The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-03
SAND DUNES COME HIGH.
M'INTOSH JURY PUTS A HIGH VALU-
ALTON ON GEORGIA DIRT.

Florida Central and Peninsulnr
Railway Assessed $500 for Sand
Taken for Ballast From Twenty
Acres of Land whose Highest Mar
ket Value Formerly Was 81 Per
Acre-Board of Appraisers Fixed
the Price Per Acre at 81, but the
Jury Raised the Limit to $50.
Mcintosh county juries have high idea
of the value OF sand, the natural grit which
is trampled under foot as we'll as the kind
which disposes man to object to being
trampled under foot The Florida Central
and Peninsu.ar Railway doubtless appre-
ciates this high estimate which the Nc
Intosh county jurymen place upon Georgia
gravel
Some time since the Florida, Central and
Peninsular condemned and made use of
twenty acres Of sand dunes lying along
side of its track in Mcintosh county. The
value of a sand dune is largely according
to circumstances, according to the view
taken by the Mcintosh jurymen. OrdinaT-
lily a sand dune is not regarded even as
an ornament, and can be had for the ask
ing, but when it is wanted by a railroad
its value Immediately begins to increase
in geometric proportion,
According to the evidence submitted in
the case, it is stated by parties familiar
with the litigation, that the value of the
land condemned by the railroad, previous
20 the building of the line, was q cents per
acre. Since the construction of the line. its
highest market value has been 81 per acre.
AS the owners of the land and the repre-
sentatives of the railway company could
not agree upon the value of the sand ex-
tTacted from the soil of the former, the
matter was submitted to arbitration and
a board of appraisers was appointed. The
appraisers fixed the value of the land at
So per acre, thus awarding the owners $40
for the land taken by the railway COM
pany.
The owners of the land appealed from the
decision of the appraisers and the case was
heard at the term of the Superior Court
of Mcintosh county held at Darien this
week, at which Judge Fallgant presided.
Messrs. Gignilhat & Stubs represented the
plaintiffs, and Mr.. A. A. Lawrence the
railway company, all three of the attor-
neys being from Savannah. Mr.. Lawrence,
of course, held that the railway company
was liable only for the value of the land
and that the highest market value had al
ready been given the land by the apprais-
ers. The attorneys for the landowners, of
whom it seems there are a large family,
took the position that it was not the value
of the land that was In question, but the
value of the material which had been ex-
traeted from it and that the proper estt-
mate to be placed upon the value of this
material was not its former worth to the
landowners but its worth to the railway
company for the purposes for which it was
used. Sand ballast, they claimed, was con-
coded TO be more suitable for the purposes
of the company than either stone or Stag
ballast. To have used stone for ballast
would have cost the company not less than
81 per cubic foot and Stag would have cost
mol less than 80 cents per cubic foot
A fair remuneration to the landowners,
they claimed would be to estimate the
value of the material used by the railroad
company at not less than the lowest figure
at which the company could obtain similar
suitable material elsewhere. BY estimating
The amount of sand taken by the company
and multiplying it by a fixed price per
cubic foot the true amount of damages due
their clients would be ascertained, they
hesa
Some difficulty was found in getting an
estimate of the amount of sand used by
the railway company. According to the
evidence the railway company seemed to
have distributed sand pretty literally
along its line. One lawyer who was pres
ent said that by actual calculation there
was $4,000 cubic feet of sand in the tract
and at the rate of compensation claimed
by Messrs. Gignilliat & Stubs the value
of the tract would not be far from half
a million dollars, a pretty good price for
sandy land.
The jury was evidently inclined to side
with the land owners and when the attor-
neyss for the latter told the jurymen that
IL great and heartless corporations were
allowed TO swoop down upon the sand
dunes of the farmers of the Georgia coast
and appropriate them to their own use
without paying more than twice the mar
ket value of the land the constitution
would be subverted and civil liberty would
no longer exist, they promptly made up
their minds that such was the case and
gave verdict against the railway com
pany for $500. The case will be appeal
ed to the Supreme Court, of course
Mr.. r. w. Glading, commercial agent at
Thomasville for the Monon Route, was
among the visiting railroad men in the
CITY YESTERDAY