The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-10-14
WAR OF ROD AND CHAIN.
Surveyors Battle Over the
Location of a Lot In
Lafayette.
QUEER FREAKS OF MEASUREMENT
Vanished Monuments and Old Time
:standards-Many Beqnd-
aries Involved.
QUEER FREAKS OF MEASUREMENT

A very interesting case was tried yes
terday aud finished this morning bsfore
Judge Werts. Some five or six years ago
John A. Erickson purchased lot on
Maple street near Van Horne, Lafayette;
he employed Surveyor Ansley to locate
the lot. and afterwards Ibuiit. upon the
faith of the survey, a home. A little later
his nsighbor, George (C. Forbes, owning
the lot on the cornsr. had his lot sur
veyed by Earle & Harrison, who reported
that the Erickson house encroached upon
his lot about four inches. Forbes
brought suit for the possession ofthe four
inches. and victory on his part would
have compelled Erickson to cut of his
basement wall and IT, side Of his house.
Although the striptR question is not
worth over S25, each party appeared in
Court with q corps OF engineers, pile OF
old records aad mape galore. The whole
question turned updp the location Of Van
Horne street in 1886, wheR KeepeZa &
Halliday and the Culvers bought thSAld
GarrabrRnts Farms, and turned them In
to city lots.
OLD TIMER ON HAND.
Notwithstanding the lapse of years
Delos 4. Culver, who laid out the land
originally, appeared on the stand for the
defense. He testified that In the oIdsn
days surveyors believed Ia good measuros
that Lafayette was laid out upon tho
standard of chain then used In Jer-
sey City. which was marked out
upon the coping of the old Presbyterian
Church on Washington street, since re-
moved to make way for the Kingussie
| flats. that this chain had 4 surplus Of
about an inch to every hundred feets
that to perpetuate this standard he put
down two stone monuments. one on the
corner of Pacific and COmmunipaW ave-
nues and the other on the corner of
Pacific avenue and Maple street. and
| from this base line the wnole of Lafayette
| was laid out.
He therefore located Van Horne street
four inches further west than the Forbes
| surveyors. The other side, however,
| claimed to have discovered third monu-
ment on the corner of Van Horne and
| Maple street. which located Van Horne
street at strict distance from Pacific ave-
| nue.; but no one could tell how or by
| whom 1t had been placed there. This
| last monument seems TO have appeared
| and then disappeared at intervals during
| the past thirty years. 1t was never much
| credited. Although the Lafayette monu-
| ment on Pacific avenue and Maple street
bad disappeared in the march OF inn
| Drovements. and the old standard on the
| Presbyterian Church was destroyed when
| the church was demolished, all the sur
veTors were familiar with it.
SLIDING SCALES.
| The cross examination of the various sur
veyors caused good deal of surprise aud
amusement TO the Jury. DisrAurss
stretched and shortened according to the
exigencies of the case. and 100 feet always
meant 100 feet plus or minus y
| few inches. The locations de-
| pended upon various stand rds of
measurements. good judgment and
I the location OF previous houses; an error
| in location soon ripened into COED loca-
tion and the fight OF few years made if
sacred Every block seems to have q
| surplus and all the owners strive to
| acquire it-moreover they. testified that Q
/ foot WAS one length in Jersey City and
| another in Bergen and still another in
| Hudson City.
| The case was cleverly presented by the
Counsel and lucidly explained by the
| Judge. The Jury returnedIa q verdict for
| Erickson.
| II a verdict had been rendered for
| Forbes it would have unsettled the locs-
tion of 200 or 300 houses in Lafayette. The
| residents of Lafayette need not De
alarmed. The city has adopted the Gull
| yer or Lafayette standard.
| Forbes, had he won, would Aot only
have gotten four inches from his neigh
Dor, but four inches from the city as well.