The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1921-10-01

mine whether the receiver was trying
TO keep the road running because Of
personal benefit to himself at Rod
man, or whether it was for the good
OF all concerned.
He proved by cross examination of
Mr.. PiIlans that between so and rs
per cent of the receipts of the road
came from the three mills, none of
which win be using the o. v for any
permanent period. That left only 25
to 40 per cent of the income to be OBJ
tanned from the people along the
route and it is evident that this small
per centage will not pay expenses.
Another plea put up by those want
ing to continue the service of the o.
". is that it would leave the Wilson
md Rodman companies without any
means to move their logs and lumber.
ETr. Martin showed that the Wilson
company had direct connection with
the Seaboard at Silver Springs and
that the Rodman company had only
been using the @. ". since August
1921, previous to that time it having
shipped over the A. G. u. and side
track of its own to Verdun. Mr.. Mar
tin said this same route could be used
again. Mr. Martin several times SEEM
ed to get Mr.. Pillansl confused and
forced him to say he did not under
stand the question and deny that he
had knowledge enough of railroading
to give an intelligent answer.
Mr. H. NJ Hampton also cross ex-
amined the witness, but covered prac-
tically the same ground as his col
league, except that he went more fully
into some of the points.
The next witness called was Mr.. A.
N. Corcoran, secretary of tie Wilson
Cypress Co. He stated that the o.
V. was of great value to his company
in getting its cypress out of the Ok
lawaha swamp and shipping via Sill
yer Springs and o. v. to Palatka He
stated they had about years supply
of timber in the swamp and that there
is considerable hard wood there. He
said there were other lumber ship
i nents that his company might throw
to the o. " and that he would use
his influence to do so if the O. ". is
continued. He stated that he had had
some experience in lumber railroads
and that the O. v was in good shape.
On cross examination his testimony
was pretty well torn up by Mr.. Mar
| tin. His statement that his company
mad another years work in its present
/ location held fast, but the fact that
tEey had never used the o. v for lum-
| Der shipments and that Mr.. Corcoran
had no authority except his influence
and could not give any guarantee of
future shipments, somewhat destroyed
the strength of that direct testimony
Mr.. Martin made fun of him for
] saying the o. V. track was in good
condition when he admitted that he
had only examined it from the rear
Of q moving train and could not tell
| how many rotten crossties there were
He admitted that the Wilson company
could connect its logging territory
either with the A. C. L. at Gambler
or with the S. A. L. at Silver Springs
and was not dependent on the o. v.
entirely.
Mr.. H. M. De Montmollin of Palat-
ka, was the next witness. He testi-
fled to great deal of statistics as to
what the o. v. could do towards max
ing a cheaper freight rate to Ocala
because it had the shortest haul. He
said the reason the road has never
been patronized is that it has charged
the long distance rate instead of
availing itself of its short mileage.
He said the o. V. was now in posi-
tion to get docking privileges with
the G. S. & F. at Palatka and that
this would put it in connection with
a schooner freight system that Pa
latka is inaugurating. He said that
the Palatka wholesalers are anxious
10 get this through in order to i'm
prove their rates to the points on the
/ S. A. L. sout hof Ocala. He promised
that the Palatka merchants would
give the O. v. large volume of
! freight If it is continued and will
adopt the short haul rate. In cross
examination Mr. Martin admitted that
the witness talked too many technical
terms for him to follow, but he want
ed to know why the A. c. L. would not
meet the 0. v. low rate should it be
inaugurated. Mr.. DeMontmollin said
that the A. C. L. would cut to the
lower rate but that the people thru
gratitude to the o. V. for making the
low rate would continue to ship by the
10 v. routing. Mr.. Martin seemed
to think this a rather far-fetched
theory.
Court then adjourned to meet at 8
o'clock this morning.