The Sunday tatler and Jersey City express. (Jersey City, N.J.) 1883-1886, 1885-11-01
READY FOR ARGUMENT.
The States Attorneys TO go into Court We'd
nesday Prepared to argue the Centraps
Cerfiarnri.

CertlOrar1.
The work that has been accomplished by
the lawyers, printers and stenographers
engaged in the Central Railroad certiorari
suit during the past week has been some
thing unprecedent in the history of railroad
litigation. As the TATTLER last Sunday in
formed its readers that the State officials
have insisted that the case must be argued
at the November term of the Supreme
Court, and while it may be that, in order
to get together the odds and ends, the
Court may be asked for days grace, 1t is
now a settled fact that the case will be
argued this term. The States attorneys
will go into Court on Wednesday morning,
prepared, if necessary, to argue the case at
once, although furlough till November
9th would give them ample time to
present it in just the shape they
want to. Judge Hoffman's wish that
the Railroad Company would put Mr.. Will
liams, the Comptroller of the Central, on
the stand wss grati6ed last Thursday. He
was put under the fire of a vigorous cross
examination, and was somewhat uneasy
when questioned as to the s'tangible per-
sonal property" Among other things he
said that almost any railroad company
would disguise its accounts to escape the
burden of an unjust assessment for the
purposes of taxation.
"Well, that being the case" asked Mr.
John w. Herbert, DR., the States counsel,
ssallow me to ask you, Mr.. Williams, are
the figures you have given us in your testi-
mony here to-day inaccurate or disguised ?"
''No, sir" was the reply, "those figures
are absolutely correct"
Mr.. Harrison, it will be remembered,
placed the cost of engineering and agencies
on the whole line of the Central at $500, 900,
or about $4,000 a mile. As against this
testimony, Mr.. Harris, on the part of the
Company, as did. also, Mr.. Nichols, testl-
fed that Mr.. Harrisons estimate of
the cost of this item was fabulous.
Harris put it at from $500 to 81 900 per
mile, but on cross-examination he said he
had not included in his estimate the re-
moval of the company. The railroad tax
law of the State of New York requires each
railroad company in the State to furnish to
the commissioners statement of the cost
of this item. Mr. Harrison has looked
carefully into the matter of this cost on
railroads in New York State, and the figures
given below as returned by the companies
themselves to the New York Railroad Com
4lloo1OAC4c Will III OOuOS P1OsO VI 4AbC1Obv
to the TATTLERs readers.
The cost of this item on the valley
branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna and
Western, single track road from the
Pennsylvania State line to Binghampton,
as returned by the company, is 50, 1909. SO
per mile. The green branch of the same
road makes return of So, 81 per mile.
The Utica, Shenango and Susquehanna
Valley and Richfeld Spring branch of the
same road puts the figures at 1888 So per
mile; the New York Central at S., $50. Al
per mile; the Spuyten Duyvel and Port
Morris branch of the last mentioned road
swells the figures to $12, 243 Is per mile.
This is not the most striking instance, how
ever, when it is considered what difficult
piece of engineering that was, for we find
the cost of this item on the New York,
Woodh, ven and Rockaway Railroad,
rickety old road running from Rockaway
Beach to Glendale, l.. l., to have been
So, 761. Is per mile, while the cost of engl-
neering and agencies on the Brooklyn,
Flatbush and Coney Island Railroad, run
ming from Bedford junction, in the heart
of the City of Brooklyn, to Brighton Beach,
is returned by the company at the enor-
nous sum of SIS. 482 80 per mile.