Nispel v. the Western Union R.R. Co..

• Decision Date: 30 September 1872
• Citation: 1872 WL 8314,64 Ill. 311
• Parties: JOHN C. NISPEL, for the use of, etc.,v.THE WESTERN UNION RAILROAD COMPANY.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

64 Ill. 311

1872 WL 8314 (Ill.)

JOHN C. NISPEL, for the use of, etc.,

v.THE WESTERN UNION RAILROAD COMPANY.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1872.

WRIT OF ERROR to the Superior Court of Cook county.

This was an action of assumpsit, brought by Nispel, for the use of Valentine Knobeloch, against the railroad company. The defendant filed the following plea:

“And the defendant, the Western Union Railroad Company, in its own proper person, comes and says that this court ought not to have or take further cognizance of the action aforesaid, because it says that the said supposed causes of action, and each and every of them, if any such, have accrued to the said plaintiff out of the jurisdiction of this court, that is to say, in the county of Racine, in the State of Wisconsin, and not within the county of Cook, or elsewhere, within the jurisdiction of this court; and the defendant further avers, that the supposed contract or contracts upon which said cause was brought, were not, nor were any of them, actually made in said county of Cook, and the same were not, nor any of them, nor any part thereof, made specifically payable in said Cook county. And the defendant further avers, that this defendant is a corporation, duly established and organized, operating a line of railroad from Racine, in the State of Wisconsin, to Port Byron, in the county of Rock Island, in the State of Illinois; that its president resides in the city of Milwaukee, in the State of Wisconsin. That its directors and other officers reside at different points in said Wisconsin, and the State of Illinois, and none of such directors or other officers reside in said Cook county; that the principal office and place of business of this defendant at the time of commencing this suit, was, and now is, in the said city of Racine, in the State of Wisconsin; that this defendant's line of railroad runs through or into the counties of Winnebago, Carroll, Stephenson, Whiteside and Rock Island, and no other county or counties in said State of Illinois. That this defendant has officers and agents in each and every of said counties, where and upon whom process could have been served at the time of the commencement of this suit; that this defendant at the time of the commencement of this suit, had not, and now has no line, or part of line of road, in said Cook county, nor any office, officer, director, agent, employee, or other person in said Cook county upon whom process could then have been or can now be served. Thas this defendant has not been served with process in said Cook county. That the præcipe in this action directs the summons herein to be issued to the sheriff of Carroll county, and such summons was so issued, and finally served on J. B. Sweatt, at and in the county of Carroll, he being then and there an agent of this defendant; and the defendant further avers, that in each and every of said counties of Winnebago, Stephenson, Carroll, Whiteside and Rock Island, there was, at the time of the commencement of this suit, and now is, a circuit court within and for...