APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BHITAIN. 797 



On the following morning I went to the Custom-house to get a permit 

 to laud the skins, and was delayed there for an hour or more awaiting 

 the arrival of the Inspector, who, when he arrived, I recognized as an 

 employe of the said tirm of H. Liebes and Co., but whose name I did 

 not know and cannot now remember; have known him as an employe 

 of that firm for several years. He is about 6 feet in height, about 30 

 years of age. When I first knew him in their employ he was what I 

 would call a head porter, but of late years he has been grading furs 

 for them. 



5. Upon the arrival of the individual referred to in the last para- 

 graph at the Custom-house, I took him in my buggy, and we drove down 

 to where the vessel was, and we arrived there somewhere between the 

 hours of 10 and 11 o'clock in the morning, when the Customs officer 

 who was in charge cut the seals that were on the hatches and allowed 

 the skins to be discharged. The time occupied in discharging was from 

 two to two and one-half hours. The skins were thrown out of the hold 

 on to the deck of the vessel; there the Inspector sorted the skins as to 

 sizes, and as soon as there was a pile of from thirty to forty, it was 

 checked off and then removed to the dray for delivery at my store. In 

 order to facilitate the work, I personally helped by handing the skins 

 to the Inspector. He made no examination to determine the sex from 

 which the skins had been taken, but sorted them as is ordinarily done 

 for the purpose of purchase, when it is necessary to arrive at the dif- 

 ferent sizes and grades. 



6. At the conclusion of the inspection I asked him how many grey 

 pups he made out there was, and his reply was that there were thirty- 

 seven. The other grades I did not ask about, as the average of the 

 seals ran well, but I do remember there were four old "wigs," as they 

 were thrown out to one side. This is the only inspection the skins 

 referred to underwent in this city, though I learned from my book- 

 keeper, George B. Barber, that Charles J. Behlow, of the firm of H. 

 Liebes and Co., subsequently came and looked at the pile in my cellar. 



7. I know the said Charles J. Behlow. He is a member of the firm 

 of H. Liebes and Co., of this city, and has been so to my knowledge 

 for many years, and he was not the party who inspected the seals on 

 my vessel, the "Emma and Louisa," nor was he present during any por- 

 tion of the time they were so inspected. The captain of the said 

 vessel, George Wester, before mentioned, was one of those i)resent 

 during the inspection. 



8. After the insi)ection I have referred to, the skins were immedi- 

 ately removed to the basement of my ware-roms on Kearny Street, 

 and were all stored therein not later than thirty minutes past 2 in the 

 afternoon of the same day (the 12th July). 



9. I have been constantly dealing in fur-seal skins since the year 

 1885, and consider it is most difficult, if not impossible, to determine 

 the sex of the animal from which undressed skins in the raw state have 

 been taken, and in my opinion, to arrive at anything like an accurate 

 conclusion, it would take at least two days to examine the number of 

 skins (1,342) which comprised the cargo of the vessel "Emma and 

 Louisa" before mentioned. 



• 10. It is a fact well known in this city that the members of the firm 

 of H. Liebes and Co., of this city, are largely interested financially in 

 the Korth American Commercial Company, who are the lessees of the 

 Pribylofl' Islands. 



11. Not-hing has been paid me, nor have I been promised anything, 

 for making the statement, which I have read over and find correct. 



(Signed) Charles D. Ladd. 



