The Saloons vs. The Dynamite

The United States Supreme Court decided a case presenting unusual features today, entitled Northern Pacific Railroad Company vs. J. J. Brooks & Co., et al., which included a number of saloon keepers and the board of commissioners of Kittitas county, Washington. The railroad company had brought suit to abate the saloons maintained by the defendants as nuisances and to prevent the county commissioners from renewing licenses to them. The ground upon which the complaint was based was that the employees of the company, who must necessarily use dynamite and steam in constructing the company's railroad line through Kittitas county, were induced by the presence of saloons along the line of work to become unfitted for the safe use of these instrumentalities, and thereby caused loss to the corporation by the delay in finishing the work. The Washington territorial courts ruled against the company, and they appealed from the judgment of the supreme court of Washington to the supreme court. Justice Gray, for the court, affirmed the judgment of the territorial supreme court, stating that upon none of the grounds advanced by counsel for the appellant could it maintain the action and secure the relief sought.