Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1875-10-05
LETTER FROM CHICAGO.
sEprEMBEn I7th. 1916.


acres OF landtin Northern Indiana, lying in
the counties of Fulton, St Joseph. La Porte,
and Porter.
Mr.. Cabell becoming subsequently largely
indebted to the Bank of Virginia, made an
assignment of these lands to secure the Bank
and to indemnity his brother, DIR. p. Cabell,
as his indorser, and appointed the late Henry
L. Brooke, then of Richmond, as his trustee
Mr. Brooke accepted the trust. and finally at
the urgent request nf DR.. Cabell, he assumed
the debt to the Bank. and liquidated it, aud
took an assignment of the lands 10 himself ia
fee simple He then9 became the owner in
fee, of between five aud six Thousand acres of
the best lands in Northern Indiana. In order
to manage the disposition of them, he took IN
! partner, q resident of Indiana, (VirgIlian
by birth), and gave him power Of attorney
to sell, aud make title. 'This gentleman was
of an extrAyagant, and totally Unreliable char.
acter; and although 10 period Of ton years.
he made sale of nearly one hundred and I6tty
Thousand dollars worth of land. he paid over
to his partner, Mr. Brooke, but six thousand
dollars of the proceeds The latter, finding
the speculation. at this rate, Improbable. con-
cluded to sell his interest to his Indiana part
ner, and did SO in 1850, reserving title In
himself, but neelecting to put on record any
revocation of the existing power of attorney;
and receiving but fire thousand dollars in
cash. The Indiana partner. (whose name l
furbesr to mentioDl, continued to sell all the
land he could. and to make title to the same.
under his power of attorney he not only
sold. but p"cketea the proceeds, and failed to
pay over the remaining purchase. money due
to Mr.. Brooke. Things went on in this way.
until 1866, when MIR b brought suit in
Marshall county, Indiana, where his vendee
resided, for principal and interest then due
him. And now comes in another phase of
Indiana fnancieripg. The case was pending
when the war commenced, and without awaits
ing the close of hostilities, the attorneys and
judge fixed up 4 decree adverse to Mr. Brooke.
and had il entered. As soon as the war
closed. he appealed, and the Court of Appeals
of Indiana decided that all proceedings had
in the Court below, after hostilitiea had COM
menced. should be vacated. and the decree
set aside. As soon the case was remanded.
Mr.. Brooke removed it tn the Circuit Court
Of the United States at Indianapolis, and
there it pending at his death. s'i
A part of this history, not insignificant in,
morals. is that there was organized in this
section of Indiana a regular company Of
Forgers, whose business wns to make deeds
for squatters. by forging the names of the
patentees and nom resident owners and charg-
ing an adequate compensation for their fraud
ulent titles This comnany made clean
sweep of such lands as Mr. Brooke's partner
had not succeeded in selling, and most Of
these fraudulent titles have doubtless ripened,
by lapse Of time and adversary possession,
into good defences against actions to recover,
on the part of the real owner / have no
doubt that this little chapter of history in
l. L.
fe-si"nailv interested. epitOmizcs consider.
able portion of the origin and progress of
land>titlcs throughout the whole Western
country And still farther West, where new
and more intricate complications will hereafter
arise from Homestead and Pre-emrtinn laws,
the lawyers and spectators mnst, for a long
time to, come. find rich harvest for talent,
ability. sharp practice and speculation Per
haps upon the whole, it may be considered
improbable for non>residents to invest in
Western lands. unless the Investment be made
in compact compass, in some growing town,
or city, with determination to trust as little
"a possible TO agents. and to practice constant
personal vigilance. IF any other course he
pursued, the investor will in the long run
most probably. find his account, las your cor
respondent did. acting for his cients), in
buying his way out of the turmoil Of doubtful
litigation bv compromising on ore half of his
original purchase money / give this advice
to your readers gratis
Althe wav from Cincinnati to Indianapolis
the marks of the destructive rains of July and
August were plainly. and painfully visible
Whole fields of what had evidently been
promising plant of corn. were now 'bsrren as
the top of rock" In other places, the
stocks were lef, dead, and shriveled.
l was very pleasantly impressed with the
appearance of indianapolis. Very many
towns have been laid of IN situations where
the owners of the lots have evidently said
here there shall DO o city 4: whereas Nature
had maniie>tEy sard-Mtrc there shall not =
Others again, have been laid off without any
view 10 expansion, aud have grown up by ac
cldent. as it were, IN sort OF gig gag fashion.
Indianapolis, on the contrary. seems to have
been mapped out originally for what she has
actually become-a magnificent city, with
broad. and regular streets. comfortable squares
and parks, aud beautiful shades and ave aues
She has 80, 900 inhabitants. as = buying
figure, but 100, 900 as a selling figure for 10,
owners. All the Western cities have margins
of this sort. l am not going to tell you how
many iron manufactures, or lumber mills she
has-because l don't know but do know
that the great number of buildings going up,
and the general appearance of busting ac-
rivity, and trade, indicate the growing impor-
lance of prosperous and Furnishing city
In company with my friend, Judge Hines,
had the pleasure of calling upon, and making
the acquaintance of "the coming man." Cow
crnor Hendricks The State has largely out
grown her State Fl ouse, and the Governor has
his Office in an adjoining block, where he has
two rooms fitted up in Republican simplicity,
one for himself, and one for his secretaries
l had long aud pleasant conversation with
taken for an intervies1er, from oil of which
class of impertiuent pragmatists, am sure
the Governor distinguished me at q glance.