The Newtown bee., 1909-10-29
THE GIBSON.GLEDHILL CASE
On Trial in the Superior Court at Bridgeport. Before Judge Burpee,

The case of Mrs Laura F. Gibson
 ct al, wife of Henry s. Gibson, vs.
 Samuel w. Gledhill, was on trial at
 Bridgeport, Tuesday, before Judge
 Lucien F. Burpee in the Superior
 Court, civil side. A large number of
 business men of Sandy Hook were subpoenaed as witnesses. The case
 opened with Charles A. Ferry of New
 Haven, hydraulic engineer, on the
 stand. A map O. the Mantle mill
 pond, and land of Mrs Gibson was
 placed on an easel in front of the
 judges bench, and the crooks and
 cranks of the placid Pootatuck brook
 were discoursed upon at length by
 attorneys and witnesses. Engineer
 Ferry testified in part as follows:
 The bottom of the basin of the Gib-
 son land is three inches above the
 level of the Mantle mill pond. Un-
 der present conditions the amount of
 water in the basin or swamp depends
 upon the amount of water in the
 dam. The dowel is on the south side
 side of the rock. The engineer, on
 questioning of Attorney O'Hara, said
 he did not get the height of the water
 on the crest of the dam. Twenty or
 30 feet back of the dam the level of
 the water is 94.5S. The distance
 from the west side of the rock to the
 shore is about II feet. The distance
 from the east side of the rock 10 the
 east shore is about 60 feet. The first
 time Engineer Ferry visited the place
 was April 2, 1909. MT Ferry's sec
 end examination of the property was
 on May 2, when the water was half
 inch higher. MT Ferry stated his
 survey was not made at flood period
 If the dam was lowered it would
 bring the water down to the dowel at
 flood periods. Attorney Boardman
 asked Engineer Ferry. What in your
 opinion wou d be the effect On the
 swamp by he raising of the dam a foot?" Tt would have the tendency to make the swamp wetter wss the
 reply. The elevation of the dam
 was stated to be 94.O6 and of the
 dowel 94.2. The spillway proper
 was stated to, be lower than the
 dowel. Henry s. Gibson next took
 the stand. He stated he had been familiar with the property since
 1863. Up to ,-o74 the Gibson family spent six months in Sandy Hook and six months in New York. In speak ing of the the ditches MT Gibson said there was no record of who first con- structed them. He testified that the conditions in and about the low, marshy lan~ had changed greatly since the dam was built over. Speak ing of the swampy section he said one could no walk 10 feet without going in over his shoes in water. MT
 Gibson spoke of the two swimming holes, and as boy never saw the
 ga 'er within 15 inches as high as il
 is now. Attorney O'Hara asked MT Gibson: Were there any bounds, markers or measurements in the fitch when you cleaned il out?" Nothing there but the flag stones, monument or marker as you may call them, under the culvert." Taking the resent normal plane of the stream, would the ditches be affect ed?" queried MT O'Hara. Twelve hours rain will put my low land as conditions are now, under three feet of water" replied MT Gibson. Con- tinuing MT Gibson said: My earliest remembrances of the place were about 1863. Elijah Sanford, who died in lS49, owned the land. While the Warner family occupied the estate l was up three or four times a year." Asked as to old conditions as to flooding, MT Gibson said about once in five years when the ice broke up my land would be flooded. Now a rain of 12 hours duration will flood l the lowland." E. IT, H. Gibson next | to -ake the stand, stated be mad beer i acquainted with the property under discussion since 1855. AS a boy he l there was a small stream | of water running in the main ditch, but no water to set back as now. Since the dam was raised, in walking up the brook he noticed a change. | The stones in what was the rapids 1 were now covered with deep water. He testified he had no recollection of any litigation his mother had had over the water. William Atwater Sanford of Brooklyn said his inti- mate acquaintance with Sandy Hook from 1876 and II years on from that date. He nad visited San dy Hook in the fall of 1908 and the Pootatuck looked as it used to when they had one of the heavy freshet periods in his boyhood. The water now in the pond is much deeper than it used to be. He remembered in his boyhOod the water was flowing iii the ditch toward the pond. The land in the swamp at the time I visited it last fall, looked as it used to in the old days when freshet was on. MT Sanford stated he never noticed the 1owel in the rock. MT Sanford was willing to swear the water, last fall, in the pond was as deep in the old lays when freshets prevailed. Ezra J. Hall testified he had lived in Sandy Hook since he was five years old and that he was now 5S., MT hall testi- ned that the level of the water in the pond was higher than it was when le was a boy. That the level of the water was nearly to the top of the bank. MT Hall stated he fished on he Pootatuck in 1908 and 1909. That he began occupying the Beecher barn, socalled, about 1890. That here had been so much talk about he dowel he had been out to take a ook at it. At the time he went to ook at it the water was even with