the city from it; I used to be more than I am now acquainted with the value of property in Covington; and 2859 I am now.

2860

Q. What is that property worth per acre?

A. People there, who know as much or more about such things than I do, differ very much in their estimates of property; my idea is that a part of the tract would be worth say $1,500 an acre, and another part not over $500; the city of Covington has a population of from 30 to 40,000; this property is, I should think, about three-fourths of a mile from the built part of the city—perhaps more than that in the route they would have to take to get to it; the population of Cincinnati is about 225,000; the river is about 400 yards in width there; I have owned property in Covington.

Q. Do you know certain stores of Mr. Forrest in the city of Cincinnati?

A. Only as they have been pointed out to me in the same way as the Covington property was.

Q. On what street, on which side, and how many are they?

A. The locality is on the corner of Main and Ninth streets; the quantity of land I do not know, or the number of stores; the stores front on Main street; there may be a store fronting on Ninth street, in the rear of the lots; this is on the east side of Main street.

Q. Are you acquainted with the value of property in Cincinnati?

2861 A. Yes, sir; pretty well.

Q. What is the value of the Main street property which you have described?

A. I can't state the value without knowing the quantity.

Q. Supposing them to be several stores-lots, how much per foot on Main street are they worth?

A. The corner lot of 25 feet, then, I should think would be worth $750 per foot; the others, I should think,

would not be dear at $600, and cheap at $500 per foot; the value is about the same after you get away from the corner; on reflection, I think $550 per foot would be enough for them.

Cross-examination:

2862

I have property in Cincinnati-real estate; I have a few thousand dollars' worth; I have held property there pretty largely, and do now; I do not own any property in Covington now; I suppose I sold out there ten years ago; I have not bought or sold property there since; for many years, when a younger man, I was a book-keeper and accountant; subsequently, for many years, I was a lumber merchant; my last business was that of the Cincinnati sugar-refinery, which burnt down a year and half ago; since then I have not commenced any new business; I have bought real estate upon speculation—that is, I bought it at one price and sold at another; what I now own I have held many years, how- 2863 ever; this Covington property was first pointed out to me as Mr. Forrest's property about fifteen years ago; I can't say of my own knowledge, how it has been occupied, but I have understood by a tenant of his, simply to take care of it and to keep it in good order; improvements are very inferior; if I were to buy the property, I hardly think I should value them much; the buildings are of little value, and I always looked on them as temporary; I think there is a dwelling-house of some kind; I should think it yields very little if any revenue or income, perhaps enough to pay the taxes; the part that I that I say is worth $1,500 per acre, I cannot give the proportion of; 2864 it is the part that is easily accessible from the road; this Cincinnati property has, I rather think, if anything, diminished in value the last few years; the value I have given is its present value, and independently of the buildings; I should think the land worth about as much without the buildings as with them; though it would perhaps cost $5,000 to put up one such store as that on

the corner; but the buildings are not of such a character as a person paying such a price would want; I have heard of no sales of property in Covington recently; I don't think property is selling there now with any sort of facility; I know of a number of sales in Covington within a twelvemonth, but not in the neighborhood of 2865 Mr. Forrest's premises; the last sale that I know of, in that immediate vicinity, was a number of years agoa tax sale; I gave no rule of the value of property then; about six years ago Mr. Chambers sold a piece of about four acres; small lots I have known to be sold; I would not buy any of this property at any of these prices; I have given only what I supposed to be the market prices; if anybody should go there to buy this property, I suppose the holder would not like to take less; I do not believe those lots would bring that price at auction, if it was forced into the market; I can't venture to answer what this Covington property of Mr. Forrest's would bring at auction on fair notice; I can't form an 2866 intelligible estimate; on public sale, on fair time, I think the Cincinnati property would come pretty near the prices that I have named; I think it would bring within ten or fifteen per cent. of what I have named, if it were put up at auction; I would not give that for it; I don't want to buy any more than I have got. (The last sentence objected to by defendant, as not responsive. Objection overruled.)

2867

JAS. P. KILBRETH.

SAMUEL D. BABCOCK, for plaintiff :

I reside in the city of New York.

JUNE 17TH.

Q. Are you well acquainted with the town of Yonkers ?

A. Yes, sir; I live in the vicinity in the summer; I have looked at the description of property in Ex. No. 3; I am acquainted with the value of property in the vi

cinity of the premises there described; I have been frequently on those premises.

Q. What, in your judgment, is the market value per acre of the land mentioned in that deed?

A. I should consider $1,500 per acre to be a fair valuation of that ground.

Cross-examined :

I own land within half of a mile of it, south of this property; I am interested in some sixty acres now, 2868 bought seven years ago, I think; the prices then varied materially, according to the locality; that having a river front would command fully three times as much as that not more than a quarter of a mile back; the cost of one hundred acres, which I bought at that time, was $500 per acre; it ran back three-fourths of a mile from the river, and embraced land of much less value than that; I think there were 1,300 feet of front on the river; we resold some forty acres, that is, it has been divided among the owners; we have absolutely sold about twenty-five acres; the largest parcel, I think, was about nine acres; I reside six months in the year upon a part of it; we are not offering the residue for sale, and have 2869 not been for some time past; we think it for our interest to hold it; we have never offered it for sale at all; I do not think there has been any sale of unimproved land there for two or three years, nor of any being offered.

My firm is Babcock, Brothers & Co., in Wall street ; we are bankers; I have been on the ground of the Fonthill property several times, in six or seven years past; up to the time of Mr. Forrest's leaving, it was not occupied in such a way as to yield any revenue, I should think; the "Castle" was unoccupied; the other dwelling was occupied occasionally; whether this land was tilled, I do not know.

Only one of my associates in the purchase of the 100 acres lives on the premises; I was not on this land of

2870

2871

Mr. Forrest's with a view to purchase, or to determine its value; I don't know that I would give $1,500 per acre; I will give $1,000 per acre cash for the property on delivery of the deeds.

Re-direct:

I am a freeholder in the city of New York.

S. D. BABCOCK.

JUNE 23D, 1859.

Plaintiff gives in evidence an exemplification of a deed from Elijah Weeks to Edwin Forrest, dated May 1st, 1838, property in New Rochelle. No. 7. 20th June, 1859, date of exemplification.

SAMUEL F. COWDREY, sworn for plaintiff :

I am an attorney and counsellor at law; I live at New Rochelle, in Westchester county; I have resided there ten years; I am a freeholder in that town.

Q. Are you acquainted with the premises described in the deed (No. 7) just read?

A. I know the property which I presume is referred to in this deed, but I do not know it precisely by this description; but I know the property lying on the 2872 west side of the road, well known as Mr. Forrest's place, or Mr. Leggett's, and from the description in the deed I have no doubt it is the same.

Q. Are you acquainted with the value of real estate in that vicinity?

A. I am.

Q. What is the fair market value of that property at this time?

A. That place is worth from $4,500 to $5,000.

Cross-examination:

There is a very nice dwelling house upon it, a barn, and some other improvements; they were erected before I removed to New Rochelle, more than ten years ago; I should think that building was worth $2,500, including 2873 the out-buildings.

S. F. COWDREY.