11 



the best portion of New Rochelle, known as the Leland 

 place. Take the sale of Underbill to Iselin, Jr., 89 acres, 

 the average of the sale peracre, including the buildings, was 

 $654. Take the sale from Coudert to Lang, in September, 

 L882, where the average realized was $375 an acre. Atthe 

 sale of 3;; acres to David II. King, in 1882, where the 

 land was exceptionally fine, the sum realized was $758 an 

 acre. Take tbesale from Smith to Hudson, in 1886, where 

 the land brought $264 an acre — 57 acres in the heart of 

 New Rochelle — and so on. I might multiply these in- 

 stances almost indefinitely, but I have stated enough to 

 show our line of proof in regard to sales in the Comity of 

 Westchester and in the vicinity of Pelham Bay Park. 



There is another class of proof which we shall intro- 

 duce, and that will be the Assessors' 1 estimates or valuations 

 already in evidence. We shall call the attention of the Court 

 to this Assessors' roll, because it is already in evidence. 

 And your Honors may remember that, whereas Mr. Mills 

 says that the Assessors' valuations may not be evidence for 

 certain purposes, still, they are evidence to contradict the 

 estimates made by the land-owners. I shall argue that 

 these returns or valuations made by the owners, and the 

 values fixed by the Assessors, because the Assessors have 

 only the returns of the owners upon which to base their 

 valuations, are evidence, and are entitled to some weight — 

 what that exact weight is, it will be for your Honors to 

 determine; but it is certain that the valuations fixed by the 

 Assessors will serve to show how enormous a^d monstrous 

 the values of the property-owners' experts are, and how 

 far beyond the realm of reason. 



Then we come to our fourth class of evidence — our 

 experts. We shall place on the stand men whose names 

 alone will be a sufficient guarantee of an honest and fair 

 valuation. We shall put on men who are known through* 

 out the whole City of New York, and whose judgment as 

 to the value of property is entitled to the greatest consider- 

 ation, not only from the public, but from any Court. 



I will indicate to your Honors what we propose to show 

 — what valuations we assert are just, and fair and honest, 



