Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-04-21
An Interesting Case.

the Following account oil an INTEREST,"
ing case in the Berkeley Circuit Court:
Attorney &. N. Campbell Tuesday
morning submitted a bill which, he
said, involved points heretofore not
covered by judicial decision, and his
presentation of the case created
keen interest among the attorneys
outline. The bill is one TO establish
which of the two-Mr. and Mrs. George
SneIg-died first in the dual tragedy
at their East Martin street home last
year, when both died from the effects
OF inhaling coal gas. There were no
witnesses present, and, Mr.. Camp
bell said, the court is asked to con-
slider the circumstances, of which he
enumerated five, TO determine the frs
demise. The bill is filed in tine name
OF George Michael, a brother of Mrs.
Sheig, and her only heir; and the de-
PENDANTS are named the unknown
heirs" of George Sheig, of which
there are understood to be several
nieceS and nephews, although none OF
those involved have come forward dur
ing the previous effort 10 settle the eS-
tate. The aim of the bill is to move
cloud from the title TO the estate
which Mr.. Michael claims. The es-
tate is said 10 consist of the property
on East Martin street, worth, accord
ing to estimate, $500, and twenty
shares of bank stock
In recalling the case Mr. Campbell
claims in the bill tina, Mrs. Sheig sur
vived her husband, and that his will,
giving her all his property, became
operative; and therefore it was her
right to transmit her property, includ-
ing that inherited to her only heir.
In support of his contention that she
outlived Mr.. Sheig the bill sets up tho
following circumstances: Mrs.
Sheig was thirteen years younger than
her husband; 2-Mr5. Sheig, ac-
cording to evidence of friends, was in
good health up TO the time of her death
while Mr.. Sheig was affected with
ASTHMA and other ailments and there
fore did not have the constitution TO
| fight off the attack of gas; 3-Mr.
| Sheig's body was sitter than that of
| Mrs. Sheig when found, according to
the undertakers, indicating that he had
been dead longer; 4-There was evi-
dence, in the form of blood and froth
at the mouth and in the unnatural DO
stion of the body, that Mrs Sheig re-
sisted the overpowering gas effects.
o-Ihat the ties imony of scientific
chemiStS-and this was the argument
on which Mr.. Sheig's body, found on
a lounge in one corner of the room and
near the wall, was in a position where
1t would be most liable to attack first
by gas, while Mrs. Sheig's body, in
the center Of the room, was in COM
paratively safe zone the theory of the
chemist O.. ]. DeSha, of Lexington.
Va being that the gases, carbon mon
oxide and carbon dioxide, by reason
or the temperature at which they are
thrown into the room, first rise TO the
ceiling where thew are cooled by con-
tact with the material substance, then
go to the walls and as they cool fall to
the floor gradually This process
would have put Mr.. Sheig in line for
the first attack of gas, Mr.. Campbell
argued, and would have made Mrs
Sheig's body comparatively safe in the
center of the room which would have
been reached last by the movement of
the gases
The court is asked to affirm the
theory OF the petitioner which would
establish him as the heir 20 the ell
tire estate.
Injured In Runaways.
Two men, Buck Fellers, white, and
Tom Alexander, colored, were injured
when a two-horse team drawing a
farm wagon ran away on The county
road near the Hopewell farm, Satur.
day morning. The wagon had in il
some old tin cans and junk that were
being taken to a sink hole along the
Bardane road. In passing over q
rough place in the road the contents
or the wagon set up a clatter tina,
frightened the team, which soon 20
up speed. Both men were thrown out
mr., fellerS receiving a scalp wound
besides number OF bruises about the
body. The other man was thro
a wire fence INFO an adjacent field
His knee was dislocated, m
eSsary for him to be brought to the
Gharles Town hospital for treatment
Inc team included a mule and an old
oIiVing mare owned by d. Z. Rover
or that part of the county. The old
drivlng animal had been used BY Mr.
koyer,s family for years and had never
oecn known to cause trouble until Sat.
urlay, when she caused the runaway
ID. J. Bush, residing two miles north
OF town, is painfully nursing a broken
ITO sustained one day last week when
MS tDan tried to run away with him on
the kearneysville pike north of Lee.
toWn. His team took fright when q
whistle blew on an engine used in
operating a rock crusher by the road
siae, he was walking by the side OF
Whecl horses at the time. In irvine
10 check the horses he was thrown
against fence, and was given the
lc.t that has laid him up for several
days.-Advocate.
10 Automobile Drivers