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Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, November 24, 1912, EDITORIAL SOCIETY, Image 19

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The Omaha
I.
IF a child's life Is worth only n
dollar, a boy's legs $31,175. a
man's thumb and forefinger
$10,000, and a man's life anywhere
from $500 to $75,000, what Is the
value oJL the life of an educated
monkey?
According to Charles JUdd, wba
owned a highly accomplished chim
panzee which ho declared was killed ,
through the negligence of a rail- ,
road company, the unswer Is
$200,000.
The question la now up before
the United States District Court at
Portland, Oregon, whose decision
promises to add fresh-pouiplicatlons
to what Is already a very much con
fused subject
The monkoy whose death Is re
sponsible for the present litigation.
Is Charles the First, who, because
of his ability to dress and undress
himself, his perfeot table manners,
his skill on roller," skates and bi
cycle and his Intelligence geuerally.
made a name for himself and-money
for his owner on the vaudeville,
.stage..
Ho was shipped In a box from
Portland to Seattlo on the Northern
Pacific Railroad. Upon his arrival
there It was found that he was
dead. The owner claimed that the
animal was cooked to death by
steam that escaped through a pipe
In the baggage Car. The railroad
claims that the animal was dead
whon shipped.
The Interesting polnt, aB far as
the general public Is concerned, Is
how the court will, arrive at tho
amount of damages the monkey's
owner may collect' In case it shall
bo found that the ' railroad . com
pany was responsible for (the anl
mals death. "
In the case of human beings
killed through the negligence of
others, tho amount of damages
by the courts haB been most varfed, .
This Is duo to tho fact that there is
no law which' definitely fixes the
value of human life or limb. Each
case is left to a jury to bo decided
on its own particular facts and cir
cumstances, the 6lnelevrule of law
controlling being that the Jury shall
determine tho pecuniary loss suf
fered by the victim of the accident.
It Is fourteen years ago since this
question was brought prominently
before the public aB tho result of a
rcmarkablo decision by CMcf Jus
tice William S. Gummere, of the
New Jersey Supreme Court. This
judge reversed the verdict of a Jury
which had awarded $5,000 to the
father of a four-year-old boy who
had been killed through tho negll
genco of a railroad company, de
claring that no child Is worth, pe
cuniarily, more than a dollar to hla
parents.
Indeed, the Justice went further,
and said that In the great majority
of cases, as far as the pecuniary
A King and 3 Queens--Who Wins?
Kins Frederick of Denmark and Hi Three Royal Aunt Playing Wh'.at al
a Family Catherine in Copenhagen. From Left to Rightnhe Aunu
Are Alexander, Latn Queen of England) Dagmar, Former Empreas
of Rutiia, and Thyra, Ducbeat of Cumberlu.d and Brunawick
phase of the matter was concerned,
a child is a burden rather than a
, benefit, and that the death of a son
or a daughter is theroforo a pecun
iary gain. He conceded, however,
that in such cases thu parent should
bo awarded $1 In order to carry
with It tho coats of the trial, which,
he explained the railroad corpora
tion might be expected to be better
able to afford than tho plaintiff.
The CHse In which this decision
was rendered was tried no less than
sl times, the jury In each instance
returning a verdict for $5,000 and
the higher court Invariably setting
It aBlde. The case was finally set
tled out of court, tde rail
road company paying $3,000
to the afflicted parent.
Since that decision, nrouslnc
comment tho country over,
n change has been made In
the law, which Is Jubi as un- '
certain now In this respect
ah it ever was. Only a week
JrVtwo ago two Juries In the
Brooklyn Supreme Court
brought In two apparently
Irreconcilable verdicts the
same day. To the father
of a fourteen-year-old boy
who was' killed in un auto
mobile, accident one Jury
awarded only $1,500 damages,
while the other jury award
ed $10,r000 to a workman who
lost the thumb and forefinger
of his loft hand, and quite
recently third Jury awarded
$31,175 to a boy who lost
his right leg through tho
negligence of, a railroad com
pany. '
But the verdicts rendered
.. In. dearth cas.es. are quite irre
concilable. Sarrt Shubert, the
big. theatrical' manager, who
wan killed "In tho Pennsyl
v..nla Railroad accident at
Harrisburg was considered
worth only $25.00(1 h u
- ' "J IUO
-Jury which trlod hla parents
suit for damages, while $75.
000 Vas awarded to the rep
resentatives of Alfred N. pCr
Hn, a bank proaldont, and
$70,000 to those of Ernest P.
Wnltor, a brokor, both of
whom wero killed In a rail
road accident on tho Now
York Central.
The Perrin verdict renr. .
probably tho largest verdw 8
rendered for the loss T1
life. What thm are the dances of
tho owner of the educated chim
panzee ,who claims $200,000?
In deciding the case, tho Court
will have to tako Into consideration
the same eletnonts which figure in
cases where tho value of humart life
Is at issue, namely, the earning
power of the victim and his natural
expectation of life.
Sunday Bee Magazine
Copyright. 91i.
Emperor and Em
press
Pair of Monkeys
Who Earn $1,000
a Week in Vaude
ville and Whose
Lives on This
Basis Are Worth
$250,000
As far as tho earning power Is
concerned tho evidence to bo offered
in the case of a monkey Is not very
different from that which Is offered
every day In cases based on tho
death of human beings.
It will bo sufficient for tho mon
key's owner to show tho ihcouio tho
monkey has earned In tho past, me
contracts still In oxlstcncc, and tho
demand existing for tho scrvlcoB of
educated monkeys.
In tho case of Charlos tho First It
AT least once n year the royal
palace at Copenhagen Is the
scono of me of the most in
teresting family reunions In Europe.
Recently It brought together at thu
whist table "a King and thrve
Queens," the Queens all sisters, and
tho King Frederick of Denmark
their nephew. Tho Queen? were
Alexandra of England; Dagmar.
Dewager Empress of Russia, and
Thyra, virtual Queen of tho royal
Duchy of Cumberland uud Bruns
wick. Never sluce they went away at the
early age of nineteen, nearly half u
century ago, have Alexandra and
Dagnutr failed to return to Copen
hagen for thlf little holiday, which
they cal the brightest spot In their
existence. With less ttiun. three
years' difference In age their inti
macy has always been of the closest,
and one of the stories which the
Danish women relate with amuse
ment Is, that 10 cramped for space
was the royal household, with Its
six children, that up to the time
when Alexnndrn went out as the u
ture queen of Croat Britain, the two
had been obliged to snare the same
alceplug room.
Ana yet from this unpretentious
palace have gone out uot only the
i wo distinguished sisters, Alexandra
aud Dagmar, but nlso Thyra, as the
wife of the wealthy Duke of Cum
berland and Brunswick, a direct de
scendant of King George III. aud
ijf!
by the Star Compnnr. Ottst HrlUIn
HAMONKE
"imjaB a,ri
Is claimed that 'no had earned no
Iobb tluiu $25,000 a year In vaude
ville, and that as his education
progressed and hla accomplishments
and popularity Increased ho would
have been ablo to earn considerably
more.
The only remaining cjuoBtlon,
therefore, will bo as to the numbor
of years he might havo ,bcon ex
pected to live but for his untimely
death.
This phase of the matter will
head of the house of Guclph, who
also would havo been a King except
for tho reorganization of tho Ger
man Empire. To ttila llttlo kingdom
G'reece turned for her ruler, and a
son became George I.. King of tho
Hellenes, married to a Russian
Grand Duchess, and hero Norwny
found her King, Uuakon, whose wfle
Is sister to the present King of Great
Britain.
While old King Christian was alive
'he held thu inharmonious factious of
his family together, but after hU
death, when the daughter-in-law bo
came supreme, It may well be Im
agined there was uot room enough In
the palace for tho Imperial ludles
.from Great Britain and Russia when
they came for their annual sojourn
In Denmark. It waB their only op
portunity for a visit together, whlcb
they could uot give up, and fortu
nately they hud au opportunity to
purchase the handsome villa of an
old Danish patrician family Just out
side of Cu-eulageu and not far from
the Summer palace of the King,
where they had .pent their child
hood days.
Only a low Iron fence and hedgo
separato this residence of Empresses
from thr public thoroughfare, u'ong
which a trolley line runs and huu
dreds of teams uud bicycles pass
dally. Thero Is no guard In sight.
but on a conspicuous sign are thu
significant words. "The dogs are
loose it lghti"
rtlchti Rotervei).
I. Who Earned $500
n Week as a
Performer and Whose Owners Claim
$200,000 Damages for His Death.
necessitate porhapB the testimony
of zoologists, for obviously the
tables of the Insurance companion
which gtvo tho expectancy of tinman
life and which arc received as evi
dence In courtB of law whore the
value of human lives la to be de
cided will be of 110 value In the caso
of a mbnkoy.
What Ib a monkey's allottod span 7
Amid his natural surroundings a
normal chlmpai.zeo lives anywhere
from ton to twenty yours, but In
captivity It Is seldom tlim they sur
vive more than flvo or al-
But oven un thin basis the value
of the life 01 ait uducr.tcd t.ionkuy
easily ranKs wltL that of tho Uvea
of bank prcsldont3 and other mil
lionaires. V
Emperor and EmproHB, two oxi.
tromoly 'clover chimpanzees who
aro appearing together on - tho
vaudevillo stage, aro now rocelvlng
$1,000 a week for thoir uct. As
suming that they will Hvo only flvo
years more, their Joint lives must
Very Odd Photograph of a
imiiBJacMaaMun
A Huge Boa Constrictor Crushing a
Its Life
Consul, a Famous
Was
ho assessed at
over n quarter of
a million dollars,
oven ylthout tak
ing Into considera
tion tho fact that
with greater ex
perience they will
domand turgor, ro
Vaudeville
be able to
munoratlon.
CoiiBnlsrocolved $300 a week for
his clover work, and. whon ho died,
through natural causes, his ownora
collected $50,000 from thr insur
ance company which had Irisurod
his life.
Charlos I tho monkey, whoso
death prqcipltatod tho present legal
fight, was earning $500 a 1 week on
tho Orphoum and Keith circuit. Hn
was very quli.lt to learn,' and thoro
can bo llttlo doubt that but for hla
untimely death ho would soon be
earning considerably tuoro.
Monkeys, like human artists,, ob
tain a certain voguo on tho vaudo
vlllu stage. They havo their ad
mlrors, Just like other matlnoo
ilcls, and tho longer thpy appear
on the stago the btggor crowdr they
draw,
"It Is true that Charlos I. was
earning only $500 a week when ho
Deer in Its Coils and Sucking
R!nJ
Pag
if?
Educated Monkey, Whose Life
Insured for $80,000.
waH killed," declared Mr Charles
Judd. his ownor, "but oven at th.U
figure his llfo would bn vnluod nt
$200,000, If wo tnko Into considera
tion his expectancy of llfo mid what
ho would cam during hla romalnlug
years.
"But I am quite sure that had
this monkey lived he would have
bocomo tho mpst yaluablo eltnlan
who over facod tho footlights. He
hnd an aptitude for the stage which
T havn nliaorvnri In nh wWn mnn.
koy. oven tho greatest of them.
"In a couple of years Charles
ought to havo boon drawing any
where from $700 to $1,000' a weqk
fbr-his numbor, tho grontost salary
'ovor.pald to any animal on the
stage.
"For these reasons, while $200,
000 may seem ,a- lot to ask for a
dumb nnliiial'a llfo whon tho lives
of human beings have been valued
at so little by the courts, I think
tho position 1 tako Is quite logical
lu allthoso caseB It Is tho pecuniar
loss which the courts try to arrl
at, and just as tho pecuniary loss
may bo only $l when a baby'B Ufa
t la boing considered, a monkoy's llfo
$200 00V0''y W" b aBS0S80d
Monster Snake
T T E,tB ,s a vory unique photo-
i brapu, it slicws a clant boa
constrictor In tho act of
crushlug n deor,lu Its mighty colls.
The photograph was taken by M.
f,,ly,u.a?. ?lclal ln 1,10 OPPer
Ubanghl district. South Africa.
Ho came suddenly upon tho trag
ody of tho jungle. The doer was
drinking at c spring. With Incon
ceivable swiftness tho mighty ser
pent, which had I-in hidden in the
sand, sprang upon the deer,
Tho snaHe took a turn with Its
tall around tho doer's bind leg aud
In anothor Instant crushed tho ani
mal to death. Then tho snake
caught tho deer's throat In Its Jaws
and began u suck the warm blood
At this Instant the Frenchmuu
took his photograph. Tho click of
tho camera caught the Bnake's at
trition -u. it raised its. hideous
head In an uugry mntiner.
M. Sallly's rifle nas not loaded.
To avoid further troublp with the
snake ho leapt at it wjillo It was
atlll e'ltunglcd with tho deer and
broke Us back.
With tho ale" of 6evera; men he
dragged tho s; ake back to tho sta
tion. They found It measured ex
acth' twentv-ilnn t - -
U3ttsM

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