WEST KOXBUllY PAKK. 15 



co8t him a great deal of hard hiboi", money and per- 

 plexity, that after paying his mortgage note of fifty 

 thonsand dollars he had given njwn it, and the cost of 

 road improvements, interest, taxes and other expenses, 

 there Avonld not be a dollar left for him. 



This same property, containing 1,217,7GIJ feet, was 

 sold in Febrnai-y, 1872 for 18 3-4 cents per foot, or 

 $228,330.57, and it certainly onght to be worth as mnch 

 now as it was so many years ago, allowing even for the 

 specnhitive movements snpposed to exist at that time. 

 The valnation by the assessors, however, was cnt down 

 and cnt down luitil it reached the shamefnl snm of 

 $12,(300, Avhen as if their conscience smote them, it was 

 feebly raised ta $18,100, and then seized by the park 

 commissioners; a mortgage of $50,000 and other liens 

 then existing to the extent of many thonsands additional. 

 In 1872 the writer offered him a large snm for this 

 property, or ten cents per foot for a part of it, which he 

 prndently refused to accept. 



After long and tedions efforts he fonnd it impossible 

 to make a satisfactory settlement with the park com- 

 missioners, and was relnctantly compelled finally to 

 take his cause into the Superior Court, this being his only 

 redress. There he reasonably expected to obtain a 

 verdict of about 18 3-1 cents a foot, or at any rate a price 

 approximating thereto, as the evidence of some of our 

 best merchants in the city and competent real estate 

 experts warranted such a conclusion. 



He was therefore dragged through the labors, anx- 

 ieties and perplexities incident to a court at law, in 

 December, 1881, and he obtained a verdict of $103,232.- 

 11, about half the real value of the property, but more 



