The Redwood gazette., 1936-02-20

idkeSlue property OF Mrs. I'll
The termination OF the two da,
proceedings came after the defen
Sc counsel had called upon fou
Redwood Falls building contrac
tors and an Aitkin, Minnesota
contractor who specializes in NOV
ing dwellings, to give their disin
terested opinions as to the valu,
of the Appleton lot and residence
The counsel for the three Red
wood Falls taxpayers who insti
tuted the proceedings had restet
shortly before noon, having callet
upon only two witnesses, one o
whose testimony was ordere'
stricken from the court record.
Three possible decisions may b,
issued on the case by Judge Ener
sen. He may favor either side o.
certify the case to the state su
preme court, motion the attor
neys for the state sought to brins
about at the beginning of Mon
days proceedings. John E. Katz
narek, one of the four defens,
attorneys, stated at the close O.
the proceedings, that the decision
would be appealed to the suprem,
court should it go against tn,
state. That turn in affairs was no
expected, he said.
Asks Dismissal
0. L. Bundle, assistant attor
Iney-general representing the hign
way depaI tment requested dls
missal of the proceedings I'M
mediately after he had rested tn,
states arguments upon the merit.
of the case. The motion was de-
MED by Judge Emerson, his seconG
of the day, Bundle having pre-,
viously asked for a dismissal just
before the close of the morning
session on the grounds that the
plaintiffs had failed TO prove any
of their claims. The judge denieC
the motion and ordered the contin.
uation of the proceedings, declar.
ing that the issue before the court
was matter of law as to whether
the state highway commissioner
N. w. Elsberg, can acquire prop
erty as he sees fit.
The action was brought by H
G. Werder, A. j. White and S. B
Duea, all of whom signed a petit
ion protesting against the pay
ment of the $4,000 for the Apple
ton lot on the grounds that the
sum was excessive and would en-
tail needless expenditure of tax
payers money. Seven defendants
were named: Mr.. Elsberg, Stat
ford King, state auditor; Julius
Schmahl, state treasurer; Harry
H. Peterson, attorney general
Rex Green, in charge of the right
Of ways for the highway depart
ment; Mrs. Appleton and her at
torney, Frank Murphy of Whea-
ton.
A. r. English of Tracy and A
c. Dolliff of Redwood Falls con-
stituted the legal staff retained by
the plaintiffs, while Bundle anG
Katzmarek were assisted by L. D.
Brechet, also an assistant attor-
ney general and by Leon H
Brown of Redwood Falls. English
conducted the questioning of wit
nesses for the prosecution, Dolliff
being absent from the court room
Tuesday, because of illness. Three
attorneys for the state examined
the witnesses during Mondays
session but at the close of the day
Judge Emerson asked them to con-
fine themselves to one examiner
and Katzmarek and Bundle divid-
ed the duty during Tuesdays ses-
sion.
Estimate Value
John Brueske, E. E. Lang,
Charles Johanneck and Joe Mahal
were the four Redwood Falls
building contractors called to the
stand by the defense. They had
inspected the Appleton property
at the request Of Mr.. Murphy and
each estimated the cost of re-
placement of the dwelling at from
$4,000 to $500. Joe Enberg, the
Aitkin contractor produced by the
defense, estimated under question
ing by Murphy that the cost of
moving the home would amount to
from $4,000 to $4,000 for six
blocks and $3.50 for each addition
al block.
When Enberg, speaking in a
deep voice with slight accent,
was asked by English to break
down the expense of moving, the
amounts totalled $4,700.
81 forgot myself, l got to have
something. Oh about $400", En-
berg commented. II was liberal" :"
he added.
"Oh, yes," English broke in,
you mustn't forget your share.
Green was the final witness
called to the stand and he repeat
ed some of the testimony he had
presented the preceding day. Just
prior to resting the case, Bundle
and had accepted as evil
dence an affidavit sworn to by j.
F. Knudson, Redwood Falls real
estate dealer, as to the value of
the Appleton property. He set
the value at $4,000 before the
bridge was built and the market
value now at $4,000.
Nearly half of the court audien-
ce which filed the room as the af-
ternoon session opened, was COM
posed of women. Mrs. Appleton
was the first witness called.
Under examination by Murphy.
Mrs. ApDleton rplafoJ hour 80