Ft. Smith Light & Traction Co. v. Schulte

• Decision Date: 27 October 1913
• Citation: 160 S.W. 855
• Parties: FT. SMITH LIGHT & TRACTION CO. v. SCHULTE et al.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

160 S.W. 855

FT. SMITH LIGHT & TRACTION CO. v. SCHULTE et al.

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

October 27, 1913.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Sebastian County; Daniel Hon, Judge.

Action by the Ft. Smith Light & Traction Company against William C. Schulte and others. From a judgment for defendants, plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

This suit was brought by appellant for the purpose of condemning a right of way across a strip of land owned by appellees near the city of Ft. Smith, in Sebastian county, Ark.

Appellees, in their answer to the petition for condemnation, set up that the location of the appellant's line of road, and the shape of the land thereafter, the necessity for constructing additional fences, streets, and crossings on account of the erection of the street railway track across the land would damage the same in the sum of $3,000, and they prayed judgment for that amount.

Schulte, one of the appellees, testified: "I think we would have to fence the right of way on both sides, and put a road through the center of the farm to get back to the Jenny Lind road. I think the right of way through the entire farm where it is ought to be worth $500 an acre. It leaves all of the highland on the east of the track, and cuts off the lowland. It would be a hard matter to sell the lowland cut off from the high ground. The high ground would have sold the low ground."

A plat was introduced in evidence, and the witness pointed out on the plat the condition of his land before and after the railway track was constructed across the same. He stated, among other things, that there was a cut of 4½ feet across the best ground; said that there was no public highway from the north side of the land to the land on the west side; stated that they raised "a good many horses, hogs, cows, and mules, and it would be hard to use the place for that purpose with the street car track there." He stated that he thought they should have $5,000 damages, including the right of way. He said the chief value of the land was because of its proximity to the city of Ft. Smith. The street car track would injure the land for resident purposes. The land would sell for truck farming; but by putting the street car on the low ground they would never be able to sell the highland for residence property.

Other witnesses corroborated appellee Schulte as to the inconvenience in getting to the land by reason of the right of way of the appellant, and as to the damage caused thereby. One witness stated that he estimated the damage to the whole tract at $4,000 or more. Another witness stated that, if the land were cut up into smaller tracts it would sell for more than $300 an acre. One witness stated that the west side, lying between the Iron Mountain Railway track and the street car track was flat and undesirable for residence property, that the best of the land was east of the street car track, and to get the best price the good land must sell the bad. One witness stated that the road running through there "almost ruins the farm, if a man wants to rent it out"; that the lowland on the west had very little value disconnected from the highland on the east. The land would not be as valuable for truck farming because of the street car track. Witness placed the value of the land...