KinSource - Tale of the Week - Demand $8,000 For Daughter's Finger

KinSource

Minnesota Tales

The St. Paul Daily Globe, March 8, 1903, p. 3

DEMAND $8,000 FOR DAUGHTER'S FINGER.

J. J. Gibbs Sues Great Northern for Alleged Accident.

The sum of $8,000 is demanded of the Great Northern Railway company by Frederick J. Gibbs as compensation for the loss of one finger by his sixteen-year-old daughter, Helen, who was injured while riding on a Great Northern train between Minneapolis and Lake Minnetonka, on the Fourth of July, last year. The Great Northern couldn't see its way clear to pay this amount, so Gibbs began action in the district court yesterday.

The complaint alleges that Helen Gibbs was a passenger on a train of the defendant company, and, owing to the crowded condition of the coaches, was compelled to ride on the platform; that, when the train was nearing the station of Wayzata the girl was thrown so that her hand caught between the cars and was crushed to such an extent that amputation of the middle finger was necessary. The accident is said to have been caused by the train giving a sudden lurch, and the company is charged with the responsiblity.