Evening star., 1896-03-17
Continuation Of the Case Against
the Electric Light Company.
WITNESSES EXAMINED BY COUNSEL
Testimony as to the Condition Of
the 18th Street Poles.
OBSTACLES TO CHANG p,

trio Lighting Company, In which the prRs,
ident, the superintendent and three of the
linemen Of the company are the defen-
dants, was continued in Judge KimbalPs
branch Of the Police Court this morning.
The case involves the legality Of all the
poles on 18th street, and directly charges
the five defendants with violating the law
by erecting q new pole ct the northeast
corner Of 18th street and Pennsylvania
avenue.
Before any witnesses were called Mr..
Pugh said that he desired to introduce in
evidence copy of an order from the
Commissioners. dated December %, 1873,
directing the UNITED States Electric Light
ing Company to remove all its poles on
18th street between F and H streets by
February l. 1904,
In objecting to the introduction of this
as evidence, Mr.. Jere Wilson of counsel
for the defense said that he did not do so
on the ground of its competency, but SIM
ply because they denied the authority of
the Commissioners to issue an order d.
recting the removal of legally authorized
overhead poles.' The judge said he would
admit 1t for what it might be worth.
MIR. Marcan's Testimony.
The first witness of the morning was Mr.
M. Marean of the Western Union Company
who was on the stand for the defense Sat
urday afternoon when the court adjourned
At the request Of Mr.. Redington Mr.. Ma
rean identified map Of 18th street, show
ing the location of each pole on 18th street
between Pennsylvania avenue and New
York avenue. He also gave the history of
the poles, when they were erected, and how
they are used at the present time. Between
pennsylvania avenue and G street the only
! pole belonging to the Electric Light Com
Pany is the one which was erected during q
the night of March 5, and which started the
present contention. All the others belong
10 the telegraph company.
The Old Pole Rotten.
J. B. Mckenzie. foreman of the Chesa-
peake and Potomac Telephone Company
was next called to the stand. 1t is part
OF his duty to examine poles, SO as to as
certain their condition. At the request Of
the electric light company he made an ex-
animation of the old pole at the corner of
10th and Pennsylvania avenue. He found it
IN very decayed condition. On the pole
there were five cross-bars with twenty-nine
wires running north and twenty-six wires
running south. With short, pointed iron
foo, sucn as is used in that sort of work
ne penetrated the wood to the depth of
aDout SIX inches without using any extra
effort.
He was satisfied that the pole is in a
dangerous condition. for 1t Is rotten to the
'eart. Al present 1t Is guyed by two long
wires, and the old pole is also lashed to the
new one. He thought that If these sup
ports were taken away it would fall Of lis
own weight, certainly it would go If there
! were any wind. Unless the other poles
aions tne street are in perfect condition
NUMBER OF them would in all proba b;l,ty
pe carried down with it. In point of fact
ne said, all the poles along there are in A
bad condition. " -
Ducts Overcrowded.
Danlel r. Scanlon. lineman Of the COM
pany. and one of the defendants. was ,,,en
placed on the witress stand In reply to
questions from Mr.. Redington, he described
the condults on the west side of 18th street
TO show that they are so full now that thay
cannot accommodate any more wires
number of efforts have been made this
winter to force wires through the tIucts
but all failed. as did also the efforts to puIi
out some old dead wires. In trying to force
through new wire the oak Stats, which
are ued together to make a long rod to
| run through the ducts, were brok.n off
ana pieces of these Stats are still there A
steel pusher" also proved of no use. In
MS opinion the ducts are overcrowded now
ihen the conduit simply needs repair
ing remarked Mr.. Pugh
Inats Just it, replied Mr.. Redngton
Ana II the District government will only
give us permit we will make the repairs
III fact. we would be only too glad of a
chance TO put in new conduits"
VIM. w. Burnett. another lineman-ie-
iendant, gave testimony similar to that Of
the preceding witness Both gave testi
mony contradictory to that of Witness
Rabbit, who testified Saturday that there
was room in the conduits for all the over
head wires.
History of Underground Construction.
Frederick H. Chamberlain. the superin-
tendent OF the company, and an electrical
engineer, testified rs to the history Of cleo
trical underground construction He sid
that the local company was the pioneer in
that sort of work in this country. He de-
Scribed in detail the methods which have
been pursued here. and the difficulties
Whlch nave TO be overcome. In his opin-
ion only one cable ought to be placed in a
Guct. Armed with dozen or more pieces
OF cable. more or less wrecked the witness
described at length the bad results Of
faulty construction Then. with the aid of
large blue print maps, the witness explain-
ed the overhead and underground systems
Of this company from the station at I31h
and b streets up to 18th and G streets. 1t
was all expert testimony and far too COM
plicated to make it particularly interesting
to the spectators, who filled the court room
early In the morning, but disappeared one
by one.
rnony the court took recess until rs
o'clock.
After Recess.
tendent Chamberlain was continued, and he
was questioned at great length as to the
present condition Of the conduits on 18th
street. Assuming that the ducts were
emptied of all but the cables in actual use.
he said that it would be possible to nut all
the overhead incandescent W1kes into the
conduits, but this would jeopardize the en-
tire system, and would be likely to shut off
all the northwest section of the city and
leave it in darkness at any time, Further
more, to draw the necessary six big cables
through the ducts would, in all probability.
destroy the insulation of the cables already
in place.
Obstacles to the Change.
In case the company were compelled to
substitute these six underground cables for
the present overhead wires it would take
at least three months to make the change
To begin with. no factory carries in stock
a supply of such cable, and it would re-
quire from four to six weeks to get 1t
made. Apart from this necessary delsy
there are number Of insurmountable bar
riers which would prevent the CHANGE
Chief of these is tie fact that there is not
sufficient conduit supply from 1917 street
and Pennsylvania avenue to the company's
station. AS things are now there is no
possible way, said the witness, by which
the six overhead tncandescent xyiroa oould