Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-11-10
Edwards Co. Raises Claim That
It Is Hearsay Evidence.
Capitol Street Valuations Given by
Property Owner.

| The counsel for the petitioning cor
r"rat,on sprung a decided surprise in
;!'c Edwards hearing late yesterday AZ
| tcTn0on when f,r the first time Il wit
ness, tStephen $. Lancaster) called tn
give Ills opinion Of property values in
the city. VII: objected to on the ground
! that he was rot an expert. 1t was
claimed that his ideas Of values were
fixed from hearsay and not from exre-
rience.
Counsel for the city claimed that the
| judgment of Mr. Lancaster was as good
az that Of c. :. Downing, who was put
on by the petitioners. At that time. OBJ
lection was raised that he had not
| qualified as an expert. Mr.. Downing
was allowed to testify and the commits
| sioncrs ruled that they would take his
valuations for what they We're worth.
The commissioners held a short con-
SultatiOn and excluded the direct and
cross-exainination of the witness as to
his lists as 4 whole, but ruled that he
might submit his lists for their inspcc-
ton and mention any conditions that
he might think Of Counsel for the city
declined to carry the matter further
and collected the schedules that had
been distributed.
The incident closed another day Of
valuation and crOsS-eXamination on the
condition of properties and methods of
reaching the valuations presented.
c. r. HoXie was further crOss-eXam-
ined by Attorney Baker as to his calcu-
lations of Water street values. in eX-
planat ton of his method he said that
he knew of 16 pieces of property and
the rents obtained from them. These
he compared with the other propcrtic
On redirect examination, the witness
said that the members of the Augusta
Real Estate Association were wcll-to-
do people who arc public spirited and
bought in property looking for Il rise in
values, but that the assessors could
hardly consider The possibility of Il
boom in making their assessments.
Justin r. Packard of Dayton street
was called to testify in regard to val
GeS on Capitol street. He described
very clearly the conditions surrounding
property on the lower end of the street.
Trains pass on the railroad to the num-
Der Of % per day and nearly every one
whistles at the foot of the street. There
is q dump there also that is objection
able. and especially 50 because the
dump catches fire and is burned over
quite often. The steel tower upon which
the feel wires are strung across the
river iS very near two of them. The
insulation is poor. he said, and the
ground was often 50 charged with cleo
tricity that people could not draw wat
er from their faucets and several had
been Knocked down. He also stated that
some of the houses were on the edge of
the fully and that they had settled
some six or seven inches toward tho
gully. Asked what he was going to do
in q case ike that, he replied: EITHER
raise the building or nail clcats on the
floor TralnpS. he said. were q great
bother to residents in the vicinity.
The witness said that he was the
owner of four houses in that section
which were valued at $3.50 by the as
SCISSORS. He receives a gross rental of
s34 on them. or a yearly rental of $i0S.
With this gross rental he nets about 1
per cent. Tho shoe factory. since it has
run with some degree of regularity,
has tended to increase the demand for
rents.
His values Of the property on Capitol