Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 40, Number 59, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 March 1908 — HEAVY DAMAGES FOR A JOKE. [ARTICLE]

HEAVY DAMAGES FOR A JOKE.

Two Young Mon Fined $14,000 For Hwing. Fourteen thousand dollars damages was the verdict of a jury recently In a Suit brought by Charles Stoner against five young men of prominent families in Bradford, 111., for injuries caused in a hazing prank of which he was the victim. The defendants are William Real, Earl Lappln, Arley Harwood, Earl Howe, and Francis Long. Stoner, the son of a farmer, was attending school in Bradford last spring when the) incident occurred. He was enticed from home one evening and dragged to a cemetery at the edge of th city, where he was tied to a tombstone. He was terribly frightened at shadowy forms approaching among the trees, and made a desperate effort to free himself. As he lunged forward he pulled the tombstone to which he was tied over upon him.. His knee bone was broken and he suffered internal injuries. His captors freed him, and he was taken to a hospital, where he remained a nervous wreck for many weeks. One of his hazers. Arthur Pilgrim, is in California. Another, John Sharkey, is thought to be in bouth Dakota. These two, together with the five against which the civil action was brought, have been indicted for conspiracy.—Chicago Tribune.