INJURIES TO SHADE-TREES 149 



trees. The case of Dr. John Marshall against the American 

 Telegraph and Telephone Company, tried in the Pennsyl 

 vania courts, was an important one. During the absence of 

 Dr. John Marshall from his farm at Douglassville, Berks 

 County, Pa., in 1895, employees of the American Telegraph 

 and Telephone Company cut down sixty-eight trees on his 

 property; whereupon Dr. Marshall immediately brought 

 criminal action against these employees, which action was 

 carried from the court of the Justice of the Peace to the 

 Common Pleas Court in Reading, Berks County, and thence 

 to the Superior Court, with decisions against the telephone 

 company throughout the entire action. 



The fines required of the three employees of the com 

 pany were to the full limit of the law, and aggregated $150. 

 The criminal suit having been decided by the highest court 

 in favor of Dr. Marshall, he brought civil action against the 

 company for damages, and on January 3, 1898, the court 

 appointed three viewers to assess damages. On February 

 14, 1898, the viewers filed their report, from which report 

 the telephone company and also Dr. Marshall appealed, and 

 on October 18, 1898, the case was tried before the Common 

 Pleas Court in Berks County. The verdict was in favor 

 of Dr. Marshall. The telephone company appealed to the 

 superior court, and on April 16, 1901, an opinion in favor of 

 Dr. Marshall was handed down by Justice Beaver, allowing 

 damages to the amount of $400 to Dr. Marshall. 



In his decision, Justice Beaver said in part: "The com 

 mercial idea that the only good tree is a dead tree that is, 

 that it is only good for lumber no longer prevails. The 

 tree has much more than a commercial value. Its influence 

 upon climate and water-supply has come to be regarded as a 

 question to be reckoned with in determining the conditions 



