The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-08-10
The Great Phosphate Case.

The decree Of Judge Cothran in the
case of the State against the Pacific
Guano Company was fled on the 31st
ultimo. in the Office Of the Clerk of the
Court Of Beaufort County. The decree
covers seventeen pages, and is able and
exhaustive.
The Judge reviews the former pro-
ceedings in the case, which established
the ownership of the State in the beds
of Horse Island, South Wimbee, Palm
er's and H%aulover, Sheephead or Fish
Creek, NIL containing large and valuable
phosphate deposits. He states that the
case was then reminded to the Circuit
Court to ascertain the quantity Of rock
taken by tho Pacific Company from
these creeks, together with the mount
Of damages which they should pay the
State therefor.
The Judg@tinds this inquiry compli-
Gated because the fact , 1t the Pacific
Company mined out Of other creeks De-
sides those belonging to the State, and
also from :he marsh. He. therefore,
proceeds to inquire. first, how much.
rock the Pacific Company dug from all
the creeks in which they worked, and
from n careful comparison of the various
estimates rs submitted TO him by the
several ~coua.rl. bat all made up from
the books Of the company. he fixes this
amount at 36, $50 tons.
His next inquiry is to determine how
,uuch Of this rock came from the creeks
belonging to the State. Here he says,
the testimony is both voluminous and
conflicting, but after considering it and
the arguments Of counsel on the. point.
he finds the mount Of rock taken from
the States creeks to be 19,536M tons.
He then refers to the decree Of the Su-
prone Court, affirming that of Judge
Wallace, which, fixes the measure Of
damage al to the amount OF rock, less
the amount Of which the dependent
company has added to such value by it's
removal and preparations for makst.
His next inquiry, therefore, is as to
the value Of the rock taken from the
States creeks. He declines to apply
the rlles in trover Of giving the highest
value proven between the date Of o n
version and the decree. and he also de-
clines to fix it at the statutory penalty
Of $40 per ton, rs not applicable to this
case. He states, however, that the
books Of the company show that the
rock for many years charged in them ut
a value of ~ and rs per ton, and taking
the average Of those, he fixes the value
Of the rock tanken at 1873 per ton.
He then goes into the last inquiry, as
to the cost Of the production of the
rock. Again taking the books Of Pacific
Company as the basis from which TO as
certain his facts, he reviews these care
fully and fully. and concludes as his
finding on this point, that the average
cost Of production for the entire period
is $4.69 per ton. .
BY deducting this cost Of production,
$4.69, from the as%certaincd va.uc, S7.58,
he fixes $3.50 as.the value Of the rock.
in it's natural state and condition, and by
multiplying this by the number of tons
ascertained as taken from the States
territory, 1885,. hhe finds the total
damages due by the Pacific Company to
the State to be $53.s7O.3slal for which
he allows judgment. 1
This is but a very condensed sum-
mary Of an elaborate and evidently we'll
condsidercd and certainly able opin-
ion.
The State in this suit was reprcnsent-
ed by Messrs. Augustine #. Smythe, w.
.. Verdicr and A. NJ. Lee. The defend
ants were represented by Messrs., Simon
ton s. Baker, VIM. Elliot and Horace b.
Sargant, Jr., of Beston.-News. and
Courier.