Mr. Runyon demolished this testimony by proving that this witness had no knowledge of the points of a horse, by showing that he was indebted to the Major for his position at that time and that he had not seen the horse until she had been in the Major’s possession for some time. The Major was inclined to be flippant with the Court and, finally, when asked how he stood in regard to certain transactions, he answered that he “stood in his shirt and trousers”. The judge warned him that he would have to answer for contempt of court.
After ten minutes’ deliberation the jury returned a verdict against the defendant for $400 for the value of the horse and also assessed the costs on him, but it is needless to say that he never paid either amount, being a politician of note. The Republican party in Newark has certainly been loaded with a hard lot of citizens, first and last.
THE OPENING OF WASHINGTON AVENUE.
It will now be necessary to go back a bit in our chronology in order to get at the beginnings of the Woodside we know.
The opening of Washington avenue, about 1865, was the beginning of a new era for the neighborhood, for then Parker and Keasbey purchased a considerable tract in the vicinity of Washington and Elwood avenues and cut it up for suburban dwelling purposes and Morrison & Briggs, contractors, appeared on the scene.
To be sure “the opening of the new highway consisted merely in setting the fences back and making a narrow cut through the hill just north of Carteret street, the earth from which was used to fill the ravine further north”. A single car track was then laid from the cemetery to Second river, and Woodside was open for business.
But it was not Woodside in those days. The first name attached to the locality, and which appears to have come into use about 1863, was Ridgewood. There was, however, a post office of this name already established in the state, and when the town was set off from Belleville the name was changed to the present form.
In 1865 this was a part of Belleville, but it was not long before efforts were made for a separation, as the following documents indicate:—
ASSEMBLY—NO. 498. STATE OF NEW JERSEY.
An Act to set off from the township of Belleville, in