Case Name: W. H. Cline, Appellant, v. City of LeRoy, Appellee
Court: Illinois Appellate Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1917-04-16
Citations: 204 Ill. App. 558
Docket Number: 
Parties: W. H. Cline, Appellant, v. City of LeRoy, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Appellate Court Reports
Volume: 204
Pages: 558–559

Head Matter:
W. H. Cline, Appellant, v. City of LeRoy, Appellee.
(Not to be reported in full.)
Abstract of the Decision.
1. Mobs, § 12 —when evidence insufficient to sustain verdict for city in action for damages for injury to property. In an action to recover, under section 256a of the Criminal Code (J. & A. 1f 3917), damages against a city for injuries to or destruction of plaintiff’s property by a mob, where it appeared that a crowd of one hundred fifty to three hundred persons congregated about plaintiff’s residence, shouted, pounded on the house, hammered on circular saws hung on trees in the yard, fired guns, threw bricks through windows, built a fire in the street with plaintiff’s lumber, burned his lawn mower, attached a hose to a faucet and threw water over and about the house, plastered mud on the porch, and drove plaintiff and his wife into a closet in terror, and both the city mayor and the marshal knew of such actions on the part of the crowd but took no steps to stop same, held that a verdict and judgment for the defendant were against the manifest weight of the evidence.
Appeal from the County Court of McLean county; the Hon. James C. Riley, Judge, presiding. Heard in this court at the October term, 1916.
Reversed and remanded.
Opinion filed April 16, 1917.
Statement of the Case.
Action by W. H. Cline, plaintiff, against the City of LeRoy, defendant, to recover, under section 256a of the Criminal Code (J. & A. j[ 3917), three-fourths of the damages to plaintiff’s property injured or destroyed by a mob. From a judgment for defendant, plaintiff appeals.
Livingston & Bach and Sterling & Whitmore, for appellant.
De Mange, Gillespie & De Mange and Leslie J. Owen, for appellee.
See Illinois Notes Digest, Vols. XI to XV, and Cumulative Quarterly, same topic and section number.

Opinion:
Mr. Presiding Justice Thompson
delivered the opinion of the court.
2. Trial, § 195*—when instructing of verdict improper. Where there is evidence tending to support the contention of both parties, the trial court cannot instruct a verdict.