The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-02-17

AN INTERESTING SUIT AGAINST THE City
The TITLE TO VALUABLE PUBLIC PROPERTY
IN DIsPUTE.-A decree was rendered ycster-
day in the Circuit Court, in the suit OF
Ritchie and others against the city OF Rich
mond, i'll which the public at large are
greatly interested. Some six years ago
the heirs Of George Ritchie, who died
in 1885, presented a memorial to the CouE-
Gil claiming that they were the owners OF
50 much OF the Second Market rs lies south
of Marshall street. fronting 140 feet on
sixth and 55 feet on Marshall. After lnef-
fcctual efforts to get hearing they resolved
to bring suit and in July last brought eject
ment in the Circuit Court, claiming the
land and rent and profits. The ground Of
their complaint was:
l. That the city never obtained deed Tor
this property, and when she accepted it
made the delivery of deed a condition
precedent.
2. That subsequent to the offer OF the pro-
perty to the city the owner conveyed this
very land to other parties, through whom
these plaintiffs derived title; and
8. That at public sale few years after
the tender Of this property to the city it
was sold (the city making no protestb and
conveyed to those under whom the plaintiffs
claim.
The city relied on adversary possession for
sixty years /; on the statute Of limitations;
on the legal presumption from the facts in
the case, that deed had been executed,
though possibly never recorded, or the re-
cord lost; and on certain admissions in
ferrable from expressions in the deeds,
through which the plaintiffs claim. Much
antiquated evidence was introduced Of
great interest to those who are con-
cerned about the olden time. It ap-
| peared that the property was owned at
the beginning Of the present century by
| Thomas Giliat, whose executor, - Gale
20, conveyed it to William Marshall and SUM-
dry others, the conveyance covering one
fourth OF the square. The portion covered
by the New Market was offered to the city
in the summer Of 1916, and sundry citizens
offering to pay the expense of erecting the
| house, the Common Council, cat meeting
held at the Capitol" Saturday, July 6, 1915,
accepted the offer, and appointed Doctor
| William Foushee, Benjamin Wolfe, Mann
S. Valentine, John G. Gamble, and AleXan-
| der Nj cRae to receive the subscriptions. The
record has, as all the contemporaneous ones,
q great seal. and the signature Of "Robert
Pollard" president, affixed.
| On the 18th Of January, 1917, the market
was formally opened; and on the Goth
Of October, 1917, the Common Council,
finding that the private subscriptions
81, 1925, with the rents from the Old
Market (S1,540), would not foot the bill, ap-
propriated S555.75 to pay the balance due,
us the ordinance recites, "to the under
taker."
This does not appear to have been the
first market on Shockoe Hill, for the City
Attorney, in examining the records, en-
countered an act Of Assembly passed No
vember 81, 1893, establishing market-house
on Sbockoe Hill. Who can tell where it was
located? A detail Of the evidence in this
case would ill columns Of this paper, and
of course must be omitted.
The cause was argued last Saturday by
Hon. James Lyons and Hon. William Green
for the petitioners, and by A. NJ. Kelley,
Esq, the City Attorney, for the city. A
jury was waived, and the case submitted to
the court, which yesterday morning pro-
nouncea judgment for the city.
Mr.. Lyons gave notice Of his intention to
appeal. -... ...