The San Francisco call., 1907-01-03
EAGER To COVER
CONFLICT IN
EVIDENCE
Bodler Alleges Fire Damage
Was -Four Times Greater
Than Claim for Insurance
ARBTTRATORS LISTEN
TO JEALOUS WITNESS
Elucidation of Injury to
Cable Machinery Leaves
Board Members Mystified

Aroused by the publication of fts own
sworn statement that the cable system
had not been damaged by rhe earth
quake and that the prfncipzl cable drfv-
ing machinery was only injured TO. the
extent Of 9 per cent of its value, the
United Railroads has arisen to explain.
Its explanation made before the arbi-
rratfon board yesterday involved the
Fantastic picture of that astute corpora
zion putting I'm claim Of loss to the In
surance companies Of less than one
quarter of the value of some 100000
worth of cable car repair parts, .'fO
avoid a lawsuit
F. j.. BodIer was allotted TO do the
explaining, and his attempt, while IL
showed n cOmmendabIe zeal, left the
expiainers in something Of an absurd
position and rather deeper in the mire.
Il was instructed TO make out a
proof Of loss" explained Bodler. which
would be so low that 81 would pass
without comment We did not consider
the cable machinery Of any more value
anyway, because we were not going TO
use it again, and good deal Of It was
not entered in the proof Of loss at all.
We wanted to avoid any lawsuit"
This statement from the eompany's
witness that II was willing to accept
less than one-fourth the amount OF it's
losses from the insurance people caused
the three arbitrstors TO sit up and
pay attention TO the young mans dis
course, and when they heard that the
purpose Of this sacrifice was to avoid
the publicity OF an exposition Of the
damage to the cable system in open
court their surprise was not abated.
VOLUNTARY ATTEMPT
stanley Moore tried to help matters
a little by stating that his father In
law. Attorney GoodfeTow, had been
connected with the adjustment proceed-
ings and had assured him that the
course adopted was perfectly proper.
All this explaining was voluntary on
the part Of the company. and came as
q surprise to the board, but after il
was all over it appeared that The COM
pany would have been better advised
If 1t had allowed the publication Of its
methods Of preparing testimony for
two courts. as 1t appeared in last Sun
days Call to haye passed without
comment When Albert Johnson was
on the point Of beginning his argument
Of the carmen's case before the board,
Stanley Moore arose and stated that
Bodler was in court, and asked John
son If he would like to hear him ex-
plain. Johnson affected to doubt the
young mans ability. to reconcile his
conflicting evidence. but he said:
II counsel wants to harmonic the
discrep epancies in his evidence let him
cali his own witness. and IL the wit
ness wants to explain Jet him do so"
Bodler then took the stand and said
that his former testimony that nearly
all Of 100000 worth OF cable parts
had been destroyed in the pewer-house
at Valencia and Market streets was cor
rect, and that he had also made out the
proof OF loss. in which appears the state
ment. that ali such parts in all the
houses amounted TO only $4,000 in
value. OF which nearly half had been
saved. The reason the company de-
termined TO put in no claim on the
other 100000 worth Of cable machinery
was explained" by its desire to make
its proof Of loss as small as possible.
Without stopping TO take breath Bod
Ter was of on the second difhculty-
that OF showing the board why his
company had asserted to the insurance
people that the cable plants had not
been damaged by the earthquake.
we did not want TO have any difh-
Guilty with the earthquake clause COM
-panies," he saic. I'VE put the earth
quake damage down under the column
OF depreciation
BOARD is AsToNIsHED
BY this time the board members, in
cluding the Chief Justice. realized that
the enlightenment they were receiving
was rather extraordinary and they lis
tened attentively, not to miss anything.
The picture OF the United Railroads not
mentioning the word "earthquake" TO
the insurance companies rather than TO
hurt their feelings on a tender point
was one Of the strongest bits OF evil
dence produced in the whole hearing
and no doubt Influenced the arbitrators.
There's no use your trying TO har-
monize that proof of loss and the in
ventory from which ] testified" Bodler