Ejected from the train and left to freeze

Two $10,000 damage suits were brought in the superior court yesterday against the Northern Pacific Railway Company by George Gallagher and John Spencer, two men who were ejected from a train on January 11. Gallagher in his complaint alleges that he purchased a first-class ticket on the Northern Pacific road from Pasco to Tacoma, and before reaching the latter place he was forcibly ejected from the car by the conductor who would not allow him to ride any further on his ticket. He says that, having paid all of his money for the ticket, he had not wherewithal to pay the fare demanded by the conductor, and when put off the train in the woods, far away from any station, he had to walk thirty miles to get to his journey’s end, and in order to get rest had to crawl into an empty box-car for shelter from the cold and rain; that not being prepared for such exposure to the elements, he caught a severe cold which settled on his lungs, seriously affecting them, and injuring his bronchial tubes. He thinks that the damages to his health and feelings should properly be estimated at $10,000, for which amount he brought suit. John Spencer, Gallagher’s companion in this little episode, suffered like treatment with similar results, and he too wants $10,000 damages. It is said that the tickets on which these men were riding were non-transferable, which they had purchased from a scalper, and the conductor refused to permit them to ride because they had been issued in the names of other persons.