Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 August 1910 — PECK STILL WAITING. [ARTICLE]

PECK STILL WAITING.

Was Injured in 1902, and Suprama Court Has Case Yet/ On March 8. 1902. while in the employ of the P., C-, C. & St. L. Ry. Co., as a switchman in the City of Logansport, Charles M. Peck was injured by having his right leg crushed through the alleged negligence of an engineer on the same railroad while in charge of one of its locomotives. From that day .to this Peck has, under the Employers’ Liability Law, been endeavoring to obtain justice. His case went to the Supreme Court of Indiana where it now rests, having been buffeted about between the Supreme and Appellate Courts until Peck is bewildered and dazed by the operations of the higher courts of Indiana. For more than eight years he has been trying to get a decision, and apparently he is no nearer to it than when he started. The cause of most of the delay is an inability tn the higher courts to decide which court has jurisdiction. While these two courts are quibbling qver this question of jurisdiction, the costs have accumulated. If now the case is decided against Peck he will have to pay all these costs, which include those incurred by the personal differences between the two courts Section 12 of the Bill of Rights in the Indiana State Constitution provides: “Justice shall be administered speedily, and without delay.” If Peck has ever read this section the ghastly humor of his own situation must have appealed to him. The lower court awarded him $2,400, this verdict being set aside by the Supreme Court. In a retrial he got judgment for $4,000 —and he’s still waiting. His first suit was filed in January. 1903.