The Hawaiian gazette., 1912-03-26

aiNaH ttia tof lAuIiNe - moving Aad
other outaida considerations.
The court has adjourned until next
Wednesday and u h probable that q
week viii clapse before The portions Of
the condemnation suits relating 10 the
other blocks in the strip, are eom.
mchced
Afternoon Session.
When the court convened for the AZ.
tcrnoon session there were many signs
OF WEAKNESS TO be seen in tho faces
OF jurors and attorneys. Even Judge
Dole showed the effects Of the weeks
of strain. and there was feeling Of
tension In the air as the crisis drew
nearer and nearer. Attorney Warren,
one of the associate counsel, at once
began winding up his address to the
jury. He had whaclt at some of the
arguments advanced by Breckons ear.
lier in the day, and took a fall out Of
tax returns as evidence in such a case
as the Mahuka site struggle.
AS he finished there was q little stir,
a few moments rest and then Attorney
Olson, who was TO make the closing
argument moved over directly in front
of the jury box, with huge sheaf of
notes in his hands.
'''Don't be afraid of all this,'' he
smiled to the box, cit is not as bad as
it looks"
olson made virile, rather siren
uous attack upon Breckons' talk ear
her in the day. The United States at
torney, he declared, had just cause to
decry the Importance of expert testi-
mony considering the showing made be-
| fore the Jury by Tax Assessor Wilder
and his deputy Nicely. He made an i'm
FASHIONED appeal for "justice' with a
| big dr. went to the defense of Ried-
ford and Schwarzberg, the two wit
nesses for the owners who had suffered
most at the hand of Breckons, and
wound up with volleysof figures that
appeared to daze the jury.
Breckons Rouses Laugh.
Practically all the morning session
was taken up by Breckons in his adj
dress to the jury. Mr.. Breckons was
funny, witty, logical, and sarcastic by
turns, even keeping grin on the faces
of the jurymen, as he dwelt upon the
qualifications of the witnesses for the
defense as real estate experts.
He paid particular attention to R. R.
Reidford, star for the defense. he
went at considerable length into the
testimony given by Reidford and pro-
ceeded to ridicule it. Reidford, he
said, was right; always right; insisted
upon being right.
Then dropping sarcasm, Breckons
openly challenged Mr.. Reidford 3 dis
interestedness. "Mr. Reidford, " he
said, "was not disinterested witness.
| If he succeeded in fixing a new and
high standard of values for Honolulu
real estate in this case, he would be
| able to write back to Boston and claim
that he had established standard of
values that would hold throughout all
the Mahuka site cases.
Reads Reidford's Mind.
"Reidford s mind works in peculiar
way. I have no doubt that if, instead
of testifying for his principals in con-
demnation suit, he were swearing to a
tax return, Mr.. Reidford IS mind would
work in such way that he could con
scientiously state that the value of this
property was seven dollars a foot in
stead of fifteen dollars"
Breckons went at considerable length
into the details of Reidford g testimony
as to values and the way he arrived at
them, and as to rates of discount,
In speaking of the value of expert
testimony in case of the kind at bar,
the United States attorney said: "I
do not attach much Importance to such
evidence unless it conforms to known
facts in the case. When the expert
testifies to something not substantiated
by other evidence, then, even if that
expert is the incest, prettiest boy who
ever dropped off in Honolulu, fail to
see how it can have any weight in de-
Gliding any point at issue"
Deals with Pratt.
Then he directed his remarks at the
testimony of James w. Pratt, another
of the experts who testified for the
respondents. "Mr. Pratt he said,
"swelled up just little bit when he
went on the stand. Mr.. Pratt, you
know, used to be tax assessor. He was
the selfappointed watchdog of the treas
ury Mr.. Pratt was ENTHUSIASTICALLY
vigilant when he came to testify as an
expert-who has not yet received his
pay-in condemnation suit. But why
was not Mr.. Pratt as vigilant when he
was tax assessor2 How was it that he
accepted n valuation of the Cummins
property at 100000 when he was tax
assessor and now comes in here and
says the same property is worth more
than $l70,0007
cit seems strange to me that, ac-
cording to Mr.. Pratt S own testimony
the business community has not yet
discovered his value as real estate
expert. Mr.. Pratt admits that he has
lx,.4 G.. IL.
to appraise property in Honolulu. The
only time he is used is when there is
condemnation suit on. Then Mr.. Pratt
is used by the owners of the property"
Breckons then went after Elmer L.
Schwarzberg.
That Skyscraper.
"Mr. Schwarzberg, he said, sis
real estate expert, though, strange to