JVo. XIL 



— iiTTi-M-fiimiiniiMii 111 I 



A BRIEF ACCOUNT 



Of a Trial at Law, in xvhich the infiuence of Water, 

 raised by a Mill-Bam, on the health of the inhabitants 

 in the neighborhood, xvas considered. 



BY THE HON. DAVID DAGGETT, ESQ. 



BEFORE the Superior Court, held at Litchfield, on 

 the fourth Tuesday of January, 1800, was tried an 

 action of trespass, instituted by Joseph Ruggles, of 

 New-Milford, against Elijah Boardman, and others, in- 

 habitants of Ne\¥-Milford» 



The claim on the part of the plaintiff was, that the de- 

 fendants, in January, 1799, destroyed a part of his mill- 

 dam, erected across the Housatonic river, and nearly 

 opposite the most compact part of the town. The de- 

 fendants acknowledged that they had injured the dam in 

 manner as alledged, and justified, on the ground, that the 

 dam was a pubHc nuisance, in that it was the cause of a 

 distressing sickness, which had for several years visited 

 New-Milford. It was agreed, that a dam had stood at 

 or near the place of the present dam, for about sixty 

 years past ; and that the dam complained of, had been 

 by the plaintiff, in luly and August, 1796, raised about 

 ten inches. It was also agreed, that a bilious remitting 

 fever, and the fever and ague, had raged with great viru- 

 lence, in the vicinity of this dam, in'the years 1796- -7- 



