WEST EOXBURY PARK. 29 



111 answer to this summons I called and saw one of 

 the Commissioners, who proposed to settle with me by 

 adding 25 per cent, to the assessed valuation of that 

 year, it being $28,(300, which with the 25 per cent, would 

 have made the amount $35,750. This I at once declined, 

 saying that this small sum for ^N^ewstead was a great 

 deal less than the property was worth, it having been 

 sold in good fiiith eleven years before at $89,317.50, but 

 that I was still open to further negotiations. 



I heard no more from them till they, or the assessois, 

 or both, had cut the valuation down to the incredible 

 sum of $18,600, and then had the audacity to inform 

 me that they had seized it. 



We certainly need no further evidence to show to the 

 citizens and the public that an unscrupulous spirit was 

 exercised by somebody representing the city govei'u- 

 ment in so undervaluing property, in order to make 

 the insignificant a[)propriation of $(300,000 sufRce to 

 secure for the public park $2,000,000 worth of property, 

 and I doubt if such an instance of overbearing injustice 

 and down-right oppression can be found in any othei- 

 city in the world. 



AVho could believe that all these sevei-al pieces of 

 real property, as shown by my first great plan, embrac- 

 ing 366.80 acres, could have been fairly and honestly 

 cut down in valuation from $1,136,900 in 1875 to $532,- 

 200 in 1879! But such was the fact, and then, forsooth, 

 it was condemned, — doomed for the great West Rox- 

 bury Park. Such an outrage ought to bring a blush to 

 the cheek of every honest citizen of Boston. 



The next communication received from the Park 

 Commissioners was as follows: 



