New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-10-05

h0uSesf Ayes Br, there was q mouse DuliI -.
Q.-How much was the farm worth with everything OH
itih 1857 A.-About $4,000. ,s uo,-
defed worthless your boat.yard, about acre and
that was all the land that destroyed A-Ies SIT;
the iiiISSIe land that was considered destroyed.
Q-How much did your father get out OF this awaru
o."w6St becsme OF the other half A.-wel, sup
pose the attorneys hadit
Q.-Your father got S4,O00i Ale got one,hait OF
the amount paid there was little more than that Dc
cause of the Interest
Q.-Who were the lawyers, did you say A.-Da h
B. Hill and Gabriel smith, OF Elmira don't remember
Q.-Do you kno W how much Boardman Smith got A.
don't remember; he didn't get anything out OF INC
Q-Do you know how your father came to pay sueh
big counsel fee, $4,000 Al suppose he paiu IL %
Q-what the incentive what was tho indnGemG ne
to pay large an amount A.-WeH, suppose ho IT.
o" Skilled labor q get it before the Appraisers or
through the Legisiature I Al don't know anything
more about II than stated they got half the claim LOT
getting II they were to have nothing or 0ne,h ,
Q-Were they getting the bill through the Legslatnrei
AtwelI don't think had anything to do with tlat
Q-Do know how the Legsntnre came 10 tnso tbp
lawyers were concerned, l had nothing TO do Wlth'
Miner L. Sherwood, who sold Sleeper his farm
for 81 700 ION which SS006 damages were al
lowed, testified that the entire farm aud every
thing on 1t was not worth over $24OO at the time
of the freshet. For damage to sawmil dam ana
embankment $4,000 was allowed. The previous
owner of it testified as follows:
Q-How much would you have been willing 70 nave
built 6ulkhead there as good ~ that one IoT Inn
know of who built the whole concern. IU pt t
the whole mill for $40, hukhead ana all. Io ulu ho
furnish the lumber don't want TO get IL 100 loE
don't think the whole thing would have cost over Sl2o
when IL was built. that Is. the MILL
O-IIow much 10 worth To build the dam, IourWh{
and cmlankment, and alli A.-Wel, l .shonld thihk
SOD would do the whole thing. g.. .r,ro,tv
rods of e1bankncnf feet hsh and feet wide. T5Oo
A.-The top of the emnankinent probably might Do Ill
q. 1t was not twenty feeti A-No, SIR. ,, ,to and
Q-Tnls is the nox item: Pier. ont between the emu
CT dam and the canal: built Of and tmbcr5; %
feet long. 20 wide and = feet high, 5000. A..
When 1t Hrst built don't think that the whole con
q shop cprricd away; so feet long by ,l Is wide
800 what was that shop toF nnGTe er,b asSt ia
A-WeI. ! shouldn't think the building "ouId hn'e
been worth than S25. -.
o-It hadn't been an uncommon thing, In yonr eX-
rercnce for the banks of that stream to bc oN9rMc
and IN land to some extent inundatedi A.-bat"y
Q-Yon were not called witness ON the part OF the
ODD you icar Of any inquiry up in your neg,bor
hood The part Of the state for persons that khe"
about that landi A.-NO. sir.
Odd you know Alouzo Banksi A.-&es sir know
oWhat sort of dam did he havel puts the yalue
at $500 Al they didn't take his dam all away.
| should think Il might have been built for 500.
Q.-Assumiug. In the hght most iaVoth'io to ~
what would you say his mill-housc was worth Al
don't believe would put II at the highest over F-Uo
O-IIo has IL down here $500. Was there lot ana
gafden there Al don't hardly believe there was
/
there was about three acles OF the TO-;
shouldn't wonder II that Hood ovcrhowcd II some. III
II left anything think It must have bothered It,
Ole Is allowed for an acre there 9loo. Am
q" Then he Is allowed $3.50 for Injury to another
acre; that makes $3.50. That u more IMAM tWl'" ~
much "a ali his land was worth. wasn't ~ A.-1es
0-you know III that country mp there. don't youl
Al d. generally. from there To Horschcads
O-DO you think that there lsa garden from Horse
heads to the top Of the mountain that Is worth s1Ooi
DEAN has 90; III for washing away rear end Of
garden. Sj0o"t A-Ineyer Ane" that ne o"ho" any
Do you think the OK francs mentioned in Mr.
Howell, claim oycr-cost S25i A.-So, sir
Ole liz. got Ia hero "eiNty iect OF docking, 5000
A..Pu It go putting IN old timber ,.,,,.. ,.,..
worth IN 1871 Al should think not over $500 or
F0&n Is In hero at $1,000; lot on which
house stood entirely taken away. $500 damage. 1" ne
house LOT by covering i up SO A-In'y mu''oo ms
O"bii YOU know James :. Locke's prcmisosi A
ole has got In here twelve acres OF nat
land swept away" Al don't know where IL has gone
6LTbcn here /, twelve acre. OF destroyed and
ton Of grass dc-troyol A-Iho main creek could
20 o i.t Is not possible that It could have oycrnowoi
tlatl A.-No sir.
Rensselaer, Brown lived there and witnessed the
frcsbrt and ne testified that the damage would
have been the same whether the canal was there or
not. George Burr bOatman on the ciual AT the
time testified:
Q-what DO you think was the cause Of this damage at
Nllportf Alt wa, rain
O-Wha, influence that result did thc canal nave
Al didn't have bat very littc, I think
Glow could there be . frc.h"t that Tho 'aha
rondn't influence the result IA od tho water
A-God Almighty rcigus IN that country up there 50
thnt when have "a rain sometimes We Ten have mn
dams broken away and there II little bit of liud car
ricl away alUn the creek
O-Do You think this injury would havo o'onrtcu
there n that canal hadn't been there A.-l's slr
O-WhyI Ave have thom, these rains, with tho
mdarns breaking away
. AZ A he ttue tes
fled that Catherine Creek must have been over
flowed 10 large extent # there had boon no cana
there Al all. Many other witnesses gave like tcstl
mouy showing that not only was the state IN no
way responsible for the damages, but tina; the
claims put INTO the state for losses were primarily
fictitious.