National Republican., 1874-05-13

lticular CONTROVERSY A. No, SIR. The boar
acts upon every claim independently. The!
SHaid s. not make any such arfanssnsn' :. 'Aa
Q. SO that in this case no bills for special
Improvements were issued against these par
tiesf A. Yes, sir; there were. The bills wer
presented, and finally they agreed tha
If the board would abate that charge that the.
would abate any claim that they might hay
for damages to their property, although the.
claim that the damage was much more.
Q. After you agreed upon terms the bill
were withdrawn "A. The bills were receipted
Q. In fulll' A. Yes, sir.
| q. As an Offset to the damage that the!
claim had accrued to theml A. Yes, sir; tina
is the fact in the case, and all the facts in tn,
case. II there vas-any other case 10 woult
come up for adjustment.
By Nj! wilson. @. DID you move four two
story houses for Judge Wylie, aeyess to'nex
street, A. I do not know anything about tina
place. know houses were moved, because
saw them moved. " .EsN AEAtS .I1l Is.
@. Were bis lots graded down about ten fee
BY the boardl A. That cannot say.
Governor Shepherd. We had to grade then
down to underpin the houses @l1ssD q
you make any settlement with r. T. Mofsell
A. / did not. - =. -.i- lIi
Q. He has property right adjoining there
A. do not know anything about that.
Q. Has he not been irving to get . settle
ment Of his damagesi A. Not that know Of
BE has never spoken TO me about Il.
O., Did j. o. Wilson have property therei A
do not know. Mr.. Wilson came to me fire.
quently about that Improvement when It wa.
going along. think IT was on the opposite
side Of the avenue-the south side of the ave
nue., and he insisted upon it that we should
stick to our original purpose of making the
roadway In the centre of the street, so that he
ane his friends could get the same privileges
that other people had Of having the parking
in front Of their houses. Theydid not wani
the roadways put on the sides and the park ir
the centre.
| Q. Mrs. Donovan and Commodore Almy OWL
property therel 4. Commodore Almy does.
do not know anything about Mrs Donovan.
q. Those are the only two persons living
there with whom you have had such settle
menta A. Those are the only two persons
whom have ever known 10 make any claim
When these two gentlemen made the PROPOSE
ton thought 1t was q very fair one, as all the
other members Of the board did. It was Q
very admirable settlement for US to make
They claimed some e., 500 or S3, 500 apiece
damages.
By Mr.. Christy: @. What did their special
assessments amount to7 A. About $3.50 apiece
l. think. 1t was within fraction of that; II
it was not $500 each, am pretty certain.
Q. How did you contriye, then, to omit theiI
bills in the general assessments of the streetsi
A. We did not omit them. F 'f-
Q. Was that charged against the other prop.
erty-holdersi A. It was charged against the
O.. Against this particular property A
Yes, sir.
Q. And It was not distributed among the
others after this adjustmentf A. No, sir; not
at all. The bills had all been rendered and
assessments made out, and they received their
bills for their proportion of the cost of the
street; Then they proposed that # we would
without pay-they would agree to give us q
written agreement that they would never call
for damages to the property, which we did. b
| Q. Now, how are you going to collect for SC
much Of the improvement of the street as is in
front Of their housesi A. We cannot collect It
now.
Q. How are you going to pay for "a A. We
have paid for It. We paid for it by abating
Q: Yes, but that does not pay the contrac-
torsi A. No, sir. .-
@. Now, bow are you going to arrive at one
third or one sixth Of that cost which was as
sessed against the propertya A. BY paying it
out Of something else.
Q. You have not made provision for that,
| n. NO,
GOVERNOR SHEPHERD RECALLED.
| Cross-examination of Governor Shepherd.
By Mr.. Christy: Q. You stated that many
Of these claims for damages you regard be un.
founded. Upon what principle do you arrive at
that conclusionl see they aggregate perhaps
over q million dollsrs-that Is, where claims
have been preferred to this commission. A. II
you WIN giro mo any special eases, perhaps
can answer you.
@. What desire to arrive at is this: whether
you deem It yourself fair that these damages,
whatever they may be, should be arbitrarily
fixed by a board of commissioners, in which
the property holders have no vofcei A. Well,
the property holders have q voice. They file
that claim after public advertisement, stating
the ground for the claim. The commissioner
investigate the whole matter personally, are
disinterested and impartial persons, and make
their award upon their judgment.
Q. Are these persons who claim damages al
lowed to appear by counsel and with witnessesl
A. The commission investigate the subject per-
sonaily on the premises.
Q. That is, they simply examine the i'm
provement and the resulting damages; they do
not call for testimony A. In cases where
there is any question involved they can call
testimony.
Q. Suppose, then, that the party claiming
damages is not content with the award; what
Is his remedyf A. To go to court. 1t does not
debar him at all. No action of the Legislative
Assembly can deoar any private citizen from
righting himself In court
Q. Suppose that he prefers to have this mat
ter adjusted by the commission, what would be
bis remedy If be should be dissatisfied with the
A. To the Board Of Public Works be may ap-
peal. The law provides that the Board of
Public Works shall act finally on the matter
and then submit 1t to the Legislature It
passes through three hands: First, these COM
missioners, who are merely acting for the Board
Of Public Works, going through the details;
then the board have to personally examine the
premises before they can make their report;
and then the matter goes to the Legislative
Assembly for their final action.
Q. This commission, then, Is appointed by
the Board Of Public Worksi A. Yes, sir.
Q. The claims are reduced to writing and
filed with this commissionl A. Yes, sir.
Q. They are the judges, subject to the seper-
vision of the Board of Public Worksl A. Yes,
sir.
O. The action of the Board of Public Works
Yes, sir.
Q. And no arrangement made and no ma
chinery furnished for the hearing of It in the
event of ccntroversy-either calling OF wit
nesses or having counsel appeara A. Of
course, If any one is dissatisfied with the mat
Ter, OtlOfo tue DOdIu act upon IL ut can appear
to them, and the decision can be reversed.
Q. Then their remedy is by action of the
Legslature-relief in the nature of an appro-
priationi am not speaking now Of the courts.
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Then suppose, as against these parties,
bills have been rendered for the cost of i'm
provement; are they permitted to Offset this
claim for damages against those billsi A.
That has not been done, except in the two in
stances referred to. Those are the only two
instances where such a proposition has been
made, to my knowledge. = q ~ IL 4
Q. So the effect of it Is that, upon the rendi-
ton of tho bills for the special improvements
and their non-payment within the time fixed
BY law, which believe to be thirty days, In
terest is ASSESSED against them upon those
billsi A. That Is the provision of the law.
Q. Without any regard whatever to the
damages that they may claim7 A. Well, that
is matter which could be righted by tho ac-
tion Of tho Legislative Assembly very easily.
Q. am simply speaking of what has been
done. A. II is an Incomplete transaction as It
stands, and cannot be completed until 70 Is
acted upon by the Assembly Or some other
competept tribunal.
Q. Is nos this true in many cases, that these
bills, sfter being rendered and remaining un-
paid, interest attaches, and that tho bills are
bold or disposed Of 10 persons having claims
Against the boardl A. State that again, II you
MI