Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1916-10-18
VERDICT FOR PLAINTIFF
IN LUMBER SUIT
SATURDAY TAKEN UP In DETER
MINING THE VALUE OF
SOME LUMBER.

On the calendar Saturday were two
cases relating practically to the same
thing. The action was, namely: that
of T. M. Smith of Wausau, VS. Alonzo
Millin and others, of Mt Hope neigh
borhOod. Mr.. Smith was asking for
payment on two piles of lumber, one
Of maple and the other of Eastwood
which were replevine1 f, ON him in
1914 to satisfy the costs of judgment
The history of the affair seems to be as
follows:
Mr.. Smith came to Mt. Hope in the
spring of 1914 and obtained the tim
Der rights on a large tract of land.
He employed men to clear the stand
ing timber off and made a contract
with Alonzo and Robt. Millin, two To-
cal sawyers, to do the saving.
The work was completed and the
Mullins had about $3.50 coming to
them. AS payment was not forthcom
ing at the time they placed the matter
in the hands Of VIM. Leighton, Mt.
Hope banker, for settlement. Mr..
Leighton placed the account with w.
ly after this the check came through
the mail in full payment. Mr.. Howe,
who was apparently not notified of the
payment, went ahead and OBJ
tanned against Smith and of the saw
ed lumber on the farm, two piles were
sold at sheriff's sale. One of these
piles, of Eastwood, was bought in by
. 40 y10 Ion
same time an agent on the ground for
Smith. The other pile, of maple, was
bought in at the sale by Mr.. Leighton.
Smith claimed that he knew nothing
Of the sale of his property until later
in the year. He then brought action
to have the judgment set aside which
was done by Judge Clementson.
Carrel in the meantime had disposed
of the Eastwood to VIM. Proctor, Mt
Hope farmer who later sold it at
farm auction for SO the thousand,
there being $500 it. in all, aggregat-
ing in value $15675. The maple tim
ber. was taken to Mt. Hope by Mr..
Leighton and stored on his property.
In bringing action for the recovery
of the value of the timber Smiths at
torneys asked. for the full value of the
Eastwood on the basis of what it had
sold for at the farm sale. They also
claimed that the maple was sawed up
for wagon axles and worth at least
$45 thousand feet They claimed
that there was at least as much maple
as there was Eastwood and thisewould
aggregate $373.75 making the total
$53O5O.
Smith, in his testimony, estimated
the size of the piles as 10000 feet in
each. This would make a pile about
twenty feet in height.
John T. Ruka of Boscobel, testified
as an expert on lumber, that he had
measured the maple timber recently
at it's Mt. Hope location. He said
there was about 900 sticks twelve feet
long. In Mr.. Ruka's opinion the tim
Der was worth new about $84.75 at
$25 per thousand. Henry Belz, who
also examined the timber, said there
was 1921 feet, according to his meas
urements, the good being worth new,
$40 per thousand. Mr.. Belz said that
he paid fifty cents a stick for axle
lumber and that a stick contained ten
board feet.
Numerous witnesses were examined
their testimony being to bring out the
value of the timber and the amount
that had been removed at the time of
the sheriff's sale.
Two questions were submitted by
the court. The first was: What was
the value of the Eastwood pile of lum-
Der replevined by the sheriff. The
answer to this was, $148.5O.
The second was: What was the
value of the maple pile of lumber re-
plevined by the sheriff." The answer
to this was, $126.50. This gives Mr.
Smith total Of $275 to be paid him by
the defendants in the suit.