The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1883-11-10
LITIGI0Us PETER QUICK.
HIS STRUGGLES AND FORTUNES IN THE pIKF
UNITY COURTS SINCE 1857.

HARRisBrRG, Pa, Oct. 2S.-In 1878 Peter
A. L. Quick, of Pike county, this State,
came into a fortune of $50 GOO. It was the
result Of law suit which he began in 1857,
with only $500 in his pocket. against the
Wyoming Coal Company of Luzerne coun
ty, with millions at its back. lie claimed a
title to tract of land in its possession,
valued at So 900 900. After ten years lti-
CATION. to carry on which Quick's only re-
sources were the proceeds Of the sale of
hoop poles, railroad ties, and the product
Of primitive saw mill in the Pike county
woods, he obtained verdict in his favor for
$500 .OO0. The Supreme Court reversed the
decision. Quick at once brought in anoth-
er suit. The coal company offered him
$780, 900 in cash 10 compromise the case. He
refused After six years of further ltiga-
ton, being unable IN raise sufficient Innds
to carry on the fight, he accepted an offer
OF $40 900 from the company, which had
spent oyer 100000 in defending the suit.
The money was attached by his lawyer,
who claimed it for fees. Quick employed
the Hon, D. NJ. Van Auken, a shrewd
Pike county lawyer to get him out of his
new difficulty. The lawyer settled for
$4,000.
Quicks Pike county. lawyer Van Auken,
had been elected to Congress in 1866, and
again in in 1898, but the expenses of his
campaigns had left him badly in debt. He
owned stable Of Hombletonian horses,
| among them stallion sired by old Ham
bleton himself. For this horse Van Auken
had refused an offer Of $4,000 in cash, II,
and another offer oftwenty blnoded brood
mares and 20 blooded yearling colts. At the
time he was employed by Quick, Van
! Auken was greatly harrassed by his credi-
| tors. When he recovered the $50 900 for
| Quick the latter loaned him money from
time to time. To secure one of these loans
Quick took chattle mortgage on tho Ham
bletonian stallion. State Senator George
II. Rowland held another clIattel mortgage
on the same horse. The tsllion was n t that
time doing service in Central New York.
and Van Auken's share Of his earnings was
81 900 year. In 1879 Van Auken heard
by accident that Quick had gone to Far.
mersville, n. y, where the horse was then
stationed, and had issued an execution -un-
der his mortgage, and had advertised the
horse for sale. Van Auken and Senator
Rowland arrived in Farmersvile in time
to stop the proceedings. An agreement was
then signed by the three that the horse
could not be sold at any time without The
consent Of two of thu parties. Shortly
afterward, however, Quick went quietly
back to Farmersville ana had the hnrs.
sold. Van Auken brorght suh against
Qliek IN recover damages for the sale OF
the stallion. lie obtained a judgment 81
$4,000. The case WAS taken to the Suprc
Court. A decisinn has lust been rendered
susts lining the judgment with costs.
1t is said that Quick has such a mania
for litigation that his money has nearly oil
been spent since 1873 in court costs and law
yers' fees. He has had from two TO four cases
on the calendar at every term Of the Pike
county courts fnr the past eight years, and
he has been beaten in nearly every case.