The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1880-03-11
NO. II
THE LAWS pEcuLIAaITlEs.
Interesting Points Eliminated from
Giles County Cases by the
Supreme Court,


the following article:
The case Of McGrew VS.. Reasons
has excited more interest among
lawyers and the public than per-
haps any other. The question in
volved was: "How long does il take
a judgment to run out of date; or.
as the lawyers say. to be barred by
the statute of limitationsS" The
court decided that after the expira-
ton of ten years the Judgment iv
barred and out of date. 1t seems to
make no difference that executions
have been issued from time to time
upon it-they do not revive it. The
court says, however, that il the
creditor desires to keep his judg>
ment alive he can sue on it from
time to time and get new judgments
which would also have ten years to
run before being barred. It says
also that the creditor can, after he
obtains one judgment, sue on it and
obtain others as often as he pleases,
and the debtor has no remedy but
TO pay it. The case has provoked
great deal of criticism from the
lawyers. 1t was argued in tho SUI
preme court by Noble Smithson for
McGrew and John c. Lester for
Reasons.
The case of Aiken VS.. Suite af-
fords q strong illustration of the
insecurity of land titles and the I'M
certainties of litigation. 1t appears
that Mrs. Aiken, who is now resi-
dent of New York city, was a grand
daughter of Landon Carter, a man
of considerable prominence about
90 years since in East Tennessee.
Her maiden name was EvalIna Tay-
lor. With her two brothers she in
herited from her mother a large
landed estate partly lying in East
Tennessee, partly in West Tennes.
see and partly in Giles county.
The lands were mostly wild and
unimproved. In 1S45 she married
G K. Gillespie, ard soon after she
made power of attorney with her
husband, authorizing her brother,
N. G. Taylor, to sell her lands.
Under this power of attorney a tract
of 766 acres OF land was sold in
1S47; part to Richard c. Suite,
part to John Black and the balance
to other parties. The lands lie on
the turnpike about miles south OF
Pulaski, near the crossing of Buch-
anan's creek. The purchasers paid
for the lands, went into possession
and have held them ever since. In
1857, Mrs. Gillespie's husband hav
ing deserted her, she was divorced
from him and afterward married
Col. Albert Aiken, who was killed
during the late war, leaving her a
widow. In 1866 she began to sue
for her lands, bringing her first suit
in West Tennessee, which was de-
cided by the republican supreme
court in her favor. Another suit
in West Tennessee was brought
and decided in her favor in 1871 by
the present supreme court, aud in
1875 she brought suit in this county
against the heirs of r. 6. Suttle, TO
recover the lands sold TO their IA
Their in IS47. The court held in
these cases, as well as in others
since, that a married woman cannot
convey her lands by power of attor-
ney; that the deeds made in her
name did not pass. her interest in
the lands, but did pass the life es-
tate of her husband, and that Suit
tie, when he bought the lands, only
got the husbands life estate. Gil
lespie, the first husband, who joined
IN the deed, is still living in Louis
lana and is about rs years old. The
court decides that, upon his death,
Mrs. Aiken will DO entitled to re-
cover back her interest In the lands,
provided she will return a portion
of the purchase money, with inter-
est. The court, however, fails TO
fix the amount to be paid back, aud
also declines to say whether she
shall have any interest in the i'm
provements which have been made.
The result is that the heirs OF
Suttle, who are occupying the land,
may continue TO occupy it until tho
death of Gillespie, and are not re-
sponsible for any rents. After his
death, Mrs. Aiken may bring q new
suit to recover possession, when the
amount of purchase money TO be
paid back and the question Of inn
provements will arse. The quaint
ty of land which she will be entitled
to recover against the heirs Of Sut
tie is about sixty-seyen acres; but
there arc other lands adjoining in
volved, held by other parties and
for which suit will probably DO
brought, amounting to PCT acres,
and involving 766 acres in all; her
interest being a one-third interest.
Mrs. Aiken was represented by
Mr.. Noble Smithson and the SUIT
ties by Capt. Jno. S. Wilkes. The
case is certainly a singular one aud
the decree il regarded as legal Gu
riosity.
The famous ''steam boat case"
was also decided finally by tho
court. This was one Of the oldest
cases upon our records. the trans
actions dating back to 1858. The
controversy arose out OF the navi-
cation of Elk river by a steamer
called "The Elk" This boat was
purchased by company 10 navi-
gate the Elk and Tennessee rivers
from Elkton TO Chattanooga, and
was run by Capt. Hiram +. Hunni-
cult. 1t failed TO pay expenses,
and, after proving a seven week's
wonder on the waters of Elk river,
was sold and taken TO the Tennes-
seee as a better stream TO operate
on. The suit was brought by A.
X. Garrison and A. L. Harvey, who
were directors, to settle these ex-
penses among the stockholders,
about 81 in number, who owned the
boat. The case had fingered so
long in the court that all OF the 81
parties to the original bill had died,
except two; the books were de-
stroyed and the witnesses dead, so
that that it was impossible to get
at the real facts and the supreme
court dismissed the bill. The case
was argued by Judge Jones for
Messrs. Garrison and Harvey and
by Capt. John s. Wilkes for tue
stock holders.