Seven Lots, Three Judges, and a Railroad's Sky-High Bill

Judges Osborn, Homes and Langley sat as a jury, with Judge Osborn presiding, yesterday in hearing testimony in the Great Northern suit for the condemnation of depot grounds and approaches from the Oregon Improvement Company. The three judges agreed to hear the case without a jury and to assess the damages, upon a request from Judge Burke and A. F. Burleigh, counsel for the two companies. This step was necessitated by a suspected attempt to bribe certain of the jurors who were empanelled to try the case. The evidence was all in at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, and the case was submitted to the court for decision without argument, and taken under advisement.

The property for the appropriation of which damages were to be assessed consisted of lots 5, 6, 7 and 8 in block 12, and portions of lots 1, 2 and 6 in block 4, of the plat to the town of Seattle. The four lots front on King street, between South Second and South Third, and lots 1 and 2 of block 4 comprise the southeast corner of Railroad avenue and Jackson street, while lot 6 is on Commercial, between Jackson and King streets.

The evidence was by no means uniform. The witnesses for the Columbia & Puget Sound Railway Company put a much higher valuation upon the land than did those for the Great Northern. The valuations placed upon the land by witnesses upon the same side of the case were not at all uniform, and in some cases were almost irreconcilably dissimilar.

Among the witnesses called for the Great Northern were John Leary, who valued the four lots at $22,000, lots 1 and 2 at $6,000 and lot 6 at $5,000, and the total damage to the Columbia & Puget Sound at $34,000. George Dorfiel considered $23,000 a fair valuation for the four lots, $6,500 for damage to lot 6 and $4,500 for damage to lots 1 and 2. O. A. Turner gave $24,000, $6,000 and $4,000 respectively. He was followed by H. L. Crawford, whose valuations were $22,000, $5,000 and $5,000; C. T. Conover, $20,000, $7,500 and $4,000; W. D. Wood, $20,000, $4,500 and $3,500; Andrew Knox, $22,000, $5,000 and $4,500; Reuben Jones, $24,000, $5,500 and $4,500; J. D. Lowman, $25,000, $6,000 and $5,000; J. K. Edmiston, $24,000, $5,000 and $5,000; M. K. Maddocks, $20,000, $4,000 and $3,000; Fred Gasch, $20,000, $3,000 and $4,000; W. R. Ballard, $22,000, $7,500 and $4,000.

All of these valuations were given by witnesses for the petitioner, but when the witnesses for the respondent came upon the stand the testimony as to values was considerably higher, but very irregular. C. Anderson would give no opinion as to the value of lots 5, 6, 7 and 8 in block 12, but assessed the damage to lot 6 at $5,000 and that to lots 1 and 2 at $19,000. He was followed by David McKinsley, who assessed the damage to the lots at $20,000, $15,000 and $4,000 respectively. Diedrick Rolfe set no figure except for the four lots. W. F. Keitze gave $30,000, $15,000 and $12,000; C. J. Smith, general manager of the Oregon Improvement Company, $148,000, $100,000 and $8,000; Col. G. W. Scott, land agent for the Oregon Improvement Company, $23,000 and $23,000; and Laur[?], $5,000, $10,000 and $12,500.

General Manager C. J. Smith accounted for his large estimate by assessing the damage to the lots from loss of frontage, loss of benefit to the company from proximity of the land to the banks at $20,000, and the increased expense of having to handle the coal with a team if obliged to go elsewhere, which he capitalized at $38,000.

The judges will go over the testimony and make estimates individually, and afterward will confer together and settle upon the proper amount of damages to be paid by the Great Northern to the Columbia & Puget Sound Railway.