Bailey v. Warner

118 F. 395, 55 C.C.A. 329, 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4535
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
DecidedOctober 20, 1902
DocketNo. 1,581
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 118 F. 395 (Bailey v. Warner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bailey v. Warner, 118 F. 395, 55 C.C.A. 329, 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4535 (8th Cir. 1902).

Opinion

THAYER, Circuit Judge.

This is an action which Henry E. Warner, the defendant in error, brought against Dewey C. Bailey and the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, the plaintiffs in error, upon the official bond of Bailey, who was the United States marshal for the district of Colorado, the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company being the surety in said bond. The breach complained of was that Bailey arrested Warner under a warrant against one Benjamin F. Eissauer, which warrapt had been issued on a complaint made by the United States attorney for the district of Colorado that said Eissauer had been indicted in the Indian territory for unlawfully selling liquor in that territory, and was a fugitive from justice at that time within the district of Colorado. The complaint averred that the plaintiff was arrested on a public street in the city of Denver by a deputy United States marshal, and was compelled to go along said street for some distance to the marshal’s office; that no warrant was exhibited to the plaintiff when he was thus arrested, although he requested the deputy to exhibit his authority for making the arrest, if he had any; that the warrant aforesaid was exhibited as the sole authority for the arrest, only when he had reached the marshal’s office and had again demanded by what authority the arrest was made; that when the warrant was produced he informed the marshal that his name was not Lissauer, and that he had never been in the Indian Territory, but that notwithstanding such representations he was held in custody for some four hours, and compelled to give a bond for his appearance before a United .States commissioner, and was not finally discharged for some io or 12 days, when he was released without a hearing. The testimony at the trial disclosed that the arrest was clearly unlawful, and that the marshal was guilty of a trespass amounting to a false imprisonment in taking the plaintiff into his custody under a warrant which directed the arrest of an entirely different person. The jury returned a verdict against the marshal and his surety, the United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, in the sum of $6oo. The trial court refused to set the verdict aside, and the case was brought to this court on a writ of error by the defendants in the lower court, the chief complaint being that some incompetent evidence was admitted in the course of the trial, and that certain instructions were refused which ought to have been given.

It is claimed that an error was committed by the trial court in permitting a witness by the name of Merritt to testify as to what took [397]*397place between himself and Bailey, the marshal, before the plaintiff had been discharged, but we fail to see that the admission of this testimony was in any respect improper. Merritt called on the marshal with a telegram from Knoxville, Tenn., which tended to establish the plaintiff’s identity, and to show that he was a reputable person, and that he was not the person against whom the warrant was issued, who had been indicted in the Indian Territory. Merritt exhibited this telegram to the marshal, and had some conversation with him on the subject of the arrest, which the witness detailed fully, and, while the conversation may not have been very important, it was clearly admissible against the defendant, with whom the conversation was held.

The plaintiff also testified that he was by occupation a newspaper reporter; that during the week succeeding his arrest and prior to his discharge he applied to several newspapers for employment as a reporter; that he was asked on each occasion if he had been released from arrest, and on replying that he had not been released was told by the persons to whom he applied for employment that they had no place for him. This testimony was objected to at the trial, and an exception was saved on account of its admission, but we think that it was entirely competent as tending to show the actual damage which the plaintiff had sustained by reason of the unlawful act of the marshal. The fact that such inquiries were made, and that he was refused work, showed that the fact of his arrest was known to those from 'whom he would naturally seek employment, and that it had some influence on their conduct in refusing to give him work.

The plaintiff further testified that up to the time of his arrest he had been able, by means of the employment which he was able to secure, to maintain himself and his wife; that after his arrest, which took place in the latter part of February, 1900, and until July 6th of that year, he could not obtain employment; and that because of his inability to get work during that period his wife was compelled to work. When the question was propounded to him, whether, because of his inability to obtain employment, his wife was compelled to- work for their support, no objection was made to the question, but after it had been answered in the affirmative a motion was made to strike out his answer. There was no material error in this action. Counsel for the defendant should have objected to the question when it was ^ propounded, as they had full opportunity to do, if they considered it incompetent. Not having done so, and having permitted the witness to answer, the trial court was under no obligation to expunge it. The plaintiff likewise testified that he was in a complete state of nervous collapse for two days following his arrest, and that he did not fully recover from this state of nervous prostration for at least two months. An objection was made to this testimony, which was overruled, and an exception was saved. We think that there is no merit in this exception. The plaintiff was entitled to show, as a part of his direct damages, what effect, if any, upon his physical condition the arrest had produced. He was privileged to describe his mental condition and the feelings of humiliation incident to the arrest for the information of the jury; and as he did not undertake to report what his physician had told him, but simply described his own feelings and tlV [398]*398effect which the arrest had produced, the testimony in question was clearly admissible.

Considerable importance is attached by the plaintiffs in error to another incident of the trial, which was as follows: The plaintiff was asked by his counsel if he had experienced any difficulty for two or three days previous to his arrest, while he was attending to his reportorial duties, in getting information from public officials to whom he usually applied for information. The question was objected to; whereupon the plaintiff’s attorney stated that he expected to show that a rumor had been disseminated from the marshal’s office, some days prior to the arrest, that the plaintiff was a fugitive from justice, and that the rumor so disseminated had led persons with whom the plaintiff came in contact to treat him with suspicion. When this representation was made the court permitted the question to be answered; whereupon plaintiff said, in substance, that he had experienced difficulty in obtaining news for two or three days previous to his arrest, and that during that period his fellow reporters, who had previously treated him very cordially, ceased to do so, and apparently regarded him with suspicion. After this answer had been given a motion was made to strike it out; whereupon the court ruled that it would be stricken out unless it was subsequently shown that the marshal was in some way responsible for the treatment of which the plaintiff complained.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
118 F. 395, 55 C.C.A. 329, 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bailey-v-warner-ca8-1902.