A Neighborhood Feud Turns Into a $10,000 Lawsuit
A second-hand dealer faces a high-stakes slander trial after a dispute over children in a Third Street alley turned into public accusations against a widow.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A damage suit of Alice W. Gilson for alleged defamation of her character by Moses Droxman, a Third Street second-hand goods man, was tried in Judge Humes' court yesterday and the case given to the jury to bring in a sealed verdict today. This was the outcome of a neighborhood quarrel in which the children of the parties were the aggravating cause. Early in July the children of Mrs. Gilson, who is a widow and then lived in the Wilkens block on Third and Union streets, were in the alley back of the house with the Droxman children. The eldest son of the widow threw a lump of coal at the heir apparent to the Droxman second-hand store. The elder Droxman came out into the alley to interfere. The Gilson boy defied him and refused to apologize. The second-hand man proceeded to make it lively for the kicker, and, as it was sworn by several witnesses, was engaged in throwing various objects, among them a neck-yoke to a wagon, when Mrs. Gilson also appeared on the scene. Droxman turned the vials of his wrath upon her, and according to several witnesses, used uncomplimentary names reflecting upon her character, suggesting her virtue had a market price. A few days later, Droxman repeated these statements to shopkeepers and gossips of the neighborhood. The widow sued for $10,000. Droxman admitted the accusations in his answer but cited great provocation.
“Droxman turned the vials of his wrath upon her... in language that it would not bear publication.”
This case highlights the volatility of early downtown residential life, where crowded alleys and common walls often turned petty arguments between children into high-stakes litigation. Today, the corner of Third and Union is part of the dense urban core, where personal disputes rarely reach the Superior Court but instead reflect the pressures of high-density living.
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