newport and David L. Porter Of
the firm of Porter, Writers & Long
moore. The insurance companies
arc represented by Dunnctt, Shields
& Conant and it is expected the case
will continue through the week and
be sharply contested. The Court ex-
cused the other members of the jury
until Monday afternoon, unless they
should be needed earlier.
Lawyer Redmond stated the case
for the plaintiff Just before recess
Tuesday morning. He described how
the plaintiff corporation needing
moore veneer for their Northampton
factory came to East Haven in the
spring of 1906 and purchased from
the Silsby estate some 1000 acres of
timber on which was an Old saWmill.
Here he was interrupted by the OPP
posing counsel and exceptions taken
tc the use of the word old. and cx-
captions were allowed by the Court
to his reference to the sawmill and
the word old was ordered stricken
from the records. In March, 1906,
they built firstclass veneer mill,
100 by 60 feet, dryer, lao by 20
feet and enlarged the boiler house
that had been used b. the sawmill.
After describing how the property
came to be insured by the Crawford
Ranney agency of st. Johnsbury, Mr..
Redmond told the jury the great
question at issue was what property
was insured. The defense claim it
was the sawmill that was insured,
while the plaintiff claims it was the
veneer mill. 1t was this new prop
erty that Mr.. Milholland, the builder
of the mill and afterwards its man.
ager, told Mr. Ranney to insure and
when in Mr.. Ranney's Office drew Il
plan. The new boiler house was con-
nected with the veneer mill and the
latter was covered with paroid roof
ing, while the sawmill had flintox
roofing. When the first policies in
the seven insurance companies in
terested in this suit were written by
some mistake this roofing was called
metal roofing, but few days after
wards the wording was changed to
paroid. Policies of $1,000 were plac-
ed in seven insurance companies,
through the Ranney agency. The
of each policy was alike. In
asmuch as the Williams Manufacture
ng Company had borrowed some
$4,000 from the Citizens Bank at
st. Johnsbury the bank held the pol
cies and in case of fire they were
% receive the amount due as their in ,
crest nigh appear. Every year since I
March %, 1906, these policies were I
.enewcd at the Ranney agency. On q
IAN. 81, 1909, the veneer and dryer :,
we're set on fire, and later. the man y
hat committed the crime was sent to v
tate prison. In trying to collect in a
urance the companies said they "
would be very glad to pay if they
we're liable for any loss, but that the g
1000 insurance they carried was O
ot on the property that was burned, n
ut on the sawmill. These policies n
-ere sent by the Citizens bank to d
northampton after the fire and have IL
nee been lost, "
Mr.. Redmond explained how the @,
ase that had been previously tried G,
as against the Insurance Company, w
{ North America and this was now h
afore the Vermont Supreme court. in
e said to save time and expense W
ldge Fish had granted a motion to w
,nsilidate the cases against the 9th III
companies into one suit, and that w
e great question involved as to ii,
hat property was covered by the th
,licies was the same in the CONSOLE nj
ted case as the policies all had the 70
me description Of the plaintiffs bo
operty. sh
-------- Of
1t is denied that Congress has done pa
thing as both nartieS hayn hnen