8 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
AN IMPORTANT SUIT . 
Iowa Company Enjoined From Using the Name of the Great 
Northern Nursery Company, of Baraboo, Wis.—Defendants 
Amended Articles of Incorporation and Changed 
Name of Company—President Foley’s Signal 
Victory — All Costs Paid. 
The Great Northern Nursery Co., of Baraboo, Wis., has 
won an important victory in the courts, the details of which 
are described by the Baraboo Republic as follows : 
“ For some time past Mr. M. F. Foley, president of the 
Great Northern Nursery Company of Baraboo, Wis., has been 
battling with the representatives of an Iowa concern that has 
made use of the name of the Great Northern Nursery Com¬ 
pany. This use of the name, “ Great Northern Nursery Com¬ 
pany,” Mr. Foley considered was an infringement on the 
rights of the original Great Northern Nursery Company and 
also interfered with that company’s business. 
“ Mr. Foley realized that it would be very expensive to 
carry the matter into and through the courts of Iowa, but in 
order to protect his ever increasing business and his patrons 
throughout the Northwest, it became necessary to institute 
suit against the parties who were using the name of his com¬ 
pany to enjoin the Iowa concern from the further use of that 
name. 
“ An action was begun in Iowa City, Iowa, and has ter¬ 
minated in a complete victory for the original Great Northern 
Nursery Company of Baraboo, Wis. A similar case had 
never been brought in the courts there, and Mr. Foley realized 
that it fell to his lot to carry on the test case. His success is 
a splendid vindication of his company and his rights to the 
name he has labored so hard to build up. 
“ The defendants in the case were J. P. Regan, owner of the 
Iowa City Nursery, and H. P. Paasch and Charles Kane. 
After three decisive decisions upon demurrers interposed by 
the defendants, all being against the Iowa concern, the defend¬ 
ants realized the futulity of further contesting the matter, and 
amended their articles of incorporation and assumed the name 
of the Empire Nursery Company of Coralville, Iowa, under 
which name they are now operating. In addition to being 
obliged to give up the name of the Great Northern Nursery 
Company, the defendants were compelled to pay the costs and 
all expenses connected with the proceedings of the trial. 
“ It is a source of satisfaction to know that after a thriving 
business has been built up by close application and careful 
attention to the interests and demands of the fruit growers of 
the country the courts will respect the owner’s right to that 
name. The victory thus won in this case will go far towards 
discouraging any who seek by a short cut to gain an enviable 
name, and to obtain the benefits therefrom which are justly 
due to another.” 
THOMAS MEEHAN. 
The Public Ledger, Philadelphia, commenting editorially 
upon the death of Thomas Meehan, said: 
The public will learn this morning with deep regret that Professor 
Thomas Meehan, who stood for all that is commendable and praise¬ 
worthy in our citizenship, has passed away. Professor Meehan had 
the literary and scientific temperament which in too many instances 
has withdrawn men from public life and active participation in politi¬ 
cal affairs. Not so with him. Eminent as a botanist, and a lover of 
kindred sciences, Professor Meehan gave very much of his time and 
thought to the unselfish service of the public as a member of the com¬ 
mon council of Philadelphia, and in other useful capacities. For 
twenty years he was conspicuous as the courageous champion of 
measures that were for the public good, and he could always be 
counted upon to resist steadfastly and resolutely any action by which 
the public interests were to be threatened or sacrificed. If our state 
and municipal legislatures were composed wholly of members of this 
stamp they would make a very close approach to ideal government. 
One of the permanent memorials of Professor Meehan’s useful and 
disinterested public labors, which will commend him to this and sue 
ceeding generations of Philadelphians, is the small park movement, by 
which many of those breathing spots have been dedicated to the per¬ 
petual enjoyment of the people. The public school system found in 
the departed citizen a firm friend. He bore a prominent part in all the 
public movements of his vicinage, and by his example led the way to 
the better citzenship which advances communities. Professor Meehan’s 
voice, his counsel and his intelligent zeal for the righteous cause will 
be missed in the municipal legislature and elsewhere. 
At a very early age Professor Meehan was interested in botanical 
research. He became distinguished as a vegetable biologist, and took 
very high rank in evolutionary investigations and discoveries. For 
more than forty years he was an active member or the Philadelpia 
Academy of Natural Sciences, and was long in practical charge of the 
botanical section. He was an honored member of many other scientific 
associations. His frequent contributions to scientific publications gave 
him a national reputation as an authority upon botanical and horticul¬ 
tural subjects. His services were very often called into requisition as 
a lecturer before scientific bodies. Professor Meehan’s contributions to 
botanical and allied science would fill many volumes. 
The attendance at the funeral of Mr. Meehan was very 
large. City councils were represented by fully two-thirds of 
the members, including the president of the lower branch, of 
which the dead councilman was so long a member. The 
board of education, the twenty-second sectional school board, 
the academy of natural sciences, the small parks association, 
the commercial museums and other bodies with which Mr. 
Meehan was connected, either directly or by association in 
public work, also were represented, as were the public schools 
of Germantown by both teachers and pupils. 
The remains of the great botanist were laid in the library, 
which was almost filled with floral tributes from public bodies 
and lifelong friends. Councils’ token was a sheaf of wheat, 
with roses and chyrsanthemums, and among the flowers from 
the Germantown schools was a wreath of violets and lilies of 
the valley from the teachers and janitors of the schools for 
colored children, in whose welfare Mr. Meehan took such an 
earnest interest. 
At the head of the casket were simple sprays of Douglas 
spruce, taken from a tree grown from a sprig that formed part 
of Mr. Meehan’s bed while on an exploring expedition in the 
Wasatch mountains, which was used by him on the evening of 
the day he discovered the Engelmann canon. 
The honorary pall-bearers, who were selected from among 
the members of the various civic and scientific bodies of 
which Mr. Meehan was a member, were Professor Monroe 
Williard, Simon Mendelssohn, Dr. Samuel G. Dixon, Dr. E. J. 
Nolan, Stewardsen Brown, Charles Roberts, Dr. Jesse 
Michener, James R. Gates, Jacob J. Seeds, Edwin C. Gellet, 
Uselma C. Smith, Dr. Edward Brooks, Dr. Willis Alrich, Dr. 
James Darrach, Charles H. Miller, Horace J. Smith, Dr. W. 
P. Wilson. The active pall-bearers were Robert D. Cridland, 
Charles W Kesser, Arthur Denham, Henry Illman, Vernon 
Carsel, J. William Colflesh, A. Rockwell Meehan and William C. 
Butler. 
