Court Opinion

ID: 9832912
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 22:17:44.873771+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:43:55.269365
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
The inspector required the cattle to be oiled for ticks in Laredo, which, together with the inspection, consumed the time from early morning until between 10 and 11 o’clock, according to the testimony of D. B. Miller, who, however, stated in another part of his testimony that his brother E. E. Miller left Laredo on a passenger train, and that he left about 1 o’clock p. m., “as soon as they got *1199through inspecting the cattle.” He swore that he talked with an agent of the railroads at the joint depot, and further testified: “It is a fact that the man I have mentioned did tell me they couldn’t move the train over because the Mexican officials hadn’t completed their papers; said they had to have the papers fixed.” He further testified that they were not delayed in Nueva Laredo. There was absolutely no contradiction of the statement made by the agent to D. B. Miller as to the cause of the delay being the action of the Mexican officials.
D. B. Miller swore that he told the agent that he did not want to feed and water the cattle at Laredo, and H. D. Miller testified: “We could have watered the cattle at Laredo had we desired, 'but, instead of that, we wanted to hurry off to Monterey, expecting to water there.” No effort was made to water the cattle in Monterey. H. D. Miller also testified: “The delay was to fix up our contract. My brother went over to see the Mexican officials about passing the animals, but I could not say why he did not make out the papers then. I think he had to go across the river into Mexico to get these papers. That is the place where we made out the contract afterwards. * * * The men came down to the switch and took the numbers of the cars and everything, the inspectors, I presume it was. They were men in the employ of the Mexican government. When we did leave, after the Mexican government was through with their inspection, we made fairly good time to Monterey.” This witness contradicted his brother, D. B. Miller, and swore that E. E. Miller left Laredo after the cattle had gone, and lie thinks passed them on the road. He testified that he saw him at 5 p. m. in Laredo. There was not one word of testimony tending to show that the cattle were delayed after the Mexican officials gave clearance papers. It was proved that the cattle could not be’ carried across the river until the Mexican officials sent over the papers to Laredo, and that it was the case that at times twelve hours would be consumed by the Mexicans in making out papers, even in the case of small shipments. The Mexican inspector swore that the inspection and execution of the custom house papers usually took until about 4:30 o’clock p. m.
H. D. Miller swore that the cattle were placed on a track which was the beginning of the Mexican National Bailroad by the Texas Mexican Railway Company, and it thereby had severed its" connection with the cattle, and was not responsible for any delay.
The motion for rehearing is overruled.