The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-01-05
HE DISGUISED on WORTH.
Col. Way Talks About The Famous Paris
Tailor On The Witness Stand.

and in a Year Made SIS, OoO-How His
Home at BeauIieu Was Built-He Says
a Compromise W as offered Him by the
Defendant-TheI Inventory OF Articles
Destroyed Taken Up Item by Item.
Made Money as Consul General to st.
Petersburg.
During the hearing OF the case Of sirs.
Frances VI. Way against the Western
Assurance Company. Of Toronto. Can. "a
large number Of lawyers. Insurance men
and otlfr interested spectators were IN
the city court room at one .iIne and an
other
Col. Charlton II. Way was on the stand
all day under examination by his attor-
ney. Mr.. John Nicholson. Jr.. giving ev-
ideuce f.r the plaintiff. Much OF the
testimony was Of an interesting nature
and 1t all went to show tina. Col Way
and his wife had at Beaulieu one az the
finest hoHe Is 10 be found ia this section of
the country. The most Interesting feat
ure Of the case yesterday was CoI. Ways
description of the contents Of his home.
which included many rare articles Of fur
niture, china. silverware, brlc-a brac, etc
many OF which he described and stated
what gave them their value.
Much Of Col. Ways testimony during tie
morning was that bearing on a compro-
mise which it was stated had been offered
by the Western Assurance Company in
settlement of the claim Col. Way stated
that after the proofs Of loss had been IT.
nished, Adjuster Hawkes., oC the iusur-
ance company. saw him, and finally told
him the company could not treat with him
until he had secured a power of attorney
from his wife. Mrs Frances VI. Way who
was mentioned as the owner of.the prop
erty and in whose name the policy was
written.
Col Way secured this power Of at
torney ana he was still put off from time
to time. he stated, until finally the ad-
juster asked him:
How would you like clean check for
$1,000 from New York in settlement Of this
claim?"
There was some objection made to this
testimony by the defendants counsel on
the ground that il was in the nature of
q compromise offered, which could not
under the law, be rendered in evidence.
There was some question as to whether
this was tender or a compromise. If
compromise it could not be offered as
evidence. It was held that it was not
tender on the part of the company, as the
amount offered was $500 less than the face
Of the policy on the furniture and house,
but was in the nature of "A compromise
and on that ground the court held that
this could not be introduced as evidence.
After short recess at L o'clock the eX-
animation of Col Way was again taken
up by Mr. Nicolson, and the matter in
hand at that time was as to the cost Of the
house and improvements. Col. Way said
there were original specifications show
ing the cost of the shell or frame work OF
the house only. AS to the improvements
and permanent furnishings he has made a
memorandum showing the cost of eacn
particular work which he proceeded to
read
Il object" said Mr.. Richards, ito the de-
PENDANTS reading a lengthy written MEM
orandum. If in writing It should be in
troduced as evidence.
The section of the code allowing the
use of memoranda was read by Mr.. Mic
olson. 1t allowed witnesses the use of
them when they could be sworn to. The
court allowed Col. Way to read from the
memoranda, stating that the jury could
give whatever weight ii saw fit, to the ev-
idence given from IL.
Col Way gave a detailed statement of
the cost of the conservatory of French
plate glass and rare old woods, the very
expensive gas fixtures, the elegantly
equipped buffers pantry and saloon, the
staircase of costly woods with a bronze
statue at its base, the fine fresco work and
painting and other features, and said the
cost of the house at the time this work
was done was S25,647, Ntlichs~Ras more
than it would cost to do the same work
to-day.
He had made an estimate of what it
would cost to build similar house by
contract to-day which he placed at
SSH, and with a deduction of twenty
five per cent. for decoration, the total
value at the present time was fixed at
Sl3S06, which was the value stated in
the proofs of loss.
Il built such a house" Col. Way said
''as l would have placed in the heart of
New York or Chicago. l had plenty of
money at that time, was making money,
and l never beat down any contractor or
dealer. but determined to make myself a
beautiful home, / built it without regard
to cost and / succeeded in doing it,
l suppose il astonished the insurance COM
panies to find SO handsome a house so far
from the city, but that was my idea, and
/ built it. l asked NJ Sullivan, the ad-
juster to so out with me, so that he
could look over the premises and better
determine the loss"
Col. Way then went over the cost of
the different articles of furniture in the
house, 10 the high valuation of many of
which the company objected and explain
ed the cost of many of the valuable ar
ticles and to what their intrinsic value was
due.
At o'clock when recess was taken for
dinner Col. Way was stll testifying as to
the value of articles in the residence, and
was giving an idea of how the values
were estimated. Many of the things. he
said, We're picked up by himself and Mrs
Way in Europe. and as he kept no bills
1t was practically impossible to get at an
exact estimate of their value.
In the afternoon Col. Way continued
explaining the cost of the different ar
ticlcs enumerated in the inventory and
proof of loss. He said he had crossed
the ocean twenty-five times, had been
from Ireland to Russia TO Spain, France
Poland, Finland, Italy and Germany, and
had always tried to pick up something
peculiar to the countries to bring back as
mementoes. Among them were articles
of bric-a-brac, paintings, curios of all
kinds. silverware, bronze designs china,
clothing. linen, anything he could secure
as a memento of the country through