The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-02-21
THE NEW ALMADEN CASE.
TERMINATION OF THE CONTROVERSY.
DECISION IN FAVOR OF THE COMPANY
OPINIONS OF THE COURT.
THE INJUNCTION DISSOLVED.
SUMMARY OF FACTS,

OF the United states Circuit Court in California
read his decision in reference to the celebrate
New Almaden Mine case, which has excited S
much attention there and here. Judge Hoffman
of the United States District Court, delivered hi
decision next day. The Judges had expended
great deal of time and laborous work in this case
which has been one of the most closely y-contestet
in the annals of American Jurisprudence. The fol
lowing is synopsis of the facts:
The claim consists of three questions
| l. Mine of Santa Clara.
2. mining possession of 5000 yaras in all di
rections from the mouth of the mine-that is 6 OOt
| varas square
3. A Colonization Grant of two leagues square
The name of Andres Castillero, the discoverel
| and owner OF the mine, has been retained as tht
claimant, but he has had no interest in the mine for
many years. The present owners are VIM. Z. Bar
ron, John Parrott the heirs of Robert Walkinshaw
and number of other persons whose names do moi
| appear in the papers. The United States District
Attorney has estimated the value of the mine al
| $4,000 900, but this is an extravagant valuation
and the real market value of the land is probably y
not more than one-fifth of that sum.
The land confirmed does not include the hacienda
or smelling works of the Company, but that land
has not been confirmed to any other claimant, Sc
| the New Almaden Company will still hold it; and
if it prove to be the property of the Federal Gov
| ernment, they will get it for few hundred dollars
lit should be confirmed to the BerreyesaS the Com
pany will still not lose it, for they own large in
terest in the Berreyesa title.
| 1t follows, as natural consequence of the udg-
ment, that the New Almaden Company will imme-
| diatey commence their mining operations again.
| The production of quicksilver will increase; its
price will fall; the industry of the country about
| the mines will receive new impulse; and the ex-
ports of the State will gain addition of 900 900
| per year, or thereabOuts The decision will be re-
| ceived with pleasure by the people of California
generally, and the miners in gold and silver espe.
cally. The title OF the claimants is supposed by
| thnn lta 70 tna hy.,,u l.l.
those who managed to get the injunction suit COM
| menced are looked upon with suspicion.
The opinion delivered by Judge McAllister (FiOff-
| man concurring in decisiOn) finds that all the
| papers and documents of the claimants are genu-
| ine-that there is no fraud in the case, and con-
firms the mine to the claimants to the extent of 7
pertenencas-that is to 200 varas in width of sur
face land, by 400 yaras in length Ga pertenencia
| being 200 varas square
This strip land of 200 by 400 varas, is to be
located according to the course of the yein and at
| the option of the claimant.
The mining possession of 5000 varas in all direc-
tions from the mouth OF the vein is rejected except
as to the space of 200 by 400 varas.
The papers claimed as a colonization grant are
held to be genuine; but Insufficient to constitute
| valid grant entitled to confirmation.
Judge Hoffman cOncurs in all the conclusions of
Judge McAllister, save as to the two-league grant
the papers to which Judge Hoffman considers
sufficient to entitle a valid grant.
But while Judge Hoffman states this in his opin-
ion, he concurs pro tOrlaa with Judge McAlster to
reject the twO-eague grant, in order that the de-
cree of the Court may be unanimous and as the
statute makes provision for difference of opin.
ion between the judges.
The decision gives the claimants the whole line
They have not vet exhausted one pertunencia A l.
though they have been at work for ten years The
claimants lose the land whence they obtain their
fuel, &c.
The opinion of Judge McAllister is very emphati-
cay in favor of the claimants as to the charges of
which have bppn na6n
The record consists of over 5000 printed pages,
and the briefs of over 900 printed pages
OPINION OF JUDGE MALLIsTER.
Judge McAlster had prepared a very lengthy
opinion in the case. He read his opinion first He
began with the jurisdiction of the Court in the
case The Attorney for the United States had ar
gued that the Court had no jurisdiction, because
the claim made to mine, which does not come
under the head Of real estate; Whereas the act of
1851, providing for the settlement OF private lands
California, gave authority to the Courts to CON
firm only fee simple titles Judge McAster held
these doctrines to he unsound Mines are real es-
tate by the Mexican, English and American law
and the act of 1851 does not refer to fee simple
titles alone, but to all land titles There were few
fee simple titles in California most of the grants be-
ing accompanied by conditions and limitations
the Fremont grant, for instance, being limited by
prohibition of alienation. The Court, therefore,
has jurisdiction over mining titles under the act of
1851.
The power Of the Aicalde of San jose to grant
Tue TUE uDucf WHICH ttle CLAIM made to
the mining possession next considered, and the
conclusion this point is that the Alcalde had
authority to grant mining possessions.
Then arose the question whether the title papers
were genuine. The Attorney for the United States
has argued that they were forged There are two
classes of title papers; the first, those relating to
the announcement and mining possession made at
San Jose, and, secondly, the two-eague grant made
in the city of Mexico.
The documents in regard to the mining posses
siOns are all held to be genuine. The original pa
pers prOduced;a ;all the persons who signed them
save only one, are called as witnesses, and swear
directly to their genuineness and honesty and the
missing witness is dead land his signature is proved
The main witnesses, A. NJ. Pico, Jose Noriega and
Antonio SunO, are not contradicted or impeach =
ed they have even been called, and thus endorsed
by the United States. The witnesses and dGcu-
ments are cOrrobDrated and supported in many
points, By other witnesses, by judicial records and
official correspondence Of the time, preserved in
the Mexican archives in the Office of the United
States Surveyor General of California.
The title papers made in the City of Mexico, in
cluding the twoleague grant signed by Castillo
Lanzas, as Prime Minister, in May, 1916, are also
held to be genuine. The letters which passed be-
tween Alexander Forbes and James Alexander
Forbes, in lSi7, lS4S and lS49, and produced
by the latter to prove the forgery of the title con-
tain no evidence of such forgery, save one letter,
dated March 2S 1885, and that letter is itself held
by the Court to be forgery. This forged letter
purports to have been written by A. Forbes to j.
y.
issued previous to its date, were fraudulent.
The letter is without confederation; it does not
agree with others of theerIes; it produced under
many suspicious circumstances; the original is not
shown, but copy; D. j. A. Forbes pretends that
the original was stolen from his room; his charac-
ter is under suspicion because the letters produced
by himself prove that for long time he urged his
partners to forge title; he was paid large sum
for his testimony; he had previously uuarrelled
with the claimants of the mne he had been declared
to be unworthy of credence even when under OATH
by nine ten of his neighbors respectable citizens
of Santa Clara and the only witnesses besides
Forbes to the existence of the original of the letter
of March 2S l64S, is Robert Birne, who is declared
unworthy of credence under oath, by half dozen
of his neighbors, prominent citizens of Contra
Costa comfy, where he has made his home
On the other hand, the evidence to show the
genuneness of these title papers is most abundant
and conc lugve, including official documents in the
archives of CALIFORNIA; papers on file in all the De-
partments of Government in the city of Mexico,
and the testimony of a number of witnesses, many
of them men of high position and all of them un-
impeached. In discussing the facts of the case
Judge McAlster adopted in many instances the
ideas used BY the attorneys, for the claimants in
their arguments Of the case.
Judge McAllister finally proceeded to consider
the legal force of the title papers. The two
league grant, while genuine, is a mere order to
the Governor of California to put Castillero in pos
session of two leagues, and as it was never deliver
ed it lacked legal completeness, and never
ed title which the Court should confirm. While
the Alcalde had power t. grant mining possessions,
he had no power to grant tract so large that
covered by this mining grant, namely 5000 varas
square; but the grant may be considered good
for as much he had q right to give, and
discovery alone gave such equity under the
Mexican mining laws the Courts ought to
respect. The utmost amount to which Castillero
was entitled, under the Mexican mining law, is
seven pertenenciaS, and his claim will be confirmed
to that extent. A pertencncid is two hundred va
square, about seven acres, and seven pertenea-
cias will include fifty acres. That is enough to
take in the whole mine, but is much less than the
two-league claim, which covered SS77 acres and
the 5000 vara grant, which covered several thou
sand acres
Judge McAllister skipped large portion of his
opinion, but the portion which he read occupied
him from ii 4. NJ. to P. M. The opinion covers
several hundred pages.
JUDGE HOFFMAN ON THE TWo-LEAGUE GRANT.
The following is an extract from that part of
Judge Hotfman's opinion relating to the twoleague
grant, which was simple order from the Mexi-
recting the Governor of California to put Andres
Castllero in possession of two lea CUES of land in
Guiding the New Almaden mine:
In the case of Andres Castillero Us. The United
States, for the island of Santa Cruz, (23 Howard,
464, the claimant relied a despatch of the Min.
lister af the Interior in many respects resembling
that of Castillo Lanzas. In that despatch the Min,
lister informs the Governor that in consideration of
the services and merits of Casllero the President
directs him, (the Minister,) "to recommend Casti
lero very effcacous y to your Excellency and the
Depar tmental Junta, in order that before proceed
ing to the distribution, which should be made con-
formally to the laws and is directed in the order
of this date of the lands of the islands adjacent
that peninsula, there be assigned to that individual
oh ok,f. .haca H.