SUE COL. ASTOR FOR $30,000

Relatives of Electrician, Killed at Beechwood, Assert Negligence
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Special to The New York Times
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NEWPORT, R. I., Oct. 2---When Col. John Jacob Astor came to Newport last
month aboard his steam yacht Noma to be married to Miss Force, Deputy
Sheriff Frank P. King served Col. Astor with a summons in a suit for $30,000
for the death of Eugene P. McCrohan, who while installing a telephone
service at Beechwood was killed by an electric shock on July 1, 1910.

To-day in the Superior Court there was filed a declaration by the plaintiff,
in which the mother, sisters, and brothers are concerned, for which a jury
trial is requested.  The document, in part, states that McCrohan was
employed by the Providence Telephone Company to install telephones and make
connections, and was so engaged at Beechwood at the invitation of Col.
Astor, whose duty it was to exercise reasonable care to provide a safe and
suitable place for him to work in.

It is alleged that Col. Astor did not use reasonable care, in that an
electrical switch, wires, and connections, through which a high voltage of
electricity ran, were negligently exposed, and, being insufficiently
insulated, caused the death of McCrohan.