New-York tribune., 1888-08-29
MR.. CHURCHs TESTIMONY.
HIS ACTION SEVERELY CRITICISED.
THE CITY SPENT THOUSANDS 10 PROVE HIM IN
ERROR SAVING MILLIONS IN CLAIMS


THE CITY SPENT THOUSANDS 10 PROVE HIM IN
ERROR. SAVING MILLIONS IN CLAIMS.
The Comm ssion,ers of Land Appraisal for the new
Aaueiuct for wcsrshcs.es County, sias D. Clifford,
William A. Hunt and Henry Ancn fled their last re-
port In the Clerks office of that county last week.
II embraces sevcntyseven aud a half parcels Of real
estate. The acquired IN fee is 1880 acres.
The amount claimed for tbs land by tho owners was
sio3, ,3oo 90, although the testimony in some
cases make the claims exceed the figures of the table
from which this staemen, is prepared. The awards
10 claimants made by the Commits show total
of s42 oo3 o. less than 10 ic cent of the sum
claimed The costs are reported at Gl,735 and the
counsel fees S2,i2s 81. These costs and fees, how
ever, do include the witness and counsel fees or
the general to the city of OF the cases. by far
the most remarkable of all which grew out Of these
seventy seven and a half parcels of land.
This IS known the Diggles 1t is re-
markable for the size of the clam which nearly
half the total Of all the other claims referred to- as
well for the novel theory set up which found
the demand for damages. The claimants were James
IT, Diesles and Helen NJ. Dggles his wife, the title to
the prOpcrty-eighty acres of farm aEd-bcIng In the
namS Of the latter. They asked $l745ss 90 to make
good their losses, but proved that they exceeded
sccOooo These eighty were declared to be
rendered worthless by the Aqucduct running the farm
Vegetation was paralyzed In seventy-sx of those
acres, It asserted, because the of the
Aqucduct had deprived the soil OF moisture and ir-
rcalon. and the natural ralnfalls passed through
rapidly that the ground left dry and unproductve.
The principal witnesses upon whom the plaintiffs
lied prove tins state of things and the accruing
damages were James H. Diggles himself. Amos Il.
Clark and Benjamin s. Church, chief engineer Of the
AQueduct
TESTIFYING AGAINST THE CITY.
Mr. Church appeared a witness against the city
and testified that the effect of the blasting IN the un
nel open all the In the rock from the sur
face TO the OF the Aqueduct In such manner as
allow the rains and natural moisture TO percolate
speedily and eXudc by of the weepholes' left by
the contractors, so make the ground dry out so
far as Irrigation Is concerned. 1t would omen the
seams down go feet, Mr.. Church said, that the
ranfalls would not remain In the earth long enough
give the proper amount Of moisture to the soil Mr.
Church said that no had made careful chemical eX
animation Of the Disgies acres, and backed up the
question OF damages with his learned analysis of the
Of tho widespread ruin wrought by the building
Of tho AQueduct.
III Mr. Church's theory had not been disproved,'
said Henry T. DykDan, the clty's counsel In the
wescleser County cases; In speaking OF the last re-
port yesterday, the City of Ncw-York would have
been compelled TO abandon the construction OF the
Aqueduct. it would have cost more than all the
land Is worth between Harlem River and Croion Dam,
wst Of the Harlem Railroad Six thousand acres
Of yiand, worth 5000 per acre, would have been
aGdted by decision adverse to the city, ard the
oHfms would have jumped at once into the millions
In this report o347 GA acres were involved, In
this theory. valued at S1,cO0,5oo. I have no hcsita
ton In saying that Chief Engineer Church's appear
a voluntary expert witness against the city
manifesty improper. To throw tho weight OF
his official character against the city in proceeding
Of this character is say the least, negleotful OF
tho interests committed to his charge
TO OVERTHROW HIS CONCLUSIONS.
st naturally became OF vast importance TO over
throw Mr. Churcbs conclusions The learned counse!
for the DiggeSes Calvin Frost, of White Plains, and
ex-Judge Noah Davis, made IL their main reliance and
1t cost the city nearly. II not altogether, s25oo to
bring the witnesses to show that Mr. Church was IN
error Among expert witnesses were George W.
Elrdsan chief engineer of the Croion Aqueduct Pro.
fessor 4. waller analytical chcmst OF the Hchoo OF
Mines Columbia College Henry = Craven. eA-enHncvf
of construction Of the aqueduct, Ollver X Wills:
expert botapist OF the State Geological survey, and
F. II. Conlan, the noted artesian wel-snker On
questions of fact contradicted his assumptions by
half a dozen prominent citizens OF Tarlytown, sing
Sing and White Plains. Mir. Brisall gave common
solution of pcrolatiOn into the tunnel Showing
Mr. Church's theory TO be ridiculous. -
The result that instead of $4,000 or 100000.
fhe Diggies award reduced to S6O1I 40 only ana
the legion Of claimants who have until next october
to file their papers for agueduct damages have re
ceved a backset."
4 Tribune reporter who called TO see Chief Engineer
Church al his office yesterday afternoon, was in
formed that he had gone for the day He could not
be found last night al his home.