The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-12-14
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC .. HAsKIN. Direobor.
Washington. ID. O
SUPREME COURT RELAxEs

most austere and dignified body in the
United States unquestionably is the
supreme court. From the days OF
Chief Justice John Marshall down to
the present this great tribunal has
represented to the American people all
that is solemn in government affairs
The popular conception of this
august body is of a grave group of
elderly gentlemen who think only in
terms of law and who speak a good
deal of the time in obscure Latin
lied by the average American as a re-
mote realm where technicaDties OF
torts and trespasses, of writs and in
functions, hold sway to the exclusion
of the homely every day affairs with
which the ordinary mortal must deal
But occasionally something occurs
to emphasize the fact that after all
the members of this high court are
like other men and that the techni-
calities of the law are built up very
largely on common sense-in word,
that the supreme court or the Uniteu
States is a part of the every day world.
Such an occurrence was furnished
the other day when the justices of the
supreme court, dressed in flowing
black robes of office and invested with
all the dignity and solemnity that Of
ficialdom can muster, banded down
their opinion in the case of the New
York, New Haven & Hartford Rail-
road company, petitioner, versus
David Fruehter. an infant by Jennie
FTucnLeE. MS dd mem
the connected case of the New YORK
New Haven & Hartford Railroad COM
pany. petitioner, versus sam Fruchtef.
With all this imposing title, gar
nished gravely with Latin terms, the
opinion is nothing more than the
rather pathetic story of little boy
who went bird-nesting and got hurt
The grave, juridical opinion might be
printed on the children's page of
daily newspaper, a magazine, or might
even be inserted in a child's book, for
it is Just a simple story No one could
tell it more simply than the dignified
member of the court who wrote It.
Mr.. Justice McReynolds, former at
torney general of the United States
Opinion Tells Story Graphically.
Dispensing with any legal or other
wise involved phraseology, the justice
begins his opinion, just as he would
'Since 1908" he says, in the Off
cial opinion, lone Hundred and Forty
ninth street New York, has been car
ried over and across the tracks of the
New York, New Haven & Hartford
railroad by public muni-
cipal steel truss bridge of a standard
construction. The bridge is 81 feet
wide, 270 feet long and is formed OF
posts, beams. girders, ct cetera, con-
nected and strengthened by trellis or
lattice work. The top Orders, or
beams, are % feet above the street
The local law imposes upon the rail-
road the duty of maintaining the
framework, the municipality is re-
quired to keep the roadway in repair.
Fastened to the top girder at the
end of the bridge are two upright steel
lattice towers. posts or struts. Cross
arms attached to these six feet above
their bases support bare wires carry
ing electric current used for operating
trains. The nearest wire is 19 inches
from the strut.
with considerable difficulty and
some danger active boys can climb to |
the highest parts of the bridge They |
did often climb upon it; some reached /
the struts
One can imagine the grave Justice |
writing this opinion and thinking back |
half a century TO his own boyhood !
when to be an "active boy'-perhaps
borhood-was his ambition. One can
read much between the lines of the
opinion. The justice says: "They did
often climb upon it; some reached |
the struts" One can imagine the JUS
tice saying to himself of those par
active boys who were strong
and fearless enough to reach the
struts, Good kids!' The official
opinion continues:
They were frequently chased away
by policeman and the railroad guard,
and seem generally to have under
stood that to play there was for
hidden; when an officer came in sight
they kept off. At each corner of the
playing the words: Live Wires.
Danger. Keep Off"
Between these lines one can read
that the justice fully understood that
presence of the policeman and the
very sign itself made the game of
the bridge much more fas-
cinating. He proceeds:
In June, 1916, the plaintiff, David
Fruchter, eight years old, by using
the treilis work climbed from the
street to the top of the bridge in quest
of a birds nest He then saw a bird
on the wire above it and to catch it
climbed up the strut and reached out;
The bird flew away; his hand touched
the wire and severe injuries resulted
one can read thru this paragraph
All the grave Justices appreciation of
The romance of active boyhood Will
lam Shakespeare has devoted iu1-I
mortal lines to the boyish sport of
Why should not the SUI
preme court of the United States take
e into consideration? 1t is clear that
when the boy saw the bird on the wire
ne saw bit of life which he recog-
lized- He knew that the little winged
,reature was living, virile thing.
There was a sign, to be sure saving
hat the wire also was alive, but the
contrast was too sharp for the boy to
De convinced. That the dull, leaden
strand of wire should be more alive.
70 far as harmful properties are con-
,erned, than the bird that darted thru
he air. was uncomfortable to the s.
boy.
The opinion continues:
''At the time of the accident the boy
vas attending school" The justice
mentions this to indicate that there
vas fair assumption that the boy
ould read the warning sign.
He further states" says the opin- -,
on. that before climbing upon the
ridge he looked to see whether a
policeman was. present and admitted
hat if one had been there he would J
Tot have gone up.
THE court below accepted the
heory that the jury could have found
he structure was well known to be Y
9th dangerous and attractive to the }