Campbell-Irwin - Montgomery InGenWeb Project

The suit of Miss Edna Campbell against the wife and children of Dr. Samuel Irwin for $10,000 damages was begun in the circuit court Wednesday. There was an unusually large crowd of witnesses and spectators present, some thirty or forty women being present in spite of the inclement weather. The plaintiff was represented by Paul & Vancleave, and the defendants by M. W. Bruner and Crane & Anderson. Dr. Irwin was present and occupied a seat apart from either of the interested parties. His position was plainly a very trying and embarrassing one.

A jury empanelled by 10 o’clock, and after the reading of the complaint and the opening statements, the plaintiff took the stand. She testified to having been employed by Dr. Irwin’s office and to have been assaulted by the defendants there last summer. Miss Campbell stated that the relations between herself and Dr. Irwin were always a perfectly proper character. She was wholly unsuspicious of trouble brewing when the defendants swooped down upon her and threw her out of the office onto the sidewalk, at the same time reviling her and applying to her the most insulting and opprobrious language. She testified that she was deeply injured thereby not only in her feelings but physically as well. She was obliged to expend a large sum for medical treatment and still suffered from permanent injuries.

The cross examination began just before the close of the morning session and occupied a greater part of the afternoon. It was a most searching one and developed the fact that although the weather was excessively warm on the day of the trouble that Miss Campbell and Dr. Irwin were in the back rooms of the office together and the doors closed.

Miss Campbell maintained that the Doctor was sick and that she spent about three quarters of an hour fanning him. When she got ready to go she opened the door into the front room and found Miss Myrtle Irwin seated on the front porch. Then the fun began.

The witness following Miss Campbell on the stand Wednesday was Dr. S. G. Irwin, whose testimony was to substantiate that of Miss Campbell. He denied that there were other than business relations between them, and also denied having told his sons that other relations existed. “I don’t care if I have forty boys come on the stand to testify against me,” said the doctor, “My statement is a true one.”

Viola Callar is a female amateur detective.  She is a professional nurse and a friend of Miss Campbell. She went to the attorneys of the defendants and under the alias of Cynthia Dixon she represented that she knew reports damaging to Miss Campbell. In this way she got an interview with the defendants and discussed the character of the evidence she could give.

Bessie Long, a little school girl, testified to seeing Robley Irwin throw Miss Campbell out of the office.

Dr. Ensminger was called to attend Miss Campbell after her assault, and found that she had suffered severe internal injuries. A contusion had formed in the abdomen, caused by the bursting of a blood vessel and her hip was badly injured.

There were other unimportant witnesses and the plaintiff closed.

Mrs. Irwin was the first witness for the defense, and testified that she had long suspected Dr. Irwin of intimacy with Miss Campbell. She testified further that Dr. Irwin was drunk on the day of the trouble. Mrs. Irwin’s testimony was to the effect that the actions of the doctor and Miss Campbell on the day of the assault were of such a suspicious character as to warrant decisive action on her part. She denied having offered the Callar woman money to testify that the detective had told her one or two very disgusting stories relative to Miss Campbell.