Show MON SUIT ASKED plaintiffs rest their testimony OF THE MOTION claim the railway company let 0 o fry default testimony the great railroad case took quita a sensational turn today the plaintiffs rested rather abruptly and then a motion was made by the defense for a non auit on several grounds but the moat important being that the original incorporation papers of the company providing for the branch through provo canyon were void because wark had not commenced within two years as provided by law or completed within ten years fifteen years had elapsed before anything was done the arguments are now being made on tho motion the testimony is as follows MONDAY in the afternoon A L murphy was the first witness on the stand he recognized the deed placed in evidence he bad taken of the land in october 1895 it lies near the second falls in alie canyon not far from the rock he erected a cabin on the land at once and libed on it with his family until march 1896 he started a pond and put out a few trees he intended to homestead the land on cross examination he said he wrote on a board claim of A L murphy and nailed it on a tree he did not declare in any way how much land he intended entering he tore down his house last october and had not libed there since march 1896 he put out his trees in may 1896 the lumber of the houed in the canyon had been used in a pigpen pig pen at provo he had been cutting brush for plaintiffs but claimed it was not on bis premises on redirect re direct he said the engineer of tha power plant company had paid him ac bior moving bis housa chief engineer yard of the R G W next took the stand with hia maps and profiles after telling of his position in the company he described the country through which the railway company had surveyed the atigo capere describing a railway from provo city to white near the stats line were read to him and he was asked to describe the most na route ho said it would be through brovo canyon iwas in fact the only practical route the route has been surveyed through the canyon to the mouth of daniels creek a tributary of provo river a distance of about twenty miles the survey was commenced in march of the survey was then exhibited the survey was under the dai ecklon of the general manager and it ran directly through the land in dispute tor about of a mile the railroad could not well be built through the canyon without a right of way oyer the murphy land on cross examination mr yard paid that no road was operated over the route from provo east as described in the incorporation papers he said the mouth of white river could bo reached afong the line now built and then branching north for thirteen years while w was with the company nothing had been done toward building through provo canyon the survey was commenced march 26 1893 the first survey was on the north bide of the river and changed some time in june it was not known why the change had been made the line could be built higher up the mountain but it would b much more expensive both in construction or in operation it would hardly be feasible witness thought he confessed there was danger of enow slides blocking the bottom of the canyon col dodge had directed the survey to be made by letter and also to have a road built to park city and witness said he had the letters on file counsel for defense asked that they ba produced afore ahe trial was over on redirect witness said the present grade as purveyed was but two per cent going oh be side of the moun tain would necessitate a much steeper grade and ba more d anee roua two hundred feet had been graded in the canyon where the land was in dispute and being interfered with work was boppel bopped Bop ped 10 the defense said be did not know why grading was not corn fenced at provo or the mouth of the canyon the grading was partly done after the suit was begun the K G W runs at a grade now of 38 per cent over soldiers summit it is entirely practicable bat objection able charleston 23 from prove is 1100 feet higher than and feet than the mouth of the canyon starting at tho mouth of the canyon on a two per cent grade would throw the road up 85 feet enough to go over the dam F E baxter another ot the R G W civil engineers engin eera who located the road through provo cany oft said that he comat need the survey march he had seen a braid on a tree locating the murphy claim about the middle of april the line was located on the north side of the and sometime in june the line was changed to the south tide ot the rivets the change was made because the side avoid ed snow slides and iso obviated a change in the build ing through the canyon it ia necessary that a railroad be along the route located or about there four hundred feet of grading had been done in the canyon and a channel change had been made this work was done in july august and september it was not kno TO why the work was discontinued on cress examination he said either on the north side or the south aide of the river where the surveys were made a railroad could ba built A road along the bide of the mountain would interfere with the wagon road F J norris was with the party doing work in grading whenever an attempt was made to do work near hanging kock mr kramer of the power plant would interfere the latter even threat j ened violence this interruption occurred at different times once witness asked to be stopped in a legal manner and mr kramer asked if he wanted to be stopped with a shotgun judge king then caneup cam eup on sept and said he had legal papers to have work atop and the grading ceased the excavation ca at hanging rock was about aa much as five men could do in a day before the power plant people stopped the grading there wera about fifteen men in the grading party working from july 10 to oct 1 the interruption at hanging rock occurred on AUK 8 on cross examination be said when he first went there to grade he found about five men in the engineering department part ment of the power and aboud as many doing other work TUESDAY FORENOON abo attendance was augmented this morning by the presence ot general manager dodge and welby of the R G W mr baxter was recalled and gave additional dit ional in relation to the survey it related mainly to the times ho sent in hig field notes engineer andrews of the R G w was with the corpa in the canyon last summer engineer kramer of the power plant isad with their work on aug 10 threatening to throw a leyel in the river it was at hinging kock chief engineer yard was again recalled he described the main lines of road operated and corrected his statement that he had worked thirteen years tor the E G W it was for the D R G and later the R G W joel ricks way agent of the R G W identified an agreement to sell given by A L murphy dated jane four days before the final deed given defense objected to its introduction and objection was sustained this ended the testimony of the plaintiffs and the defense at once moved a nonsuit non suit mr R as hia reasons ij that the deeds of murphy showed r H ha non t tran itei 2 that the rio granda western has no right to build through provo canyon their time having expired end not belac renewed by enactment act ment 3 that no rights wt re acau r en government by the mere adling of maps and profiles they must first be accepted mr brown then went into elaborate discussion of the motion mr murphy had no rights that donld at any time be considered in court and aberi how can his deputies have any he had abandoned his claim aad lorn down his house before be eyer sold to th railroad the K G W hag no land grants such as the pacific roads all its lights ba regularly acquired ake other corporations in the case of the plaintiff corporation it has inherited its rights to build certain lines from a former company tee original corporation provided for gome fifteen different routes and taking in their first projection they date back as far as 1881 for fourteen years tho franchise through provo canyon lay unused the law provides that if no work ie done within tap twp years after the original papers abre filed and tho work completed within ten years the franchise shall be constructed ted then followed lot of citations of laws showing where roads had lost their rights similarly some of cases were almost the same as the case in hand all showing that the law executed itself |