WEST llOXBURY PARK. 87 



Then the city solicitor, the opposing counsel, opened 

 his case for the city and offered seven witnesses, whose 

 rebutting testimon}^ averaged only 5 cents a foot, thus 

 reducing the average on both sides; a most extraor- 

 dinary difference in the evidence given. Surely there 

 was no "boodle" in my case. I am not disposed to re- 

 flect disparagingly^ upon the testimony oftered by the 

 opposing counsel, but would simply recall to the mem- 

 ory of those who were present at the trial the remarka- 

 ble evidence offered by two or three, at least, of these 

 witnesses, called by the city. One of them affirmed that 

 my property was worth only 2 1-2 to 3 1-2 cents a foot, 

 another that 3 1-2 to 4 1-2 cents a foot was all it was 

 worth, etc., while the evidence presented by the mouths 

 of many other witnesses showed that the land just over 

 the division line, lower, and of much less value, had 

 been sold in several instances at from 25 to 35 cents a 

 foot. These were not experts, nor were they city offi- 

 cials, bnt were so interwoven in the meshes of the great 

 machine, whose workings, or modus ojjerandi, are so 

 mysterious that they are past finding out. It is suffi- 

 cient to say that the aggregate of all the prices testified 

 to on both sides, notwithstanding the damaging evi- 

 dence, as above offered by the city, was 449, which 

 divided by the whole 30 witnesses, averaged 15 cents a 

 foot, or f 300,000, without reckoning the intei'cst, or say 

 1350,000 with interest. The first sum is |G7,761.15 

 more than the verdict rendered, which was i|232,238.85. 



On Tuesday, the 22d, the last witness liaving been 

 called in the case, the first argument was made by Hon. 

 Robert M. Morse, Jr., ni}^ senior counsel, closing at 

 11.30 A. M., Avhen the city solicitor, A. J. Bailey, Esq., 



