The morning call., 1893-07-13
The Oakland Waterfront
Fight in Court.
AFFlDAVITS,. ON ALL SIDES.
Counsel for the Oakland People
Ready TO Argue, but the South
ern Pacific Is Not.

Circuit Court was ulleu Win people inter-
ested in the case brought by the Southern
Pacific Company against Mayor Pardee,
Councilmen Smell, Towle, Dalton, Mar
shall, Manuel. Capel. Hoffman, Barstow.
Watkinson and Dow, Superintendent Har-
risoD, Wharfnger Rutherford, John S.
Davie. J. M. Bassett and the Davie Ferry
and Transportation Company to prevent
the defendants from further opening
Broadway, Oakland, to the harbOr line
The charge is as follows:
That on the 9th day of July. A. d. 1898, the
said defendant, George Z. Pardee. then and
there being the Mayor OF said city OF Oakland,
and detendants-W: Z: Barnard, r. B. Smell,
John f. TowIe, H. p. Dalton. {. X. Marshall,
w. q. Manuel, W. b. Hoffman, q. Barstow.
w. Watkinson, W. A. Dow, j. Il. Capell-then
aud there being the Council OF said city, and /.
q. Harrison. then and there being The
superintendent of Streets of SAID CITY,
and c. Il. Rutherford. then and there be-
ing the Whafinger of said city, pretend
ing 10 act under and by virtue OF their authority
as such officers of said city, and The said de-
PENDANT, the city of Oakland, without right or
llfle, aud without tile consent and against the
protests OF your orator, with force ana arms
and accompanied ana assisted by large body
of m "a. led and melted by them and acting
under their direction, fOrclbly and with
great viuirnce aud i'll ri0lOus manner en-
Tered Into and upon the premises alore-
said aud tore up certain OF the rail-
road tracks thereon, pulled down certain
OF The fences and structures thereon, aud re-
moved certain OF he build Dgs and personal
property ther, on, which were, as aforesaid,
owned and useG by your orator for the purposes
of It's said business; that said defendants and
their said confederates and assistants then and
there foic iUly emOved /. ON said premises aud
transported 10 and deposited III the Corpora
ton YaId of said city Of Oakland the otflce
building OF your orator, containing It's safe,
books OF account, railroad tickets and moneys;
that the said persons then aHd there forcibly
seized. carried away and retained certain large
quaint Y Of lumber the property OF your ora
tor, upon said premises; That SAID persons, on
The day and date Aforesaid aud ever since have
forciDIy obstructed The passage OF railroad cars
upoD the railroad tracks OF your Orator, and 10
That end have attempted TO build Dulknead
ana Gig pits across said tracks In such man
ner 10 prevent tile movement OF cars thereon
and TO prevent the reconstruction of The tracks
torn ny as Aforesaid, all OF which acls inter
fere with and oOstruct the operation OF the
railroad and steamer line or your orator and
render ii Impossible for your orator TO conduct
its business aforesaid, except at great iucon-
venience 10 itself and the puzzle and irrepar-
able loss TO your orator.
Great surprise was evinced by the spec
tatOrs and parties interested present when
Judge Mckepna took his seat on the
bench, as he is known TO have refused TO
sign the necessary orders in the case, and
Judge Gilbert mad signed the order
and attended TO all the prelimiDaries.
the case, holding that Judge Mckenna WAS
not disqualified.
When the case was called Attorney Nor
gan stated that he appeared for the Davie
Ferry and Transportation Company, rep
resented by j. NJ. Bassett and John l..
Davie. With him was associated +. i. Pom
eroy. The Mayor. COuncilmen and officials
of Oakland were represented by L. j.
Pringle, City ATTORNEY James a. johnson,
81. A. Powell, W. K. Davis and w. II. Hill.
A. Z. French opened the proceedings by
reading long complaint OF the railroad
company, also a number of affidavits from
Southern Pacific officials, setting forth
'That the business of the company had
been upset, their property demolished and
taken away, and that the Davie Ferry
Company had threatened that they would
take possession Of the railroad property by
force t necessary.
w. Il. Hill had for his answer a number
of affidavits from people in Oakland.
Each affiant claimed that the land n ques-
ton was part and a continuation of
Broadway, and for period Of sixteen
and up to 1879 there was no fence
across the foot of Broadway. and that
the street and wharf which runs out from
1t were public property, used and con-
sdered as such. 1t was known and de-
scribed as the public wharf" twenty
years previous TO 1879, and any and
all vessels were allowed during that period
to land passengers or discharge freight.
Affidavits were read from w. d. Inger-
soil, Captain of Police a. Wilson. c.
Rathbon. w. B. Quigley. Henry Evers,
Henry Schneider and several others to the
effect that no obstruction existed on the
land in question during period OF and
from 1850 to 1879.
John S. Mackey, affiant, stated that
4 I'D ttn
1876; that the wharf was public and used
by all steamers plying up the Oakland
Greek, lanuing passengers and freight al
the foot OF Broadway. Among the steam-
ers he remembered the Chin du Wan and
the Express.
The affidavit of Mayor Pardee's father
was that for years the wharf at the foot
of Broadway was the common landing
place of passengers and supplies in Oak
land, and that in the early tifties three or
four steamer lines used the wharf regu-
larly. The wharf was constructed in 1851
or early in 1852.
Mayor Pardee's affidavit was in effec,
that he distinctly remembered the condL
ton of affairs in his Doyhood days, as he
frequently hauled produce from his
fathers dairy to the dock for shipment to
San Francisco and also hauled supplies to
the dairy from the dock. There was no
fence in existence across the dock at this
time.
The last affidavit read by Mr.. Hill was
Jointly from the Oakland officials whose
names are included in the complaint of
the railroad company. Atlantis deny that
the company ever owned or had interest in
the lands and wharf at the foot of Broad
way, but that they belonged to the public;
that the atlantis did not know whether the
Pacific Improvement Company had ever
leased tie said property to the complain
ant or pot and that If such a lease
had been made it was of no force,
for the simple reason that the prop
erty never belonged to the Pacific
Improvement Company. Atlantis also
declare that the property removed
was public nuisance and all obstruction
to the free passage of Broadway. and the
track that was torn uD was not used for
transportation purposes by the railroad,
but was simply spare track laid by COM
piainant for the express purpose Of more
thoroughly obstructing the street.
Shortly after 10 o'clock a recess was
taken, and On return Attorney Davis took
W the reading of the affidavits of the Oak
land officials where Attorney Hill had
left off.
When be concluded Attorney French,
Tor the railroad company, said be wanted
time 90 examine the affidavits, and Attor-
ney Davis replied he was ready to argue.
AFTER conference with his clerk Judge
70 n