The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-11-16


If tho Board will examine tho road in
tho presence Of some ono familiar with II,
md do not find tho iacts stated in oui
opening argument substantially true, VIC
will give IN tho case.
If they lind them true, then VIC insist
Tint either negligence or incompetence Is
conclusively proved
The only denial made Of any material
fact Is, that tho road could not have been
worn 10 tho bAro boullers, because it was
proven, that tho boulders on which The
road was originally bull were removed
many years ago.
It is undoubtedly truc that some Of the
witnesses supposed tho boulders had oil
boon taken up, but others testified TINT
they were not oil taken up, that they were
LEFT on Wheeling hill and Mt some other
points. But this Is a matter that may be
determined by inspection.
And my ono who will now examine tho
road. bed ut the point opposite Mrs. Max.
wells farm, referred 10 by tho witness,
where tho creek has washed away the
ground up TO tho original road bed, will sec
tho sand stono boulders standing on edge
just as they were placed there City years
ago.
And there is no difficulty anywhere in
distinguishing the sandstone foundation
upon which the road was originally built,
from stone thrown in since for the rur.
pose Of filling mud holes and repairing
places where tho road has been worn out.
1t is admitted that the road on tho
eastern slope Of Wheeling bill is ilat; that
the bitches near Fulton are made by filling
dirt on the side road; that the cnlyerts
from there to Judge ThompSon's aro
nearly all closed; but it is said that some
Of them wcro closed before Mr.. Ferrol
was appointed.
These Are all the statements that are
called in question by Mr.. Hubbard as to
the condition Of tho road, and tho others
are disposed Of by the declaration that he
''has not time to answer them"
In an argument 80 distrcssingly vol
luminous We would havo supposed that he
might have said something about tho
bridge near Dennison's; the fact that
stone orc lying broken by tho roadside
for two years, until the grass has grown
up throug h them; that they arc badly need.
ed upon the road; TINT many Of them
have been scattered and mashed into tho
ground by tho travel passing over them;
tho condition Of the large and expensive
bridges ut tho monument and OF Fay's,
and many other matters of equal impor.
tanee.
lie prefers filling half column of a
newspaper with extracts from Mr.. Web.
ster's speeches, which would suit any
other case as we'll rs this, and then soy.
ing thNt the statements in general arc 80
totally falso that they could not have
been mRdo for tho purpose Of influencing
tho board, but for tho purpose Of creating
n prejudice against Mr.. Ferrel.
Tho Board would have been cnlighten-
ed quite Us much by little more detail
in his denials, Us they aro by tho speeches
which ho has quoted. We arc quite will.
ing to restithe case upon the substantial
accuracy Of the statements which are de-
MED in such sweeping and offensive terms.
We can only excuse these sweeping
Wholesale charges upon the ground that
Mr.. Hubbard did not examine the road
for himself, but has relied upon tho
statements Of his client, which no ought
to know, from the evidence in the cause,
are wholly unreliable.
Counsel for Mr.. Terrell have made o
marvellous display of their mathematical
learning in answer to our statement as to
the amount Of stone put upon the road by
Mr.. Ferrel, rs ascertained by the amount
Of money paid on contracts. . ,..
It certainly never occurred to US that
there was anything in this statement that
required The exercise Of SO vast an amount
Of mathematical skill. a.rI ... ...
Tho evidence was that pile Of stone
which filled tho gauge, ind was twenty
seven feet long, made q perch, according
to tho mode adopted for measuring stone
on tho road. a
Little as we knew about mathematics,
We certainly know enough 10 know that
this was moro than q cubic perch accord.
ing to Dilworth and Ray.
We also knew enough 10 know that q
perch Of stono in mathematics could not
be ascertained by lineal measure alone.
We also knew that the persons with whom
tho road would be required to deal would
not understand the process by which the
cubic contents Of q pile Of stone was rs.
certained. I.......
The evidence proved that with the view
Of obViating this difficulty, q gauge had
been provided for tho use Of the men
breaking stone upon tho road, who were
told that q pile Of stone which filled that
gauge and was twcnty.seven feet long was
perch, so that every man, with his
gauge aud tape line could tell how many
perch Of stone there was in his pile. 1t
was Of no sort Of consequence whether the
plan they adopted mAdGmore or less than
cubic perch according to mathematical
rule. That was tho "pcrch" for which
tho parties contracted. ~. 80
And tho only object to be accomplished
was to simplify tho process by which the
amount to DO furnished or broke was to
be nscertained.
If this was not the rule tho fault was
with tho witnesses, md not with counsel,
for tho witnesses certainly so testified.
Mr.. Hubbard says that pile Of stone
which fills tho gauge and is hundred
inches long makes q perch. And perhaps it
does make q cubic perch according To
mathematical rules.
But that is not tho "pcrch" to which
the witnesses testified.
If We are right as 10 tho evidence, then
our computation is right.
And there is nothing unusual or extra.
ordinary in adopting Gspecial mode of as.
containing what shall DO treated and re.
garded as q perch Of stone.
Amongst stone masons different rules
prevail in different localities. The mod.
ern rule is different from tho rule that
prevailed many years ago. The old rule
with stone masons was that 1GI feet in
length for every foot tho wall was in
height, made perch, the wall ordinarily
being about eighteen inches thick. Tho
modern rule is that every 25 cubic feet
in wall is a perch. Parties always con-
tractcd with reference to tho local usage
at the time and place. -
There was, therefore, nothing extraor.
binary in tho departure from the matheU
NAUTICAL perch in measuring stone on the
road. &.
II was Inanifestly necessary to adopt
Bono rule because stone in irregular piles