The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1870-12-01
A FAR WEST ROMANCE- LAND
IN SEARCH OF AN OWNER.
Correspondence of the Sacramento Union.

| In SEARCd OE AN y w N EtC.
| Correspondence of the Sacramento Union.
They have romance land case at Port
land, one that involves about quarter
of million dollars worth of real estate
and the efforts made to hunt up the heirs
by spectators who honestly covet the In
heritance. Twenty years ago | re mem
Der quiet, staid individual who had a
landclaim adjoining Portland on the
south. 1t consisted of some bottom land
| subject to overflow, a strip Or bench OF
| upland, and back further the heavy fiji
forest covered rough rising ground. This
Finice Caruthers and his mother had a
mile square of land there. six hundred
and forty acres. He used his opportuni-
| ties to moderate advantage, and he and
his mother both lived and died there,
leaving the land immensely valuable as
the only field for the city to spread in
that direction. 1t was charged that he
was an lllegltimate son, and the State
| claimed the land for escheat, as they
| made no will, the mother dying first
Then 1t came out there was marriage
| and it proved an unhappy one; the wife
had taken her son, and, resumlng her
| maiden name, they went westward and
cared for themselves. This happened
early in the century, and atter while
they found their way to Oregon, and
male them home on the rough hill
sides along the river, above Portland.
Living quietly, and being plain folks of
no cultivation, though offair intelligence
and Of good reputation. they made no
stir while alive, save that of her maiden
name being adopted by both, gave rise
to the surmise and rumor that his birth
was not sanctioned by wedlock. 1t re-
manned for their deaths only to make
their names famous The joint property
then became his by the death Of his
mother, and on his death the question OF
whose it was became more interesting
each year as the spread Of the city and
the great increase in value of property
made the ''Caruthers' estate the sub
iect Of general speculation.
At first the State claimed it as an es
cheat for want Of legal heirs. Then it
was discovered that relations on the
mother side were alive, and some en-
terprising person undertook to secure all
the titles, which process involved much
time and money. The Attorney of one
of these parties visited seventeen states
and traced every clue that could be dis
covered, and the titles were thus secur-
ed, as was thought, so that these gentle
men looked on the original Caruthers
section of donation, and the important
and valuable property outside of it, ac
quired by the frugal Caruthers, as their
own valuable perquistes. The claim of
the State was abandoned, and the mat
ter of hunting up heirs and purchasing
their titles was prosecuted with a most
commendable assiduity.
The husband of Elizabeth Caruthers,
and the father of her son, Finice, seems
to have been trontlersman named Joe
Thomas, who possessed frontier vices and
virtues so mixed that matrimonial felici
ty was not easily achieved. When the
separation took place, Joe Thomas, well
known on the frontier and in the Indian
country as ''Wrestling Joe, :" either from
natural inclination or overpoWering grief,
he is said to have abandoned the haunts of
civilization and rushed into the Arkansas
country, and for twyaiy years was lost TO
sight among the Indians and scarce heard
of. He was reported dead, and it seems
that his family supposed him to be so
when they came TO Oregon. At Or near
Oregon City there lived two old men
who knew Of the marriage and Who seem
10 nave some ciue 10 IN history OF
wrestling joe" To fiji d out what had
become of him. they wrote a multitude
of letters to all the old froatiersmen re-
nowned through the last half century,
and the result is said to be that the old
wrestler has been discovered in the form
Of miserable, ragged old beggar in the
city of St. Louis, who. for the considera-
ton Of IS, 900 cash in hand, has decided
all his interests in the Caruthers estate
to the enterprising prospeetors who have
resurrected him IRON his rags and made
his old age triAe more honorable. He
is said to be ninety one years of age, aud
has now probably arrived in Portland,
for the purpose of aiding his friends to
make good the title he has given them
TO the rich domains of his son. The
story is romantic and quite interesting to
the parties who have brought up the
sea ttering titles to the public.