-12
THE NEBRASKA. INDEPENDENT.
MARCII 191903.
Ill THE WHIRLPOOL
r
LOSS OP THE STEAMER STRECK
ER IN THE GREEN RIVER
RAPIDS
-Many Passengers Krrwly Escape ffith
Their Lives Thrilling Experience
of Bochester Girl The Storjr
f the Beicu
The captain of the steamer ueorge
Strecker which went down during a
iblizzard. In . the whirlpool of the
'Green river, had navigated the rapids
for over twenty years previous to the
'fateful trip. The accident occurred
soon after the passengers had break
fasted and many of them were on
deck watching the troubled waters.
Among them was Miss G. E. Redfern,
of No. 98 Ambrose street, Rochester,
N. Y., and her aceount of the accident
and of her thrilling rescue gives the
best story of the passengers' fierce
struggle for life.
"When the boat sunk," says Miss
Redfern. '"some of the men Jumped
into the water and swam for shore.
Others were clinging to floating bales
of goods and these were rescued by
some men in a long boat. I was
caught on a projection of the steamer
and went down with her. One' of the
crew dived and brought me to the sur
face when somebody threw a life pre
server over my head. A young man
helped me on a bale of wool which
floated past and so I - reached the
shore."
At -the time of the accident Miss
Redfern was returning to Rochester
from Kentucky but, owing to the
shock of the accident, she reached
home in an alarming state of health.
"I was covered with ice," she said,
"when they brought me ashore. I
was black and blue from my bruises
and my relatives said they did not
think I would live. And for a long
time, until I took Dr. Williams' Pink
Pills for Pale People, my nervous sys
tem was a . wreck. Doctors had not
helped me and I was very miserable.
My health ran down to an alarming
degree, I was weak, grew thin and
was extremely nervour and irritable.
But Dr. Wlliams' Pink Pills changed
all this. In a short time after be
ginning with. them I felt better and,
after using a few boxes more, I felt
'like my old self again.". ?
These pills have become famous all
over the world for their wonderful ef
ficacy in , cases of nervous troubles,
small or great - They have cured
when the trouble . was more severe
than Miss Redfern's and they cure
lesser nervous disorders without fail.
At ' all dealers or direct from Dr.
Williams Medicine Co., Schenectady,
N. Y., 50 cents per box; six boxes,
$2.50
For Sale and Exchange
No. 463. Hardware and groceries,
$4,000; half cash, balance land. No.
469. Huber threshing outfit complete
for land. No. 492. General merchan
dise, $5,000, small ranch. No. 510.
360 acres in Harlan county for mer
chandise. No. 511, 160 acres in Har
lan county for livery. No. 512. Ranch,
$3,500, for merchandise. No. 513.
Hardware, $3,500, for land. No. 493.
General merchandise, $3,500, at 85c.
No. 521. General mprhnnrtisp .?; nnn
for land. No. 522. 360 acres in Ver
non county, Missouri'. for merchan
dise. No. 525. Grocery and confec
tionary, good country town, $700. No.
C27. General merchandise, $14,000, at
65c. . If you wish to buy, sell or trade,
this, is headquarters. T. M. Cline,
1238 O st., Lincoln, Neb.
. Lincoln Hide Market
The Lincoln Hide & Fur Company,
920 R street, Lincoln, Nebraska, suc
cessors to S. J. Dobson & Co., quote
the following prices, f. a b. Lincoln,
until further notice: No. 1 green
salted hides, per lb., 6c,' No. 2,
5&c; bulls and side branded, 5c;
green hides lc lb. less than salt cured;
horse and mule hides, large, each,
$2.35; small, 75c-$L50; green sheep
pelts, each 40-75c; dry pelts. 5-8c per
lb.; dry, flint butchered hides, per lb.,
12-13c; dry fallen, weather beaten and
murrain hides ,per lb., 5-10c Our clas
sified fur list, together with little
booklet telling how to trap, skin
stretch and handle furs and hides to
obtain the best t inlts, will be mailed
free to all upon request, also write for
tags and general Information any time,
THE M'LUCAS CASE
Mtmbtn of Legislator Will Pi ad'
The Hotel Walton
Iff 16 O STREET,
the best and most convenient low priced
house in the e;ty. Rates $i per day and no.
Char let Wooittr Adda to Comments of Mr.
Galbraltb Thinks Rehearing Should
ballad
Editor Independent: I have read
with much interest the letter of Mr,
Galbraith in The Independent of
March 12 in regard to the late deel
sion of the supreme court in the case
of McLucas vs." St. Joseph & Grand
Island Railway company. Mr. Gal
braith's suggestion that he would like
to hear from others in the columns of
The Independent reminds me that I
had already Intended to write you on
that subject As he states, the deci
sion, which is to the effect that title
to any part of a railroad right of way
cannot be acquired by adverse posses
sion, is one of great Importance to
those whose property joins a railroad
right of way, and not only that, but
to land owners generally, lor no one
knows how soon it may be that a
railroad may cross his own farm. In
a much larger sense, It Is a question
of great importance to every citizen
of the state whether a freeholder or
not. For in it is- involved the ques
tion as to whether the corporations, a
creature of the law, is to be preferred
to the citizen who makes the law.
That that has been done in this case
I think would be evident to any un
prejudiced person on reading the opin
ion In the case, written by Commis
sioner Kirkpatrick, and the briefs of
the attorneys," pro and con, as it has
been my privilege to lo. I have not
the opinion and those briers now De-
fore me and therefore can speak of
them only from memory.
In reading the briefs of the attor
neys on either side I was impressed
with the fact that they appeared to
be much more solicitous as to author
ities, as to what other courts had said
in similar cases, than to the real mer
its of the case in hand. What should
it matter to the supreme court of the
state of Nebraska what some Judge
in Kansas, Tennessee, Vermont or.
Michigan may have said? They are
all human. Who knows to what in
fluences they may have been subject,
or what favors they may have received
from the railway companies in whose
favor they decided as against the peo
ple? . Perhaps, like v Commissioner
Kirkpatrick, they had been railroad
attorneys so that to work, for rail
roads had become a second nature to
them. Who knows of the fat fees
they may have received from those
self-same railroads, now they may
have feared the powers of those rail
roads as to the gratification of their
political ambitions, or how, at the
time they handed down those opinions,
their pockets may have bulged with
railroad passes? The arguments and
conclusions of learned judges, with
out doubt, may be profitably studied,
but ought not to be servilely followed,
and both courts and attorneys would
do well to give more attention to the
equities of the case in hand and less
to musty precedents. We elect our
judges (we didn't elect the supreme
court commissioners) to administer
justice under the constitution and the
law, and we would like to have them
do it, remembering always that in
construing the law they should lean to
the side of the weak and defenseless
rather than to the side of the great
and powerful. .
In his opinion Commissioner Kirk
patrick (perhaps it might have been
one of the attorneys), held that one
occupying a part of a railroad right of
way, no matter though he may have
been in actual possession for 30 years,
was not in adverse possession until
such time as an attempt might be
made to dispossess him and that un
til that time the statutes of limita
tions would not begin to run, a most
absurd proposition and, if held to be
of general application, would com
pletely nullify the statute of limita
tions. But it is a good enough con
tention for corporation lawyers and
judges who wish to make the worse
appear the better side.
In determining the question at Is
sue Commissioner Kirkpatrick said
the decisive consideration with, him
was the fact that title to any part of
a public highway, meaning a common
wagon road, could not be acquired by
adverse possession, and . that, since
the constitution declared , railroads td
be public . highways, that settled it
But the cases are by no means paral
lel, and the law which applies to the
one does not necessarily apply to the
other. In case; two engines should
meet and one should throw the other
into the ditch, killing its engineer or
fireman, I suppose the very learned
commissioner would hold the engi
neer whose engine remained on the
track guilty of murder, "for the rea
son that he did not give half the road
as the. law , requires. In a sense a
railroad is a public highway, but in a
more particular and exact sense it is
the property of the stockholders oper
ated solely for their own pecuniary
benefit While the law very properly
gives a railroad corporation the right
of eminent domain, it limits the cor
poration to taking "so much real es
tate as may be necessary for the loca
tion, construction and convenient use
of Its road" with the proviso that the
land so taken shall not exceed two
hundred feet in width, and the con
stitution provides that "the exercise
of the power and the right of eminent
domain shall never be so construed or
abridged as 'to prevent the taking by
the 'legislature of the property anj
franchises of incorporated companies
already organized, or hereafter to be
organized, and subjecting them to the
public necessity the same as of Indl
viduals," from which it would seem
that the framers of our constitution
intended, insofar as practicable, to
place railway corporations on a level
with private individuals. If then a
railway corporation takes more land
than it can use, and non-use for ten
years should certainly be sufficient
time to establish that factrlt ought to.
lose what it has not used, and In
what better way than by the operation
of the statute of limitation? In good
conscience and sound sense, what
good and sufficient reason is there
why, in this matter, a railway cor
poration should be put above a pri
vate citizen? But, says Commissioner
Kirkpatrick, in substance, If this were
permitted it might result in so re
stricting railway companies that they
could not operate their roads. A suf
ficient answer to this point is that
never in the history of the state has
such a thing occurred, and could not
occur for the reason that while land
was being used by a railway company
no one else could use it, and if a
railway, company at any time needed
land which it lost, or never had, it
could take it by the exercise of It3
right of eminent domain. ; The pro
position that' thousands of farmers,
and others, should be eternally kept
out of the use of millions of acres of
land because some railway compa
nies might, - at some time or other,
wish to use a few . of those acres, or
be continually bothered by pestifer
ous railway officials and underlings if
they do use it, is utterly unreasonable.
For example, the Union Pacific rail
road crosses my land. For more than
30 years I have continuously culti
vated portions of their right of way,
paid taxes on the same for the entire
time, always claimed it as my own
and always refused to cease cultiva
tion when the company from time to
time notified me so to do. And yet
Commissioner ' Kirkpatrick would
claim that I have thereby acquired no
rights which the Union Pacific Rail
way company is bound to respect and
that they might dispossess me at will
This is contrary to reason, and
Blackstone says that what is con
trary to reason is contrary to law,
and I believe that this is contrary
to our law of limitations, Commis
sioner Kirkpatrick to the contrary
notwithstanding.
While ! regard the decision in the
above entitled case as bad, a railroad
decision of an aggravated kind, I can
not agree with Mr. Galbraith in his
condemnation of the supreme court
for giving it I very much doubt that
any one otthe three judges ever read
Commissioner Kirkpatrick's opinion,
or even looked at the briefs of the at
torneys. It is true they approved and
signed it, but, I apprehend, that was
done as a part of their regular rou
tine. It is a physical impossibility
that they should review all the opin
ions of the nine commissioners, while
at the same time busily engaged in
preparing opinions of their own. I
quite agree with Mr .Galbraith that
the decision ought not to stand. But,
i it is not to stand, there must be a
rehearing. I sincerely trust the Mc-
.ucas Bros, will ask for a rehearing.
that it will be granted and that next
time the matter will be heard by the
supreme judges themselves who were
duly elected by the people for such
purposes. A case of so grave import
to thousands of citizens ought hot to
De determined by a department of an
unconstitutionally constituted body of
commissioners created by act of the
egislature. CHAS. WOOSTER.
Silver Creek, Neb.
A federal judge at TndlanarirtHa
two lawyers, David A. Sachs and W.
W. Watts, to jail for sixty days for
contempt of court The men are prom
inent attorneys of Louisville, Ky.
When a workingman disobeys an In
junction he is tried, without a jury,
for contempt of court and sent to 1
jail. That has worked so well that
the federal judges are beginning to
try it on lawyers. None of the law
yers ever protested when a working
man was treated that way. Now that
two of the guild are treated to a dose
of the same medicine, we will see
what they have to say. The power of
the federal Judges is being extended
every day.
lit
Baby Had Two to Sir
ILvery Day.
S u f fered Terribly
Doctors Failed.
Dr. Miles' Nervine Cured
Him.
Weak, nervous, fretful, puny children re
quire a treatment such as only Dr. Miles
Nervine affords. When neglected these
symptoms lead to epileptic fits or spasms.
Every mother should strengthen her own and
babies' nerves with Dr. Miles' Nerrine, a true
specific in all nervous disorders. Read the
following;:' ;,.
- "When my little boy was 18 months old
he had cramps in his feet and hands. They
would be drawn out of shape for two or three
days. At first liniment seemed to help but
in about two weeks nothing1 did any good
the doctor gave him. We called another
doctor but his medicine did no good so we
changed to another who called it spinal dis
ease. By this time the child's body was
drawn out of shape; his backbone was curved
to one side and his hands and feet out of -shape.
His sufferings were terrible, and he
was having from two to six fits a day. I was
taking Dr. Miles' Restorative Nervine for
nervous trouble and saw it was recommended
for fits, so I thought I would see if it would
help him. All three doctors had given him,
up. - One-half bottle stopped the fits and his
limbs straightened, and another bottle cured'
him. He is now a strong, healthy boy going
to school I have waited to see if the old
trouble returned, before writing you, but it
never has. I cannot praise Dr. Miles' Nerv
ine enough, as I. know it saved my boy's
life." Mrs. Uriah Nelson, Laasing, Iowa.
All drug-gists sell and guarantee first bot
tle Dr. Miles' Remedies. Send for free book;
on Nervous and Heart Diseases. Address
Dr, Miles Medical Co, Elkhart, Ind.
POPPLETON FARM SOLD
The Andrew J. Poppleton Farm Con-
taining 640 Acres of the Best Land
in Douglas County Near Elk
' horn Wra3 Sold. "
FOR 45,000 IN GOLD CASH
The Bankers Reserve Life Association
Furnished . the Purchaser $20,000
at 51-2 Per Cent on a Ten
Year Mortgage.
Every Douglas county policy holder
in the Bankers Reserve Life associa
tion will be pleased tojtnow that $20,-
000 of the company's reserve for pro
tection of policy holders is secured by
a ten-year mortgage upon the Popple
ton farm of 640 acres. No policy is
written by this company for more than
$5,000 on any single life. Four times
this sum is safely invested in the
cbove-mentioned mortgage, thus af
fording Douglas county policy hold
ers a security which they know is
first class, and is within their range
of vision.
THE BANKERS RESERVE LIFE
has now $75,000 invested in Nebraska
securities for the protection of policy
holders. Before the year 1903 ends
this snug little sum will be more than
doubled. Persons interested can visit
the Poppleton farm and see for them
selves the character of the security.
The same conservative, careful, busi
ness like methods are used in every
nvestment made. ; j Farm mortgages,
school and municipal bonds are the
avorite forms of 5 Investment.
B. H. ROBISON, PRESIDENT,
personally supervises every purchase
of bonds and every mortgage. With
an experience of twenty-five years in
Nebraska, he is abundantly capable
of selecting gilt-edged investments.
No trust company in the state has a
better class of securities. The Bank
ers Reserve Life management will
make sure of every dollar put into any
brm of investment Insurance com
missioners in a half dozen states have
commended the wisdom and care with
which moneys of the company are
used whether in expenses, or invest
ments, and no company in the union
stands higher for prompt settlements .
of claims and payment of llabimifl
Write B. II. Robison, president, Oma-
na, ior rates on a ?5,00Q gold bond
policy.
