Holden v. United States

24 App. D.C. 318, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 5339
CourtCourt of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
DecidedDecember 13, 1904
DocketNo. 1323
StatusPublished

This text of 24 App. D.C. 318 (Holden v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holden v. United States, 24 App. D.C. 318, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 5339 (D.C. Cir. 1904).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Lustice Alvey

delivered the opinion of the Court:

This case comes from the police court on writ of error. An information was filed by the United States against the defend[322]*322ant, Thomas F. Holden, on the 24th day of October, 1902, alleging the violation by the defendant of § 901 of the Code of the District of Columbia, providing against the pollution of the waters of the Potomac river and its tributaries, within the District of Columbia.

The information filed on the 24th day of October, 1902, alleges that, on the 15th day of October, 1902, the defendant did, then and there, unlawfully allow a certain waste product, to wit, water mixed with tar and oil of the gas works of the Washington Gas Light Company, situate at the foot of Twelfth street, southeast, in the city of Washington, in said District, to flow into and to be deposited into a certain tributary of tire Potomac river, within said District, known by the name of the Anacostia river, and also known by the name of the Eastern branch of the Potomac river, against the form of the statute, etc.

To this information the defendant appeared, and pleaded not guilty, and waived a jury trial. A trial was had before the couid, at which a bill of exception was taken to various rulings of the court, and, the defendant having been found guilty, he was sentenced as prescribed by the law, and he thereupon applied for and obtained a writ of error to this court.

At the trial, the government produced testimony tending to prove that on the 10th day of September, 1902, certain specimens of water mixed with oil and tar were taken by one Lohman from the Anacostia river, which is a tributary of the Potomac river, in the District of Columbia, at a point where a certain discharge of water mixed with tar and oil is made from the premises of the Washington Gas Light Company into the water of the said Anacostia river; it being admitted by the defendant, Holden, that the said premises of the Washington Gas Light Company were then and there under his control, and that he was responsible for the said discharge.

It was further proved by the government that the said specimens had been analyzed by the District chemist, I. D. Hird, and that he found in one of the said specimens taken at the point in question 2.55 per cent of coal tar; and that the process used in obtaining the result was by extraction with a chemical [323]*323substance known as Xylod, wbicb then evaporated, and the result weighed. That the process was carried on in a room at a temperature of from 15.5 to 18 degrees centigrade, which is equivalent to about 65 degrees Fahrenheit. And further gave evidence tending to prove that at other times water mixed with tar and oil flowed from the gas works of the defendant into the said Anacostia river, but produced no samples of said water so mixed, and offered no analysis thereof.

The defendant then testified in his own behalf, and gave evidence that the only discharge of water from the gas works in question into the Anacostia river is from what is called the filtering basin, thereafter described, and that said filtering basin has no connection whatever with any refuse matter from the manufacture of coal gas, and that no such refuse matter from coal gas is discharged in the Anacostia river, but only refuse matter from water gas. The witness then described the gas works on the premises, and the manner in which they are operated in the manufacture of gas, as follows:—

“We first manufacture what we call water gas or hydrogen gas in certain generators. The cupola, a certain part of the apparatus, is filled with fuel, and brought up to an incandescent heat. Then a flood of steam is let into that body of fuel, whereby the carbon is displaced, and the result is a hydrogen or straight water gas. That goes into what is called a relief holder. Then the gas, as it is needed, is taken out and run through illuminators, which are nothing more than wrought-iron boxes. In these boxes are eleven zig-zag trays, and on each tray are about 11 feet of 1-inch steel coil. The object of that is to heat the illuminators up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, if possible. Then oil is mixed for the first time with gas in the illuminator. The hydrogen gas comes out of the relief holder, and enters at the top of the illuminator with the oil. When that gas leaves the illuminator it is conducted to what are called benches, containing the retorts and the fixing chains, and it is fed through the retorts. There are 42 retorts in- one stack, and then the gas goes up the standpipe and down into a hydraulic main. In that hydraulic main there is an air-tight seal, and the gas comes in [324]*324from the retort. A water seal is maintained there in order to prevent the gas from getting back into the retort. It is necessary to supply a certain amount of water to make up for the evaporation, and to keep the temperature for the hydraulic main normal, — that is, at a proper degree of temperature to allow the gas to mix. In that way there is a deposit of coal tar. This is the tar that is in the gas, and as it comes down the drip pipe it drops to the bottom. The tar runs off into what we call a water-gas tar well, which is of 15,000 gallons capacity. Coal tar is the product which results from the use of oil in the process of manufacturing water gas.” The construction and operation of the works are illustrated by a series of maps or drawings used in evidence, and which appear in the record.

There were many witnesses examined for the defendant,— some to show that it was not practicable to manufacture gas of the character manufactured at the gas works in question without producing waste products of tar and oil, and that it was not jDracticable, in the operation of the works, to prevent the discharge of some quantity of such waste products into the waters of the river. There was much expert evidence given to show the volume of water in the river where the waste matter was discharged therein, and the action of the currents in the river upon such waste matter, and to what extent the pollution of such waste products could be traced in the water by color or otherwise, or whether the effect of such waste products was of a deleterious character or not.

The principal expert witnesses on the part of the defense were Professors Wiley and Monroe, professional chemists; and their testimony was quite full as to the extent of the waste products discharged and their effect upon the water of the river. The testimony of Professor Wiley is quite exhaustive upon the subject, and we shall quote somewhat at large from his testimony in order to show the extent and effect of the discharge of the waste products into the river, of which complaint is made.

Dr. Wiley says: “I am a chemist, and am chief of the Bureau of Chemistry of the Department of Agriculture, and have been such for nearly twenty years. I have practised my [325]*325profession as a chemist for twenty-seven years. I have visited the gas works in question on several occasions, and have a general knowledge of the method in which the process of manufacturing water gas is carried on there.

“Water gas in general is produced by passing superheated steam over carbon at a high temperature, producing decomposition of the water, the union of the hydrogen with the carbon forming hydrocarbons. These are afterwards saturated with low-boiling gasoline, or a petroleum product, which is called carburetting, in technical language, which adds to the water gas a certain element from the gasoline, a gaseous element.

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Bluebook (online)
24 App. D.C. 318, 1904 U.S. App. LEXIS 5339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holden-v-united-states-cadc-1904.