Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 7.djvu/79

 BROWir V, ���; liyjtPiEns '*' tt. B. co. 67 ���aicts and excessive biies si^f aside.' The 'eoiirti cliarged ite jury that tliej liitist tioi giVe an excessive verdict, an'd inusi be careful not to allow aiiy prejudice' agaiiist rallrbadei' 6r ariy passion engeudered by the facfe of the caae, to mislead theit j udgment ; and, on the otheir hahd, to de the piaintiff and the public justice, if they ibund the expttleion mongrul; 'by iu- flicting snch damages as in thieir judgment would corirect thSe evil. It was a "case where prejudice against corporations (if any such existed) was set against prejtidice on account' of eolor and social degradation by reason of an alleged wanf'of chastity ; and counsel on either aide wete not backward in invoking these supposed iJrejudices', v^hile the court tried to eliminate both from the mitids of the jury, composed entirolj' of white men of the very highest characteir and intelligence^ The proof of the "piaintiff, if true, shbwed a' very brutal as- sault upon her. She exhibited her dislocated thumb to the jury, and proved by unimpeachable witnesses, who saw her immediately afterwards, that she had on the biaek bf her tafeck abrasions caused by severe choking. One -witness swelfe to seeing the choking through the car window, and the plaiiitiff certainly complained of it and her other injuries to the super- intendent of the road, who happened to be at the station, arid who promised tb- investigate the matter. On the other hand,' Governor Stone, who was' present in the car, says he saw no such violence, and that if it had occurred he must have seen it, while the conductor denies all choking and injury to her thumb. The theory of the defendant is that these injuries were fabricated for the occasion. The testimony of the dis- interested. witnesses may be, and no dpijbt was,- by the JQry, reconciled upon the ground, that the governor was mistaken in saying that the injuries could not have been inflicted with- out bis seeing it. The conductor agreed that he had to use force enough to lift her from. the seat ground, which she had clasped her feet, and he described how he had aocomplished it without choking; but he might have done the injriry with- out Governor Stone having.geen it., Eowever this niay have been, the jury weighed all the testimony, and they; were the tribunal to roconcile it or determine where the triith lay, and ��� �