112 HISTORY OF THE GEANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



have been disposed of at a single hearing in a minor 

 court, had it occurred between two poor men. But I 

 have been compelled to pass through four weary trials, 

 lasting four years, gaining quick verdicts from juries, 

 and being defeated only by the first judge, who granted 

 a new trial to this railroad corporation, because thirty- 

 three hundred dollars were excessive damages for the 

 beating and rupturing of a man by their servants. 

 Being the chief justice, his rulings, of course, were 

 taken as the law by. the associate judges who presided 

 at the subsequent trials, and from whom I received 

 great courtesy and fairness. * 



"But the contest is finished after the exhaustion 

 of every legal advice, and there is something to be said 

 about it in the interest of the public. I have been re- 

 peatedly told by parties interested in the road that the 

 company had too much money to be beaten by me, and 

 they would spend enough to defeat me. The paragraph 

 at the head of this article is quoted from a statement 

 made to me by an influential person connected with 

 the corporation. These threats were of no consequence 

 as applied to me, for their object was intimidation. 

 They did not succeed. The corporation is beaten. I 

 have received the money for damages which they said 

 they would never pay, and my personal contest is 

 ended. But these threats were not directed against 

 myself alone, but against the public. If a limb is 

 crushed by the negligence of the railroad men, fight 

 instead of pay the victim, is their theory of dealing 

 with the public ; and they will remove all opposition 

 by the power of wealth, influence with courts, and 

 sheer terrorism. 'They may make any rules they 

 please' for the public, and may carry out their arbitrary 



