Judson Looses

The Suprema court met Tuesday and handed down several decisions and then adjourned until Monday. Only three of the cases in which people in this vicinity are particularly interested were decided. The case of Memsing vs. the Michigan Centra Railroad was affirmed. The plaintiff is a traveling man living in Chelsea. Some time ago he started to alight from. the train at Dowagiac. Thetrain ordinarily stops at a platform, but this particular train pulled on beyond it a few feet. The ground was covered with show, and as Mr. Mensing stepped down to the ground his foot struck some moveable object hidden in the snow and he slipped back. The result was a rupture. He sued the company and obtained a judgment for $2,000. The company appealed but the judgment was affirmed. The case of Wadhams, Ryan & Reule vs. the Western Assurance Co. was reversed. The plaintiff's stock of goods caught flre last December. The flames were subdued and the greatest damage suffered was "smoke damage." They were insured in eleven companies. Ten of them settled. The Wes:ern Assurance Co. refused to. Case was brought and the jury returned a verdict of $402. The Assurance Company appealed. The case being reversed it will necessitate a new trial. There are no fears whatever but that the plaintiffs can ae-ain secure a verdict. The most interest was centered in the case of Howard Stockwell vs. William Judson, Lester Canfield, Joseph Doane, et al., in which the plaintiff applied to the Supreme court for a change of venue, and the Supreme court na& deeided that it cannot be tried in Washtenaw county. They do not state where it will be tried, but it will be in some contiguous county to Waáhtenaw. The following is from the brief of the plaintiff showing the lens of argument used to secure the change oí venue: "The case was of such a character, as appears by the showing, that the public newspapers in Washteaaw county, repeatedly and at great length, published various matters in connection therewith and so inflamed the public mind that it would be imposslble for the petitioner to secure a fair and impartía! trial in Washtenaw county. "Among other things defendant Judson published in nearly all the papers in the county an offer of $1,000 if it could be proven he had taken a cent, etc. This was published first in che Courier and was substantially a part of his defences as published by him in that paper. "To this offer Prof. Ten Broek made reply through the public press. Judson then made the reply over his own signature and naming Judge Kinne as referee. These papers went into every part of the county, sent there by Judson. "One of the defendants being the sheriff of Washtenaw county, who was then serving his second term as such, and another being his under sheriff or deputy, with a number of special deputies appointed in every voting precinct in the county, and Ihe charge against him being of such a character as to bring into question the honeöty, integrity and official discharge of duty of the sheriff and his deputies as well as the honesty and integrity of the defendant Doane and his son-in-law, defendant Mosher, naturally created, and in fact did créate, as appears by the showing, great public excitement, which naturally would, and actually did cause the public newspapers to take sides in said controversy and thereby render it highly improbable, if not impossible, to obtain an impartía! jury in said cause. "The fact also that the leading .1fendants were the sheriff and his chief deputy, into whose hands the drawing of the jury and the summonsing of talesmen must of neeessky be placed, petitioner deemed it impossible to obtain a fair and impartial trial in Washtenaw county, and in reliance upon hese undisputed facts, in due time ai)d n proper manner, he made a motion or a change of venue, in which he howed by affidavits that the sheriff ïad admitted substantially the cause f action, and that when approached n relation to the matter with a view :o amicable adjustment and before commencement of suit, he stated that he waa sheriff and that h? had lived in the ounty a great many years, and the plaintiff would have a good time in getting a jury that would corvict him. t also appeared unecntradicted that he sheriff had published an offer in. he newspapers pledging $1,000.00 to be -iven to any charitable association in ase anybody in the cuunty would rove that he was guilty ot' any oL the harges and that fair and imparüal men could not agree upon the facts hey would then submit to his honor udge Kinne and other publicationsi of ike character tending to influence the ublic mind against petitioner, and many other reasons assigned in said motion for a change of venue, which. will appear by reading the motion."