The San Francisco call., 1898-07-09
DISAGREED ON !" 4 POINT OF LAW Herrin and Hayne Cross
 Swords. HOT REPORTS EXCHANGED ATTORNEY GENERAL STILL DISCRIMINATING CURTIS. The Railroad Expert Tells of His Ex- tended Tour of Inspec-
 ton and It's
 Results.
HOT REPORTS EXCHANGED
ATTORNEY GENERAL STILL
 DISCRIMINATING CURTIS.

Whenever 1t appears that an attorney or a spectator is on the verge of falling asleep at the railroad hearing before Commissioner Heacock he is given gen. tie dig in the side or whispered warn ing as q reminuer that he is setting bad example. A restful quiet hovers about the chambers in which the cross examination of Expert Curtis is under way, and whenever something exciting is said either by witness or an attorney to relieve the monotony Of technical ac- count Cf the exact number of spikes in mile of railroad track or the number of sign posts in a given space, all present immediately straighten up and are at attention.
 This happened once yesterday, when Judge Robert Y. Havne and W. F. Her rin, representing the Railroad Commis- sion and the Southern Pacific Company respectively, disputed as to point or law. It came about through Judge tltz- gerald asking the witness what his esu- mate on the original cost of some mate rial used on the California and oregon branch of the Central Pacific system was, and he answered that he could not say without consulting memoranda in ms or flee. He then drew typewriter copy of Q paper out of his box to refresh his memory, when Judge Hayne broke the stiffness of the proceedings by saying:
 ''I object to your looking at any paper prepared by some one else.
 What l am stating are statements or facts,' said Curtis.
 "There are certain rules of law. and one is that you cannot look at anythlng you aid not prepare yourself. interrupted Hayne.
 Mir. Herrin came to the witness relief by saying that is not rule of law
 That is what we think" retorted
 You can't think any such thing" re- p wei. we we object to it." said Hayne. ''Ne will ask the Commissioner to report 1t to the Judge. We don't propose that he should look at a lot of things that some
 Mir Herrin then stated that the witness used memoranda prepared by himself or under his direction J1age rea mayne tc came me uuiesce in that if l can help it. Rather than have that go into the record we ought to have the Judges ruling. It is a farce to go on in that way.
 This ended the passage Of arms and eV- erybody quietly settled back and listened to the breathing of the participants in the
 MT. Curtis defended himself by saying he did not believe any man could carry in his head the matters being discussed in
 Judge Fitzgerald devoted most of the afternoon examining into the witness knowledge of things appertainng to the California and Oregon branch of the Cen tral Pacific. He questioned Curtis closely as to the cost of the road, how money was expended. about it's rolling stock, and, in fact, everything he could think of as bear ing on the subject. The witness answered many of the questions asked but evaded many by saying he would have to refresh hIs memory before being able to answer.
 The Attorney General wound up the ses- sion by asking the expert to give an ac- count of the tour of inspection by which he made his estimate. Curtis then told in detail of a twenty days trip using a memorandum book to aid him. For half an hour he accounted for every mile trav eled, every station stopped at and every examination made.
 While he was pouring his tale into the ears of Stenographer Bennett the attor- neys kept up an animated conversation on the new tax and Hobson's return, moving about the room paying no attention to what the witness was saying.
 When Curtis told of his stop at Del Monte he aroused curiosity as to how many bottles of wine he opened. When he finished his itinerary an adjournment was taken until Monday at 2 o'clock.