14 Neb. 386 | Neb. | 1883
This is an action to recover the value of a colt belonging to the plaintiff, which it is alleged in the petition was injured by the defendant so severely as to cause its death. The answer is a general denial. On the trial of the cause a verdict was returned in favor of the defendant, and the action dismissed.
The principal objection in this court is that the verdict is against the weight of evidence. The plaintiff and defendant are farmers residing about three-fourths of a mile from each other, near Crounse, in Lancaster county. In January, 1881, the colt in controversy was between nine and ten months old, and seems to have been permitted to run at large. The injury was alleged to have been committed on the forenoon of the 23d of January, 1881. At about 8 or 9 o’clock on the morning of that day Anthony Rump, whp resides but a few rods from the defendant’s residence, found the colt in question in his stable. In his testimony he states: “It was lying down; I had two colts in there. It was lying across the halter rope of one of my colts. I unloosed the halter, and it then ran out.”
On the cross-examination he testified: “I went to the stable and found this colt there, not in the position a horse
This is assigned for error. No exception was taken, and therefore the alleged error cannot be considered. But it is evident that the attorney was guilty of a gross breach of propriety in making such statements to the jury. An appeal would be of but little value if the decision was to be controlled in the slightest degree by the action of the jury on a former trial. The cause is to be tried upon the evidence introduced on the trial and on that alone, and any attempt of a party or attorney to state facts outside of such evidence for the purpose of influencing the action of the jury should be promptly disapproved by the court. And we are not prepared to say that the reprimand in this case was too severe. Certain affidavits are filed also for the purpose of showing newly discovered evidence, but it appears that the evidence is merely cumulative, and is not ground for a new trial.
There is no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Judgment aeeirmed.