The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-07-31

others. and the claim for Delaware
was subsequent to and inconsistent
with this. New jerseys titles to land
were confirmed in 1902 and by the
Revolution.
Delaware's claim to the fishing
privileges and to the right tt keep Jer-
seymen from the waters of the river
date back to 1852. William Penn had
obtained the grant of Pennsylvania,
but when he arrived he found ten
Swedes in Delaware occupying the fair
water front. He fixed lustful eyes
upon the place, and at length got a
grant from the duke of York for the
town of Newcastle and all that lay
within a twelve-mile circle thereof.
The duke, unfortunately for Penn.
had no right to make that grant, his
brother. King Charles, having never
given it to him. Penn evidently under
stood the deficiency in the grant. for
when the duke became king he got his
deed redrawn, and it passed through
the parliamentary stages and needed
only the kings great seal. just at
this juncture King James thought Lon
don was getting too hot for him and
ran away. 1t is recorded i'll an ancient
chronicle that during an u~nguarded
moment that able politician, Penn,
confessed to the board of trade that
had King James remained two days
longer at Whitehall he would have OBJ
tanned q grant under the great seal for
the three counties of Delaware" In
17OS the Delaware assembly knew that
Penn had a claim on the counties, but
denledits legitimacy. and before that
the king and council had repudiated
1t. There was Il var over the possess
sion in 1897 between Lord Baltimore's
men and the Penn tenants, and again
the council decided that the province
belonged to the crown; and in 1894 the
people of Delaware themselves form
ally, at a popular election, decided
that the crown had possessed the state
until its claim had been transferred by
the Revolution. 1t has seemed strange.
therefore, that the Penn grant should
be made the basis for Il claim in the
river, which had been, in fact, always
possessed by the crown, or general
government fact the Delawareuns
had used violence to maintain.
The Penn grant, which was never
really granted, has therefore been Il
subject of dispute for just POP years.
Rejected at first by the residents of the
colony, admitted to be void, fought
by Lord Baltimore with drawn
swords fretfully alluded to as q
ource of trouble by the Delaware as
sembly 15oyears ago, formally repudi-
ated by the king and council, rejected
again by the D~elawareans, further in
validated by the Revolution. it might
have been considered us dead as the
willy Penn himself if it had not come
forth as an argument upon the ques-
ton of who owned Pea Patch island in
the Delaware river forty years ago,
and had not then been misunderstood
and construed so that Delaware was
able to lay some claim to its genuine.
ness. and, a few years ago set up that
it was, as heir to Penn's privileges,
the sole possessor of jurisdiction over
the Delaware river within tweve miles
of Newcastle, and had the right to
make Jerseymen pay a license for fish
ing therein. An injunction of the
United States courts has suspended
operations since. and is admitted TO be
effective still. The end is not vet, for
the case has not been finally adjusted
1t affords, at least, a glimpse of early
colonial history which is not without
interest.