El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-19

given no Q1nb I'd 6Qo COuTU 1ud1 shCoS
records were inaccurate or untrust-
worthy.
But today Mr.. Follett quietly ex-
plains that the San Marcial measure
men ts are inaccurate because they are
taken at the railroad bridge, the piers
of which obstruct the flow OF the river,
causing eddies and things, and making
the measurements show less than the
actual volume of water that passes.
And so the discrepancy and the too
apparent loss of water on that long
reach of sand is not so great as the
figures indicate.
But Mr.. Follett has gauging sta
tion of his own down at Ell Paso, and
he can vouch for the correctness of
the work down there.
MEASUREMENTS AND CALCULATION i.
And then the defense recalls Mr..
Harroun to the stand and asks him
whether his apparatus and methods OF
measurement at San Marciai give ac-
curate results, and he says most en-
phatically they do. And he is asked
whether they give as accurate results
as the gauging station at Ell Paso. And
he is certain they do. Mr.. Hsrroun
is deaf and probably did not hear Mr..
Follett's attack upon the San Marcial
measurements. Mr.. Hsrroun went
home to Albuquerque tonight and pro
baby does not know yet that he and
Mr.. Follett have squarely contrad ct
ed each other on very material point.
Finally, to conclude the dramatic
performance properly, Judge Fall for
the defense submitted Mr.. F'ollett to
cross examination that ELECTED the
fact, first, that in the big flood of
1897 the water got 80 high that the man
whose business it was to take sound
inps couldn't cross in his car on the
cable for chat purpose, and so the flow
had to be ''calculated;'' and second,
that al certain stages of the river the
measurement at the Ell Paso station
does not take in the entire width of the
stream, though Mr.. Follett AYERS that
the part not included in the measure
ment is "proportionally in6nitesimal. :"
suspicion that when Mr.. Harroun de-
clared that his San Marcial measure
ments were as accur ate as Mr.. Follett's g
Ell Paso measurements, he may have
been at least as nearly correct as are
the measurements at either San Mar
cial or Ell Paso.
THE DEFENSE TRIPS.
The defense, however, likewise
tripped at one point. Mr.. Reid, the
defendants engineering witness, had
prepared a cross-section of the Rio
Grande channel above the mouth of the
Conchos, and the plat was put in evil
dence, with Mr.. Reid's oral testimony
that it showed an area of 662 square
feet. Thereupon Mr.. Reid went on
the stand again and explained that in
the hurried preparation of the pla he
had copied his notes wrongly on the
plat. The plat was correct but the
figures were S62 feet instead of 662
which agreed closely with Mr.. Follett't
computation from scaling the plat.
McMahan's celebrated Christmas
trip down the Rio Grande from Stanton
street bridge in 1893 again served to
hour for the court. Mcmahon said he
travelled 20 miles per day, aud the cur.
rent was As miles per day,as nearly as he
could guess. But there was q third
entry in the race, namely, the flood
The flood was littlefellow, only three
feet high, while MoMahan is fully six
feet tall. But by peRginR away ali
night the food, according to Follet
ought to have kept up with MoMahan or
per haps even got ahead of him. How
ever that may be, McMshan can't tell
what became of either the flood or the
current. Neither of them was at the
Oonchos when he hanled up there, and
got the first drink of water he had had
for two days. The theory of the de-
tense is that while the current went on
down the channel, the flood tired out
the first night and sneaked back to
town.
STILL MORE FUN.
There was still more fun today.
When Follett testified the first time,
Judge Burch handled him as tend srly
as If he had been a too previously born
infant. Judge Burch frankly aud
gravely explained that Mr.. Follett
was here under pledge that he should
not be qualified as an expert and
subjected to general examination.
Counsel for defense bsrked all around
Follett's hole, but Judge Burch stood
guard with big objection whenever
they got close to the hole. Today.
however, Judge Buroh in his eager
neas tn hatter dawn the defandaut,s