, 1879-03-09


- OBADIAH. JACKSON.
Decision by Judge Moore in Rera,a :.
Those Alleged Forged Deeds, -
Judge Farwell late Friday afternoon rend.r.;,
4 decision in the important case Of Franc,s 1,o,,
son IS. 4. Amelia Jackson, Elizabeth and W..
Carroll, Chdrlcs X. Carroll, The PhGnix Nntr,1
LIc-1nsurarcc Company, Moses j. Bu.ler ,n,
others, to set aside some deeds alleged In b,n.
been forged by the late Obadiah jackson. ~.
was q bi1l by the complainant, claiming ona
third Of real estate in this ctty formerly nvn.,
by Obadiah Jackson. S-., who died In 1SG5. ,e,s
ing Obadiah, Alice, and the complainant q, HI,
only heirs. The property In which the nm,
p'ainant: claims one-third interest /, Nos ~ ~
377, 379, and ISL Dearborn ayenue H..
ing four mnrblc-front dwellings, valued At ahor.
$4,000, erected In ls74 aud 1875 by Ob,d;sh
and Francis. The sister Alice, now Mrs, Br,,.
ford, sold her interest in 1879 to Obadiah to,
$4,000. In 1868 quit-claim deed w1s n,,cea
oa record purporting to come from Alice ,nd
Francis to Obadiah, and to convey to the lat,er
all their interest In their father's estat. hn.
this instrument is claimed to be forgery. Ths
other property claimed By Francis is situated A.
Nos. 2o4 and 296 West Twelfth street. he;nr
tenement houses, valued at from 5000 to s,a.
600. This latter property was sold By Obadiah
in 1872 to- H, G. Dickhaut, Of Cincinnati. O., hnt
the title was not in him at that time, rxc.n, ;,
to two-thirts interest Afterwards, in 1916
forged quitrclaim deed was placed on 4ecod
purportng to run from Francis to Dicshaut
conveying bis share. Also, release Of a tina,
deed previously executed hy Dickhaut to Fan.
els as Trustee vas placed on record, which r..
lease Francis claims was also forged. Oths1in
cumhrauces to the amount OF $500 IN all vpr,
then placed on record BY Dickhaut, claiming to
own the property
the Dearborn avcuue tots in fayorof the Pheajr
Mutual Lifc-Insurauce Company, by 0beai.h
F. Then in 1867, when the exposure Of Obadiab's
dealings was made, the CAROLS, finding ct.t.n
SECURITIES previously given 10 them by ObadisA
were forged, took i second mortsage On TIE
Dearborn houses Of ISL, ,000 The blu b
brought to remove the aboye-aamed
iacumbrances as clouds on FRANCIS >oneshhn
! share Of the property above mentioned.
| The trial occupied over week, and q laros
amount of evidence was taken. After It ",
| alt in, tAe counsel rent on to argue: but ths
| Judge stopped them, and said he had made 90
| his mind, and did not care to hear anything
| further. None Of the couyeyances Of 0beai,h
| jackson had been produced in court, and thsi
| was - :.
| MATERIAL CIRCUMSTANCE AGAINST HI.
! The only evidence of the decd Of 1858 profess
| Ing to convey F7ancis' and Al;ce's interest to
{ Obadiah Was in abstract on the abstract booxs.
! Fru1cis' appeared to have filed the bill
| as soon rs he knew o. tha
| forgerics, and while his brother was still n7ns.
| Had lie waited until Obadiah died, that would
! r. r. frf4 of
| lar as suspicious circumstances were concerned.
| But when the Dill was filed Obadiah vas ia tle
| prime of life, in good health, and able to tell
| what he had done, and what Others had dote
| that be knew about. Francis charged bis
| prother With most grave erirat, yet none ot
| what he knew Of the matter. 1t was not to b.
| supposed Francis would try to prove br tn
| bro!nrr that the latter Was a riotset
| Francis swore he did not know Of the ezistenes
| Of the forged documents until tue fall Of lSs6,
| and there vas no satisfactory evidence 10 sho1
! that be did know it.
" THE ONLY SERIOUS QUESTION,
| then, IN the case was wnet.2r Francis lld 10
treated the parties and the property as 70 au-
rh6rizc or Justify those people III lending their
money and considering Obadiah as the owner:
There was some testimony tending to pross
| that, but it was nut sufficient to peoss
| it. There was no eyjdence to- h
| relied on to show that Francis execnte1
|. tile papers charged to be forged. True, be VII
| iu Obaliah's oflicc, but there was no eEi4enft
to prove guilty knowledge on his part Tx
{ failure to show the papers by the defendant.
| was a material circumstance. The deed of
I 1855 might have been left with Obadiah andds-
stfoSed 10 the: great FIRE But It vas dideeut
f:ns to The deeds of.the West Twelfth street Re7
+ Hrt5: nose bapers should be 10 the possessaa
| OF Dickhaut or Of the savings banS, OF bntla,
| VINO ciaimed some Of the securities ba;
none Of those parties produced them
| or accounted for their non-appeal1ree..
The affidavit Of an attorney that he could %:
produce them was not sufficient, and the pfsa1
| must be clear and satisfactory before the dt'
PENDANTS could rid themselves Of the necessity
| of producing them. The eyidcuce was suttidtai
to show that the allegations OF Francis as to '1e
I forgery OF the deeds conveying his interest W.T.
I true and had been abupdant!y proved. u1 ue
| question as to whether his conduct had bee1
rights, there Was some doubt, but, on sae
whole, the evidence was not sufficient 70 es'0'
| ASSERTING lis RIGHTS. ~.
In the first place lie was tenant ia common, aa1
therefore the management OF this property a0a
it's possession by one tenant ia common was po'
| suspicious. II he had claimed the whole pFop
crts, and allowed somebody else to take posses'
SION OF it and rent It, that tolsh1 durt ols eiaa
! Dut LutTC H1S AUtL44tS5 0Aa+1%]NA3A ~ N@~
in common being IN possession OF property y: y:
did not, By hIe acts, take such an adverse pos:
ton as gives the world to understand ana lug lug
other tenant in common to understand tnas u
position w3s adverse; that he did 1os '5eaf
uizc the rights Of the other ten-nt u u
common. 1t often happened, perhaps u
majority OF cases, that property WHICH w
held by tenants in common was IN tue ae!us
occupation :ot but one Of them; that one y
them was the person taking care OF 1t, oecop!
inc it, possessing it, but it was the posseSs"'
OF them ali. 1t was evident enough that ias ~
els Jackson had unbouuded couhdeace u -
| brother Obadiah; and the proof showed t1a1 ..' ~
was not singular in that; that other peop'e ~. ~
uubounded confidence in Obadiah Jackson, W.
tEey understood him to he person OF '-is
property, and Of strict integrity and Of e." !,
business qualifications, and theT tntrnsted: :
him their money and their rights. without neslls
rion; That the parties Ia this suit,. soae .aon
them, did that very thing Tue testlnsJr es"h,
show ed that MIR. Dickhaut did what MAS psopa "
bly, 4 very unwise thing TOR any man ~ ~ - -
matter how good may be the character anG ~ n
sponsibility of the person he was aeal4s ,ar raor
that he trusted to the man Obadiah Jaedaoa d ~
from whom he was taking his deea; ne ~ anl .I
require the papers to ps given to Mm, u "9uu har
seem; not to himself personally, at least. lnsa
was no evidence that Dickhaut ever 50" ~, y
these releases; that he did not have any apsnas
OF the property before ne putenas~s pstI !,
and that BIC relied upon Obadiah Jacssot : :
assure him and give him some docaneus doe'a :
show that the title was good; he w3s "nnn1 ila,s
trust to his statement. So with the Cs.5o!!s ns