Palestine Daily Herald

THE EXTENT OF DAMAGES

Texas Jury Has a New Way of Fixing This—Sillar Awarded Ten Thousand Dollars.

(Herald Special.)

San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 7.—A motion for a new trial in the case of J. Sillar vs. the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railroad is throwing the spotlight on the ingenuity and business acumen of a San Antonio jury.

The jury, composed of twelve hearts stout and true, was one of the kind that cannot be easily persuaded. There is the usual maximum and the usual minimum man and between these two the other ten saw themselves locked up for several days. But jury room benches did not look especially inviting, and when one of the jurymen suggested that a verdict arrived at on the basis of average agreed that this seemed the proper thing. As a preliminary a canvass was made as to how many jurors stood for and against giving Sillar, the plaintiff, anything. The poll showed that ten to one were in favor of making the railroad pay. The next step was to get each man to write down on a piece of paper what he thought to be the proper amount of damages to award. This done the total was divided by twelve, with the result that $11,500 appeared to the credit of Sillar. To some of the jurors, however, this sum looked a trifle excessive and it was therefore reduced to $10,000 and duly awarded. Somehow the modus operandi employed became known to the defendant and a motion for a new trial was the result. Jurists are cudgeling their brains to discover whether the method, after all, is illegal or not.