The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1893-12-07

held at the. State Auditors Office on
Dec. It'll, 1891; that due notice was
given Of the sale for 60 days preceding
the same; that G. A. Smith & Co. pur-
chased the timber at $500 per thou
sand feet board measure; that Smith
was the highest bidder for it; that
prior to the sale the timber had been
estimated and appraised showing the,
amount thereon to be 700, 600 feet of
good timber; that the estimate and
appraisal had been submitted to the
proper officers for their approval; that
the officers deemed the timber subject
to waste and destruction and the sale
necessary to protect it from loss; and
that the officers approved of the sale.
Counsel for the State (Messrs. Warner
and richardson then commenced an &C
ton for the cancellation of the contract
and to recover the true value of the
logs that had already been cut. In
their complaint they alleged truly that
the timber was sold on Jan. Goth, 1892,
at private sale; that no sufficient esti-
mate or appraisal of the timber had
ever been made; that pencil memoir
andum of 100000 feet had been found
in one of the records in the State
Auditors office; that no statement of
the situation of the timber relative to
risk from fire and damage, and its dis
lance from the nearest lake, stream or
railroad was of record in the land COM
missioner's office, nor did it appear
that any was ever made, and in short
that the laws governing the sale of
pine timber had not been complied
with in any particular.
The case came up for trial at the
regular term of district court in Mile
Laos county on Sept. 18th last. Harris
Richardson appeared for the State and
jackson and Holt for the defendants.
Defendants moved for change OF
venue to Henepin county. The motion
was stoutly resisted by counsel for the
State, and Judge Baxter denied the
motion. Then the case was continued
until Sept. 28th.
On Sept. 28th the evidence was taken
before Judges Baxter and Searle. A
host of witnesses, including a score Of
lumbermen from Minneapolis, Still
water and Brainerd, were, present tt
testify in behalf of defendants. Elk
Gov. Pillsbury, Auditor Biermann, ex
Auditor Braden, Deputy-Auditor Matt
Clark also testified for defendants
Ed. Page, Charley Page, John Goss
and Judson NJ. Goss, of Anoka, Robert
Burch and D. H. Robbins, of Robbins
and Mr.. Gardner, of st. Paul, testified
in behalf of the State and swore tina
the timber was worth from 81 to 81 81
per thousand feet and would have
brought that had it been offered a
public sale; that it was EXCEPTIONAL,
fine timber; that it was not liable t,
waste Or destruction by fire, and tina
there were between five and a half AM
six million feet on the section. Onl,
two of the defendants witnesses ha,
ever seen the timber standing; thei
evidence was mainly as to the cost O
driving logs and the value of logs il
the boom at Minneapolis. All of tn
defendants witnesses thought So pc
NJ. was a fair price for the stumpage
One of defendants witnesses, Mr.. Hill
thought So was a good price for tn
stumpage, yet on the cross-examinatio1
the fact was brought out that his fir
had paid 81 per M. to Merriam & Bar
} rows for stumpage inferior to. that O.
5 section SO, and Immediately adjoin
= ing section SO. Ex-Auditor Braden'
testimony was a surprise to counse
= for the State, inasmuch as he testiie
, that it had been customary to ignore tn
2 law requiring the approval Of the gov
? ernor and treasurer as we'll as the Ian
' commissioner, thus setting at naugh
D a statute that had been enacted 70
I the express purpose of guarding tn
4 Interests of the State. The witnesse
t for the defendants made a poor show
t ing all throughout. On the other han
t the witnesses for the State gave diret
Q and positive testimony and right
e the point. The case was very abb
f handled by Messrs. Warner and Ricl
b ardson for the State, and it was evider
d that Gov Nelson had made no mistak
d in selecting counsel to look after tn
Q States interests.
J. Counsel for the defendants were M
d prepared to argue the case then, b,
1t later on, Oct. Goth, Judges Baxter ar
If Searle listened to exhaustive arg
l. ments at the court house in st. Clou
\. Harris Richardson for the State, ar
n A. B. Jackson for the defendants. TT
II case was taken under advisement /
n the judges and to-day their decisit
It is made public. It is a just decisio
le one that will not be set aside by Il
ri hirhor on,,rt haoouco r. &c cnn,,or+t