Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 November 1889 — THE CIRCUIT COURT. [ARTICLE]

THE CIRCUIT COURT.

The grand jury finished their work Thursday and were discharged. They worked hard for their wages and found 22 indictments, for a variety of offenses. The indictments they did not find, are an unknown quantity. They did not find any against Philip Baker, the Carpenter tp., barn-burner, but they .did report that they believed that he burned the barn but that he was of unsound mind when the act was donC. They accompanied the report with a recommendation that Balser be held in cos tody until a legal examination into the question of his present sanity could be made; but as the court had no jurisdiction to hpld him for such a purpose, he was released. This disposition of the case was probably about as satisfactory as any that could have been made. Neither did they indict Chas. MeCully, the hard citizen of Remington, for the offense of chasing Jasper Guy half a block with Ahe expressed intention of killing him, and making a savage attack upon him with a knife. He was released, presumably with the expectation that he would go home and finish the job of billing Guy and then come back like a good citizen and get himself hanged, thus removing two alleged unpopular individuals at one grand stroke. At least if they had any other reasons than this for not finding an indictment, they are not apparent to the public. Leßoy Sayers, who lives just west of town, on the poor , farm road, was indicted for ill-treating an orphan boy, from the Cincinnati Children’s Home, whom he has had in his care for some time. The indictment was quashed, however, because the late “fool legislature” in trying to make a law to cover such cases, by a stupid blunder, took away the jurisdiction of circuit courts in cases of that character. The affidavit against Nicholas Sammons, of Keener tp., was dismissed. He was fined by aJ. P. for obstructing a highway, and appealed to the circuit court. Ben Smoot’s suit for SIO,OOO i against the Monon and the Coal | Road, for injuries received in fall- ; ing on the depot, at Fair Oaks, was sent to Newton county, on change of venue, taken by the railroads. Iu the venue case from Lake Co., of Weeks vs. Gostlin, the jury gave the plaintiff a verdict for $403.00. The suit was for work in grading and grubbing a tract near Hammond, and which the defendant claimed had not been done according to contract. Another venue case was from Benton county, Geo. Jennings vs. the L. E. & W. Ry Co., for damages cauged by fires set—by! locomotives. Verdict for Jennings for $411.50.

An important case is now on trial before a juty. Jas. Snyder as administrator of the estate of the late James Pickner has sued the Indiana, Illinois <& lowa Ry. Co., for SIO,OOO damages, for the benefit of the estate. Pickner was killed last February, as most of our readers will remember. He was a section man on the road at DeMotte, and was killed by the breaking of the hand-car handles, thus causing him to fall backward off in front of the car and the force of the fall on the track and the impact of the hand-car caused his death, within a few hours after the accident. The plaintiff appears to claim culpability on the part of the railroad, mainly on account ol defective wood in the broken handle; while the defendant will probably take the ground that the men were exerting unusual force on the handle, and further that Pickner ought not to have been riding with his back towards the direction the car was going. This he was doing to avoid facing a hard, cold wind. The attorneys are Hammond & Austin for plaintiff and Mr. Wheeler, of Kankakee, and S. P. Thompson for the railroad. COXSCXPriOS SCKFL? CtJR'33. To thk Editor- mwe Inform your readers that I have a positive remedy for the above named disease. liy Ua llroety use thou. audsill hopeless cases have been permanently cured. I snail be glad to send two bottles of my remedy prkk to any of your readers who have consumption if they will send me tlieir express and post office address. Respectfully. T. A. SLOCUM. M. C.. W 1 Pearl sL, New York. We are the people! Come in and let us give you some prices on your fall bill of Dry Goods and Clothing. Ellis <fc Murray. “The melancholy days have come, The saddest of the year.” When merchants too, mast pay their hills, A Right here in Rensselaer, nd if you find you’r owing ns, Please call at once and pay. Don’t pat off ’till to-morrow, What you can do to-day. Y ours for the Cash, Hemphill & Honan