The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1869-05-27
From the Wheeling IrtelligvnccrI
rho Celebrated Jackson County Land


Salt.
Lor NJ MosRLL Us. AHasTRoNO AM
oTHERs.
! rs The press seems to hp laboring M
der cgregiopS errors in relation to thit
ce'e, recently lricd before the u s
Court at Charleston. beg leave TO brief
Iy state through your paper the material
facts srl present condition Of this and
MoriIrs other suits. In 1854, he, Will
other Maine spectators, assumed 10
purchase CIR nominal consideration oI
what is known as the North American
! L'nd Company, whose headquarters is
PhilOdrlphia. about $4,000 acres of land
lying mostly in Jackson county 10 this
State 10 1853 Morrll in whose namo
the deed was taken, brought about TWEEN
" tjecment 'uits in The Federal Court
in which Judge BrccksnbrOugh then
presided, and one OF these is Tue sui,
sgtinst Armstrong and others recently
lrird at Charleeion, 10 which was claimed
500 acres only.
AT the time MoriII commenced these
suits the case Of McFarl,n and others
against Miller md Lurber, involving
ilIe 10 abou! 100000 acres Of land ly
ing in Cabell snd adjoining counties,
was pending in the same Court; ard in
the Spring Of 1855 was tiled al Charles.
ton before Judge Brockenbtough, the
trial lasting thirty one days, ond resulted
in verde, for The plaintiffs. That
case rurned wholly oE he construction
the fudge gave 10 certain reservation
eonlaiard 10 patent to General S9E,
ucl Smith late Of Baltimore, dated in
1895, unIer which the plaintiff, claimed
The defence 10 that case was conducted
by those among the ablcs lawyers 10
Virginia, Of whom The late Hon. Geo.
W Sammers was ono; aud on the part
ofsic ploin,iEs BY Colonel Benz min
II Smith and The klo Judge Fry. The
point was most cIaborately discussed.
and very motoroly considered by Judge
Brockenbropgh, who gave a construction
in favor Of the plaintiffs, The decision
was ateuiesce,I in by the defendants an
their counsel, and approved by the
most cuI, neat legal minds Of the State,
i1oludtns the most eminent Judges Of
die then Virginia Court Of Appeals.
The agent Of Morrill,, Col. Bennett from
Maine, was present during tic who!s Of
that trial, and became so well ralisfi-I
with the correctness of tie Judges lul-
log upon the point on which Mogills
cases d,penled, he Immediately there
after ,rtlutaed to Maine. stating lbo do
cis:on was decisive against alomill's
cases. aud has had nothing to do with
the cases since, Al least in West Virgin.
ia. The same North American Land
Company managed in 1852 10 get Sl2,.
500 from McFarlan and others for is
releases to some 10000 acres, on which
it had patents (lnIed prior 10 Samuel
Smiths aforesOid) that were forfeited
in 1886, like those in .Jaql;son county,
and were cl1imed 10 have been redeemed
at the sane time, viz: in 1916. Judge
h. rBled the plainriifs in that case took
nothing by the release, inasmuch as all
the cOmpany's tile had Injured TO-. and
merged in the Smiths, upon its forfeit,
ure long b fore, as was the case with
other forfeited senior grants within his
boundary, As the Inclusive pa,Gul to
Samuel NJ Hopkins, in l7OG, held the
same relation to horrill's lands IN jack
son coun,y. as tho Smiths did to those
in Crbell, Merrill and bis associates
avoided trials while Judge E. continued
90 the bench, but restored to various
means 10 6 rid of the cases By some
sort ofcomprise. But lie defendants
having purchased and paid for The land
once. resolved 10 pay no more until it
was settled who had the llle-and so
the cases hung until the war commepr
crd, when Judge {. ceased to be Judge;
arl in -,SG2 81 early in 1868 tie pres
cot incumbent while Morrill, was
member Of the U s. Senate, and doubt
less aiie,l him to get the appointment
succeeded to his place, at time when
this court was thing Of form merely 10
keep Up show Of Federal authority,
while nearly all his district was in the
kajIi'ary Occp ps'ion OF the rebels, aud
his labors merely nominal; but the emol-
ument remained unjiminished which,
with the title, Eaje the Office desirable
toehim,
The conduct Of this incumbent ju nc :
lariOn to these Morrill, cases since, has
been SO extraordinary as to have At,rao.
tad the attention aud often excited the
asloni.hmenl aud apprehension Of all
EhO hayo witnessed it. shall not stop
here 10 OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES other time
and Ptsoo will better sui! : full disoIos-
IRE ......
TheS roo acres clAinNl bvNInrrlll In