122 HISTORY OF THE GRANGE MOVEMENT; OR, 



powers of railroads. The juries were instructed that 

 the public has no voice in the affairs of railroads ; that 

 contracts with passengers were to be made on condi- 

 tions fixed by one party, the railroad ; that if a passen- 

 ger violated its regulations, an assault upon him by the 

 agents of the corporation was justifiable, though these 

 latter must be careful to avoid excess of violence. The 

 juries were also instructed that if they found that, in 

 this case, the defendants had employed an excess of 

 violence, they must not allow punitive damages, but 

 only such as would compensate the plaintiff for his in- 

 juries. Despite these instructions the four juries 

 promptly brought in verdicts in my favor, each one 

 giving heavier damages than its immediate predecessor. 

 On the second trial the jury disagreed, owing to one of 

 its members ; I am informed that many of his associates 

 desired to award me $15,000. The first jury agreed 

 upon a verdict of $10,000 ; but one of their number, 

 versed in the ways of courts, suggested that it would 

 probably be set aside, and that I would consequently 

 be subjected to great trouble and expense ; so they re- 

 duced the figures to $3300, which was increased to 

 $3500 on the last trial." 



All persons are not so lucky as Mr. Coleman. Very 

 few of those who mive the courage to seek redress for 

 injuries sustained, succeed in obtaining justice. They 

 must be possessed of either the patience of Job or the 

 wealth of Croesus to maintain their cases against the 

 roads. Instances will occur to every reader of these 

 pages of acts of railroad tyranny. He may himself 

 have been the victim of some outrage of this kind. 



A few years previous to the war, the writer chanced 

 to be travelling on the Washington Branch of the 



