The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-04-15
Tuenty..eycn Years I'm Court.

A FAMOUS CASE IN WEST VIRGINIA FINALLY
SETTLED AFTER YEARS OF COMPLICATION
AN INTERESTING cBAITEB.
The following account OF remarkable
and lengthy litigation in West Virginia Is
taken from the Kdndichd Gazette:
AT the term Just adjourned OF the
Kanawha county West Va.) Circuit
Court his Honor Judge Guthrie final
| Iv disposed OF the chancery cause OF Tall
ferro Us. Patrick and others. This had be-
come one OF the oldest Of many ancient
causes on the docket. Begun in 1855, and
running through some twenty-seven years
OF litigation, il has proven not only diff
cult but q profitable case to all concerned.
In 1855 w. A. Quarter, Esq, brought
the suit to partition the large body OF land
known as the John Steele 19,500-acrc sur
vey. About 1856 the partition was made.
Ii was divided into some half-dozen lots,
and different blocks were assigned to dii-
ferent owners. Lot L" b." containing about
4, 200 acres, was assigned 10 some forty or
fifty owners. James Gardner Paxton, OF
Rock county. Va, who owned some
interest i'm Lot B, undertook in 1857 to have
their land sold, and 10 organize joint
stock company. Many OF our older citi-
zens well remember Mr.. PaXton's sanguine
and energetic efforts to develop Kanawha
lands. Perhaps no man had more faith in
| the prospects OF our coal and timber lands
than he. After devoting many years OF
patient toll and much expense in attesting
| his faith i'm the "Kanawha country" as il
was then called, he was killed in the terri
BILE JeIly's Run disaster. near the White
Sulphur, in 1870.
The majority Of the owners in Lot " b y
were descendants of Chiei-Justice John
Marshall. in the spring Of 1851 Lot f" b y
was sold TO Paxton and Nicholas {. Kin
ney. James =. Jones, and Raleigh Colston,
all of Virginia. The land then sold for
| So. .g4 per acre. The cash payment al 400
was made and some other small ones. The
war came on. Inter di1nG legeS silent.
With more or less litigation the case was
resumed after the war, until in 1872 re-
sale was decreed and a resilryey had. III
was found that instead OF containing 5000
acres there were something over 1920.
September 3, 1873, II. 5. Walker pur-
chased it at the sale decreed by the court at
S12. 10 per acre, and paid the cash payment,
amounting TO some. $4,000.
The panic came on and iniunctions, de-
crees. etc, multiplied thick and fast. The
case got into the Court OF Appeals and was
about again TO be contested hotly in the
court below, when Mr.. Walker complied
with the terms OF sale and paid into court
some $4,000 or more. At the same time
he sold to DR.. Ward, Of Michigan, netting
for himself a handsome sum. The gross
sum paid into court in all was about SG7,-
OOO. The contest for some years past has
been aS 10 dividing this large sum OF
cash. The papers had accumulated until
there were several boxes OF them. The
equities arising in the case were numer-
Gus and intricate. The costs alone
amounted to some $1,000 The case
survived the terms OF about a half-dozen
Judges, beginning with Judge Summers, in
1855. OF the four purchasers, Paxton,
Kinney, Jones, and Colston, the latter
alone survives. Some OF the owners, who
were children when the suit began, are now
almost old men. And many who were
Young men and maidens in 1855 are now
grandparents. Many htigants, attorneys,
and Judges i'm this case have passed away,
and now it is gone. II has at different
times. but more especially at its close
brought profit to the attorneys and officers
OF the court. Some see il 20 with regret
for il has been well-spring OF Joy, nc
doubt, to many.