Turner v. United States

66 F. 280, 13 C.C.A. 436, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2320
Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit·Decided January 15, 1895·No. No. 253·Published·Cited by 14 cases

Opinion

PARDEE, Circuit Judge

(after stating the facts). The first, assignment of error .is that the court erred in permitting a map made by one Capt. Dan Williams, a surveyor, to be received in evidence, because it was not shown that the said map was made by authority of law. The bill of exceptions recites that on the trial the United States- called as a witness one Capt. Dan Williams, who testified that he had been employed by the United States to make a survey of the land in said section 19, and also to run the lines upon said section 13, township 3 N., range 5 W., in said Washington county; that he had made a- map of said lands and surrounding lands, but that he was unable to state that any portion of his map was correct, except those portions of said sections 19 and 13 which are" represented upon said map. The United States attorney then offered in evidence the map so made by the said Williams, to which the defendants objected, on the ground that the said map was not shown to be made by any authority of law. We understand from this that the court admitted the map of the lands in question made by Capt. Dan Williams in connection with and as a part of his evidence. It certainly was not a case of offering an unofficial map or plat as independent evidence-.

The second, third, and fourth assignments of error relate to the evidence given by one Forbes, a witness for the United States, who testified that he was a special agent of the general land office, and that he made a personal examination of the alleged depredations upon sections 19 and 13 in August of 1893. Upon being asked what number of trees, in his best judgment, as estimated by him on examination, had been cut or removed from the public land in said sections 13 and 19, respectively, said Forbes replied, “About 200 on section 13, and at léast 2,000 on said section 19,” to which question and answer defendants objected. No reason for the objection was given at the time, and no reason is given in the. assignment of error. The United States then, by its attorney, asked said witness Forbes, “Did you know the market value at that place of timber or trees like those cut on said section 19?” to which question the defendants objected. The court overruled said objection, but the bill of exceptions does not show what, if any, answer was made by the witness to the question. Thereafter the witness Forbes testified to an altercation and difficulty that he had had with the defendant Noel E. Turner at the store of the latter in Washington county, whereupon the'defendants asked said witness the following question: “Did you attempt to get a gun, after the altercation' in which you were assaulted by the defendant Turner, to shoot him with?” The [283] United States, by its attorney, objected to this question; the court sustained said objection, but the record is silent as to what answer witness would hare made to the question if permitted by the court, and also silent as to what was the defendants’ purpose to prove by the question propounded. Tt would seem from this statement of the objections made to the evidence of the witness Forbes that no error prejudicial to the plaintiffs in error can be predicated upon it.

The fifth assignment of error is that the court refused to allow one Green, a witness for the United States, to answer the following question: “What would be the value of the timber if there was no tramway there;?” We find in tin' bill of exceptions that such question wras propounded to the witness Green on cross-examination, but, as in the case of Forbes, no showing is made as to whether or not the answer would have been material in the case.

The sixth assignment of error is that the court erred in overruling a motion of the defendants to exclude all of the testimony as to the cutting of timber by one John Turner, a witness sworn by the government, because the said Turner had testified that he only knew the lines of the land from which he cut timber from tin' statements of one Logan, who had not been previously shown to be familiar with the lines bounding the lands upon which the alleged depredations had been charged. It appears from the bill of exceptions that one John Turner, called as a witness for the United ¡átales, testified in chief That he knew the north line of section 10, and that he cut upon said section about 30 trees; that he only knew the western line of said sections 33 and 19 of the survey made by the aforementioned witness Daniel Williams, who was accompanied by the witness Forbes. According to the said survey, he cut on section 33 20 trees, more or less, and on section 19 about 30 trees. On cross-examination he testified that “all of his information about said sections he knew from information made to him by one Logan.” We are of opinion that the motion to exclude all the testimony of Turner as to the cutting of timber on sections 13 and 19 because his knowledge of lines was derived from others was properly overruled. The witness, according to Ms evidence, had cut trees on sections 13 and 19, according to the survey made by the witness Dan 'Williams, who was accompanied by the witness Forbes. Without running the linos himself, his exact knowledge of the section lines would necessarily be dependent upon hearsay. As the whole matter went to the jury, we think tin; objections made were rather to the effect of the evidence than t.o its admissibility.

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Turner v. United States, 66 F. 280, 13 C.C.A. 436, 1895 U.S. App. LEXIS 2320 (5th Cir. 1895).

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