Sumner Simpson's Telegram to W. J. McConnell Asking Him to Stop at Charleston before the Asbestosis Trials (1935)

A Western Union night letter of October 15, 1935, from Sumner Simpson of Raybestos-Manhattan to Dr. W. J. McConnell of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company at the Kentucky Hotel in Louisville. Simpson asked McConnell and J. William Fehnel to stop at Charleston on their way home, since "Messrs. Mitchell and Jeffords" were anxious to talk with them about the suits coming up in November. He wrote that the company was "very much disappointed at decision not to have a Metropolitan man in Charleston during trials" and had "greatly depended on it." He added that the company had made "a great many improvements in preventing dust at Charleston" which McConnell would find gratifying "from an insurance standpoint," and offered to pay their expenses.

What it shows

Metropolitan Life's dust experts had studied Raybestos-Manhattan's plants, and the company was counting on one of them at the asbestosis trials in Charleston, South Carolina. Four days later Simpson wrote McConnell at length about subpoenaing Fehnel (letter of October 19); McConnell's reply is his letter of October 28.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

(Partially illegible.) Talks about trials coming up in November. Also discusses improvements in dust control system at Charleston. Suggests McConnell and Fehnel arrange visit to Charleston.

Related documents

• Sumner Simpson to W. J. McConnell of Metropolitan Life on the Charleston Asbestosis Suits (1935)
• W. J. McConnell of Metropolitan Life to Sumner Simpson on Help in the Charleston Litigation (1935)
• Sumner Simpson to Julian Mitchell Arranging to See Vandiver Brown (1935)

About this copy

This is document 02747 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.