Waterbury Democrat., 1901-03-28
EXPERT WITNESSES ON STAND
Charles Miller Answers At
 torney Williams Cleverly.
Much of the Testimony Thus Far ill Clowes-Miller Case of a Expert Ma ture-H. L. Wade Was on the Stand For a Long Time To-day,

The closing scenes in yesterdays l session of the hearing of the Cloves | Miller case. as it is pOpularly called, were sprinkled with statements of mil | lions of dollars. In court were repre- | sented about five millions. There were | men from various parts of the country, | all men of vast interests. One, q me chanical and consulting engineer | named John w. Seaver, president of q l Dig steel and iron concern in CIeve- | land, with offices ill London and St | Petersburg. Russia, represented a cou- 1 pie of million alone. Since the court house was built there has not been 1 such an aggregation of money inside l it's walls.
 | MT Miller was on the stand yester- | day at press hour. He appeared to l enjoy the sensation notwithstanding 1 that he was under fire from one of the l most expert crosS-eNaminerS in the l state. Attorney Williams of Derby. The force of MT Wiliams's question ing was directed on Mr Mller's atti- tude toward the $3OO,OOO. Mir Will Hams wanted to know if Mir Miller | would transfer this stock to NIr 1 Gloves. MT Miller said he would do it on the spot provided Mir Gloves would pay him for the whole amount the instant the transfer took place. | This, he said. was his attitude ail l through the contention.
 Mr Seaver, above alluded to. was | then sworn. He was put on to show l the value of the plant in dispute. lie said the company of which he was | president manufactures machinery for rolling mills. steel mills. tube mills and such like. At the request of cer- l tain parties, which afterwards it was disclosed formed the Lorraine Steel Co Eof Cleveland, O., and which has since been absorbed by the Federal Steel | Co, one of the biggest industrial com binations of the country, retained him to inspect and appraise the plant of Randolph x Gloves, as they expected to buy it. In April, 1S99 he looked over the plant and estimated that as it stood it was worth $6OO.OOO and to remove it, it would be worth S4OO.O Only the mOveable parts of the plant l were appraised. One-thrd of the above sum he figured by reference to the company's books to ascertain the original price of goods, and the bal ance he arrived al by observation. He knew the object his retainers. had i'll view when they engaged him. but, nevertheless, he made q truthful re- port to them. The Lorraine Co de- cided not to buy the plant. and then witness sold q copy of his report to Mr Gloves at the latter's request.
 Attorney Stoddard could not under stand why the plant should depreciate $2OO,OOO solely by moving it, and wit ness replied the depreciation was be cause many parts of it were not move able. Witness consulted Mir Gloves regarding the original costs of many things, but that did not prejudice his report. but what he saw in the books did. Witness could not tell the aver age annual depreciation of plant like that in dispute: it would depend on | rnrpivnl general rule. to go by.
 w. H. H. Wooster of the Seymour Manufacturing Co of Seymour was the the next witness. Formerly Mir Woes ter was engaged with the Brown Bros of this city. He said he has been
 twentytwo years in the brass indus try. At the request of Mir Miller he examined the plant to see if it was good security for a loan of $500. OOO
 He made no detailed examination of the machinery, but in his estimate of the value of the whole he included the land the plant occupied and concluded it was not good security for the loan Much of the machinery was used by the Brown Bros, still considerable ad- ditions and improvements had been made.
 Proceedings began at 10 o'clock sharp this forenoon, with H. L. Wade on the stand, but it was near Il :, o'clock before an item of testimony
 was obtained from him. Mir Wade gave testimony to which counsel for plaintiff objected and asked that it be ruled out. The defense alleged fraud on the part of Mir Gloves. and counsel for Mir Gloves held that even if their client did mlsrepresent things to Mir Randolph, the administrator, it could not affect Mir Miller, on the grounds
 that what he said to the former he did not say to the latter. The evidence was allowed. This was q big point for Mir Miller.
 MT Wade was put on as an expert on the value of machinery of the kind in question. He was asked what eff feet moving would have on the ma chinery. He thought it would be in- furious, principally on account of the great mass of mason work necessary in such plant as that in question. To move such plant the depreciation
 would be one-third per cent of the original cost. The value of the build ings and real estate. he thought, is: buildings S4O.OOO and the real estate $1OO,0OO to $120,0OO. He considered the land would be worth more without the buildings. He did not hear that land in that vicinity has sold for S9O.- 900 an acre within four years. The land occupied by the Plume x Atwood plant he considered worth about $25.- GOO or S3O.OOO an acre. The plant of !, the American Co cost from 10 to 20 per cent to put it as it was before removal
 As to the loss in business to the con- pany, he did not think there was any
 There Were certain advantages gained by the removal: for instance. the differ ence in taxation and the employment of labor. He could not say that by !; closing the Randolph-Clowes factory here and resuming business elsewhere would be benefit to the company. Mir Wade was on the stand the greater part of the forenoon.
 Attorney Warren of New York, who represented the Randolph heirs, was the next witness. He stated that he had about 15O interviews with Attor- ney Bates of Westborough. Mass, rela- tile to settling up the affairs of MT RandOlph's estate. He also assisted in negotiating the loan from Mir Miller. ! fr, ho r-fv, ,1a,y, <,F