The national Republican. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1866-1870, 1869-12-29
THE RiILROAD .CORpOR,TIoS IsBRoGLlO
Tn, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on Trial
Testimony OF Mayor nowcn, sur-
veyor DoneEan, Contractor
Tally and Others = The
Case FINS ed for
the Prosecution.

Ohio Railroad Company for obstructlng pub
lie highways was taken up yesterday. Cook
and Riddle for the prosecution; Buchanan
and Cox for the defence.
road at second street East was i3A feet below
the grade, at Thitd,tteet east l-l2 A. Fourth
ae. do f ia, a.; sss. iod fee, i .So iaSAss
Inches below, at boundary efs feet below. Oh
aSoSs the sfsSe al "a q street, loot inches
below At 3. lie testified further that NORTH
cars, and Il is used as a place for making up
trains, and In consequence the street hiss net
been Improved and 4 not used al S%%sn,
ment printing Office being thereby CUT on ~
that street. He had written letters 70 the
he bed Of The road 10 the grade Of the streets
In regard to / street and Boundary street.
The date OF he df., letter was a year ago
to the letters In regard to street, but came
here on the very day that the contractor for
Gross exsmins,ion By Mr.. Cox: witness
knew nothing OF the grades except what he
learned from the surveyor This was the hrst
streets as far as he knew, but law had been
passed year and half ago to grade street.
Redirect By Mr., Cook: The map showed the
Mr., p. II. Donegan, sworn; Witness 10 the
city surveyor. Witness had examined the track
from the depot to the boundary And found IN at
1t did not conform to the grades OF the streets
anywhere. lie gave the grade Of the track at
as given BY The MsyorJ The dspo, occupies
nearly the entire square, and on y street, be.
avenue, there are side tracks which are oceu.
pied by freight cars, which obstruct d street.
The track renders all the streets except @ and
crosses or In which It is laid, inpassabie. The
grades marked on the map are the result OF
observations on the ground.
Gross examined by Mr., Cook; II the road
was made to conform to the streets, or the
streets to conform TO the road, the streets
could be used; Dstreet was graded east OF the
track about twelve months since. street
was graded long whileago the track con.
iorms nearly to she grade Of that street, Those
tsTe NboSas Gs gS ssssSsd w ". not 20 a. for
the Tiber and North Capitol and E streets
These streets could not be complete thorough
fares unless the Tiber was briiged.
Redirect by Mr., Cook! The streets cannot
be graded pniess the track Is made to conform
VIM. Forsyth sworn Witness had mad. a
thorough examination Of the road In the city
prepared map, the levels being taken from
the base ofthe Capitol as the initial point.
A. Boundary street the top Of the rail 1, . feet
II inches below grade at X, 0 feet 10 inches
above at seventh, q feet above at Sixth, s
feet above at Fifth, feet above at Sixth, 8
and the balance Of the track is sboas eraS S~
only Inches above at q street and 2 inches at
street The streets In the neighbothood OF
the depot are impossible to cross In conse.
quenee of the cars on the track. Witness pro
lueed the original plans OF the city, with the
Cross-examined; There were no grades Of
that part Of the city established by the com
missioner. Nathaniel King prescribed III,
grades 10 1898 and l70ti General Humphries,
ora years ago, continued the grades; and Ar
1850 Dir. Doyle prescribed the grades. In ISL
MI a. nnE II. a..
which are the present lawful grades. The ris,
per mile from q street and Delaware avenue
10 lsreet at second street east would be 81
railroad. The difficulty Is between II street
and the boundary, The starting point is the
top OF the base course OF the Capitol 50 feel
above high water. The map was prepared is,t
November Second street east Ia p.rtIsiIy
graded but not to the Intersection with the
road. Third street Ia not open, but Fourth is
the road not desIsting from the grade OF that
street. Fifth street ia not open Ks,reet il
graded, but I, impossible because the track
street is graded, but not at the Intersection.
BY Mr., Cook In 1891 and iss5 the grades
existing were those established by Nichol.s
King for the elder parties OF the city.
Mayor Bowen recalled! Witness read the
act fol grading and graYeliny street north
from First street east to Seventh street e.,t
approved June nth, lsJT, and stated that the
contract was made and the contractor ca.
Der, 1865, he addressed Mr.. Garrett a Iettsr
calling his attention to the necessity OF Oh ang,
ing the Crane OF me road At l street No
notice was taken Of this letter, AM the con.
tractor was diTectoi to go on Win the work
and was about to cover the ;oad when MI
"a, LiS' s came iowa and they had converse.
% that day or the day following, the inJunc.
tIoh was served, Ara 10 consequence the work
Second street east, and the contractor pssveS
the line "Itil he reached the road. The Mayor
Iesa letter from MI; Randolph, Chief EGgi.
hee' Of the road, TO Mr., Crane, dated Septem-
9TH, 1869, In which he states that the grade
was established 10 1885,, aud the city should
G2niPrn lts grades ,.ta to the grade then given
calling Mr.. G's: attention to the grading OF
Boundary street.
not recollect that Mr.. Randolph made a prop.
osition Tor a compromise, but TeGolleets tn at
they said that the road could not be raised at
Sixth street He stated that had = reply beeu
given to his letters that time would have beer
given the road. He thought that Mr.. q. had,
in not answering hls letters, treated the cor.
porAtion contemptuously.
so as to read that North Capitol street was
Mr. DoSssss recalled The grades OF the
Sity are those OF MI. King and the grades Of
Nj, Coyle are those Of Mr.. king extended.
track can be brought on the grades of the
streets by several other routes east OF the
present track. lie thought that the 70 ad &C ID
@ppnotsasIe for on n1 sTSSss ana Il was mo-
DO given. The Washington, Georgetown and
Alexandria road nesr he Loos Bilise had a
80 feet to the mile imPrHcticable.
cto.s,exsminedi witness thought the steep
est grade of the track within the city is about
so feet TO the mile, but he had not made an
examination. BY one of the eastern routes
the road could come Ia BY grade OF 60 feet to
the mile
Mr, Stephen Tally, sworn witness had the
contract for grading and graYeling street,
and after working seven or eight days was
stopped BY an Injunction OF the courts. ID, q
and u streets eau be used but the others are
Obstructed.
J, l.. CfossmAR testified that the road
throughout its whole extent on the streets
named seldom CONFIRMED to the grade being
someiimos above and sometimes below the
grade OF the city. At the time Of the arrival
and departure Of trains u street, near the
depot, Ia totally ObstTuctei, and At other
times 1t T. much obstructed by the changing
Of cars, This Is the case along ID street be-
tween New Jersey avenue and ID street
,Witness, route had Often been obstrueted in
Cross.eXAmiHed3 The cars are left standing
on the side Of the street The street is open,
but 10 very much ObstTucied by teamH standing
~ ~ ioAIlug' Inc sIeePefs aud rails are above
NJ, q. Emery. Witness knows hat the former
location OF the depot was at reservation 70, on
Iehhsylvhhlh avenue, near the Tiber, The
itltght depot was located between ID and O
S,tssis 10 the rear Of the passenger depot, but
ne ps'SGH .SSS.sfuln w nSeenbCL, lo55.
SadeT M atI wais w6ss" M depot IA located
proposals to grade street, wrote 10 Mr. ni,ss
for the grade, but Mr. u replied that tWss
uimcuH 10 give the grade because the rail.
road intefieTed. The contract, however was
made, but could not be executed owing 10 the
railroad. This was IN lsJ7. The railroad m ade
most OF the streets impAssSblr, because IL was
impossible under present g.rcumstaGces, 10
grade them, ~
James Crutcheu. wituess was one Of the
oommittee appointed to supervise the TemOy al
OF the b. & u. Railroad depot to Tia present la.
cation. The depot grounds at first were fenced
In, and no part Of the streets were occupied
But duriDg the war the Government needed
more spacei the streets were then occupied,
and have since continued to be. The obstruel
tion TO the street was now so great that o
vehicle, not connected with the road, could
pass the streets for weeks At time. Witness
had nearly been killed In crossing the track at
one time, and In aud X streets the grade is
entirely obstTuetcd and all Improvements
stopped, and Second street, between aud Ii,
totally obsttueted.
CrO'S-exAmined. Before the change OF depots
there was but one track, There Ia much more
business now than then The city had grown
and transportation business had vastly 10.
creased,
W. 10. Todd! The railroad depot has been at
Its present location about twenty or twenty
1ve years. Since the war the railroad hAs 90.
cupied much more ground than It did before.