Norwich bulletin., 1920-03-18
DANIELSON AND PUTNAM NEWS
PUTNAM

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 Trial of the case of George Jordan, admr, vS Charles Como was resumed W Wednesday morning in the superior court before Judge Hinman and a jury.
 MT. Jordan. who was on the witness stand Wednesday, was recalled, In response to a question by Attsrney E. l.. Darbie he stated that. his fathers estate had received compensation to the amount of $100.
 Attorney Searls, counsel for the plaintiff objected to the question and answer and moved : that both be stricken out.
 The objection. was sustained by the court and Judge Hinnan said that the matter of compensation, could not be properly considered in a. case for damages like the one on trial. He ordered the question and answer stricken out and that the jury disre- gard both.
 Attorney Darbie requested that an exception be noted:
 At this point the witness. was ex- cused and Attorney Brown after ask ing that the jury be temporarily 1ex- cused, offered a motion for non suit. The motion was argued by At toriey Brown and opposed by Attorney SearlS. The court disallowed the mo- ton and the jury was recalled. In opening its side of the case the defence called as its first witness AL
 bert Gordon. S4. Plainfield, driver of the car that struck NJ. P. Jordan
 father of the plaintiff of the case, and
 caused his death in the accident al Dayville on March 13 of last year. MT
 Gordon described himself as an auto mof.ije saiesman. l. yyo rpn f1<
 afternoon of the accident from Put
 naL1 toward Dayville and was drivine
 a Cadillac car that had. been con. verted into a truck. The machin. was a 1912 model, with a right han. drive. At his left sat a man he de l scribed as Billy and who later wa. referred to as Bernier, and MT. Com, was seated in Bernier's lap witres:
 testified.
 MT. Gordon said that as he ap
 preached the point where the acciden occurred he saw car standing a
 the right of the highway and thre men standing beside it, the men, bcin; on the side of the car nearest tn 400 to 800 feet from the men and tn
 car when he first say them, he testi I fled, and he blew his horn as a warn 1 ing. I saw the men look up, so l kept going toward them, but ,slacken eded the speed of my machine, driv i ing down on the right hand side o
 the road until I got to the. standin cara Ford-then I turned to the lief to pass his car, which was stoppe-
 about opposite the gravel pit wher the state road men had been work ling.
 | Witness said that when his car wa ! about two feet from the rear fende i of the Ford one short fellow who wa }! standing near the Ford dove .acros l ahead of the Como car and escape
 being hurt. The other two; wer 1 caught and knocked down.
 I Under further questioning 1t wa
 brought <ut that Gordon, on his ow
 assertion blew the horn of the Com
 car about a dozen times before tn
 accident happened. He said that h was operating the Como car at tn
 rate of about 25 miles an. hour whe he first saw Jordan and the othe men standing in the road, but ha gradually reduced the speed until
 was not more than 10 miles an hot
 at the time the machine struck tn two men. Jordan was about seve feet from the easterly side. of the high way when the car struck and fatall l ltestified that he stopped the car with : in a length and half of the machir
 1 after the accident.
 Gordon testified that be had r reason to expect that any of the me ,, would attempt to cross the road ahea of his car, as he had sounded repeal ed warnings of his approach. :. |" blew the horn. saw them look up an did not believe they would try I cross ahead of sme. the witness sA He said that he tried to prevent t. accident. but they stepped directly : | front of sthe car, and that he did u only thing left to do-hppIy bot brakes and stop the machine as quicl ly as possible.s The Como car at the time of tf 7 accident witness said. was carryir about 800 or 300 rounds of roll co,
 ering supplies. in boxes,
 Court recessed at 1s@n m. for u { lunch hour.
 , Following the noon recess Attorns 7 Torrey ss-examined Gordon. , | this he repeated his former stateme] ] 1 that he was 400 or 50o feet from ti
 scene of accident when he first sa ? Ford machine and began to blow h I horn. The witness stated he ble a two or three short blasts at sinterse, . ton of roads about 10e feet north I scene of accident. Then he saw thr e men at Ford. aid said he gave sin g liar testimony at coroners inque 7, on the day following. He said that u
 tar tank did not obstTuct his vie : and that he saw th9eee men at u s Ford, one at the entrance to the gray Ebank. In his further testimony n was stated that the men had gol : across the road in Indian file Ben; [ Heading, with Jordan add. Godres |, following. When the latter two we struck Benac had reached the edge ] the road. Counsel for the plaint I read witness testimony at inquest which he alleged there were five m in the bunch. Witness did not r J member statement. After they we hit, Gordon testified the bodies we 1 dragged to about the entrance 1 gravel bank, and that his car pr ceeded about IS feet after havil
 struck them. After he stopped, he tn drove 75 feet further on In respon .. to question Attorney Torrey ss said he did not blow the horn after passed the cross roads because |, thought he had sufficiently attract the attention of the men.
 f H. H. Davenport, supervisor of sta l road was the next witness called