Albuquerque citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1907-1909, 1907-08-26
JUDGE CALLS HALT
ON ESTIMATING VALUE"
He Declares That Witnesses Can
not Know From Superficial Ex-
animation Whether Mine Is
Worth Sl0.OOO.OOOOr
Less Figure

Denver. Colo, Aug. 26.-The fam
Gus Lost Spanish Bullion mine case
is drawing to a close. After two hours
of rebuttal evidence this morning by
the prosecution, the arguments be-
gun and there is every indication that
the case will go to the jury tonight,
or at the latest, tomorrow morning.
With five witnesses to vouch for the
character of E. W. Sebben, the de-
Tense closed its case, and the prose-
cution took up the rebuttal.
Judge Stops ESTIMATING
Judge Lewis played the hose on
some of the pyrotechnic evidence
submitted by the defense as to the
fabulous value of the Lost Bullion
Spanish mine" Incidentally the
court showed competent and prac-
tical knowledge of mining and its pc
culiarities. He talked for ten min
utes on the subject, displaying a fa-
miliarity with technical details sell
dom found on the bench.
His speech was a terrible quencher
for the defense, as it alluded specific
ally to some of the statements made
by Professor Linderman. Linderman
is the strong card that the indicted
men have.
Attorney Franklin had asked w.
e. Wilson of Boulder what, in his
opinion, was the present and pros
pective value of the property of the
Lost Bullion Spanish Mines company.
Mr.. Wilson was moderate almost to
the point of pessimism, when COM
''At least $40, 600, O00."
AT this point Julge Lewis inter-
rupted in his slow distinct drawl
'Now Mr.. Franklin. you have per-
sisted in this line of questioning until
l am compelled to speak to you.
/ have grave doubts as to the right
n n he
given in this case as has been repeat
edly introduced.
Mistakes i'm Making Estimates
You yourself Mr. Franklin, and
all other residents of Colorado who
have been here for any length of
time at all, and have any knowledge
of mining conditions, know that such
statements are not based on facts but
merely on visionary ideas of the
possible value of the property.
There has been one notable instance
i'm Colorado where eminent mining
engineers made reports of a certain
property, saying that along the tun-
nels, drifts and upraises ore was
blocked out to a fabulous extent. An
English syndicate bought the mine
and found that the estimates were
far in excess of the actual conditions.
81 do not think this is good testi-
mony. Take, for instance, the state
ment of Professor Linderman that
there are 31,000,000 tons of low
grade ore, which, at a valuation Of
something like $1.S0, are worth more
than $51,000.000.
Now it could not possibly be as
certained from a mere superficial
scratching of the ground, that such
conditions existed"
"But, your Honor" pleaded Mr.
Franklin, Eve have the drifts, the
slopes and the inclines in which the
ore actually is"
"Mr Franklin you know very well
that veins have a tendency to pinch
out both on the strike and on the
raise" said the court.
Damaging Admissions
On direct examination Wilson gave
much the same testimony that the
other promoters had given. that they
were i'm good faith and that they act
ually had a mine of large value and
believed that in selling stock to the
public they We're giving the public
its moneys worth.
on crOss-eXamiuation by Ernest
Knaebel. three damaging admissions
were wrung from Mr.. Wilson. He
said that he had signed all the con-
tracts for advertising i'm october and
had then sanctioned the issuance of
the wonderful claims regarding the
untold millions" Then he said that
his first visit to the property was not
he had told his friends he would not
advise them to invest until he had
Investigated fully and inspected the
"mine.' But he admitted that he had
agreed to have the stock put on pub
lie sale before he made any eXamina-
tiOn whatsoever
He also said that he had never
seen the Column of gold ore" from
which the $1,000 assay was obtained.
He sale that each time he had gone
down 10 Silver City the mud and rain
had made that portion Of the proper
ty inaccessible.
Confusion of Dates
"Then Mr.. Du BOis was wrong
when he testified that he had show
ed IL to you iu January queried Mr..
knaebel
That was when the prosecution
had the defense on the hip. The
$500 assay. published under VIII
sons signature. bore the date of No
Vember, 1906. Du Bois said on the
stand that he had not shown Wilson
III" place from which the sample was
taken until January, 1907. Then
comes Wilson, who declares under
oath that he had not seen IL at an.
please explain how it was that you
and NJ. Cameron stepped iu 40 settle
the obligation TO Du BOis which was
Incurred by Mr.. Keables aRd not
yOprseif2' asked Knaebel
IA yRr1 = 1auifi-