St. Paul daily globe., 1889-05-14
4 lad New Orleans Loses Over
i Half a Million Dollars in
a Lump.
Review Of the Most Cele-
brated Case in Ameri-
can History.
President Harrison Will Prob
ably Pardon ALI Army
Deserters.

WASHiNGTON, May l0.-1Uc Oull0u
States supreme court, to-day, in an opin-
ion by Justice Bradley. awarded the
executors of the will of Myra Clark
Gaines the sum of $685. 600 against the
city of New Orleans for the use of prop
erty sold by the city, but recovered by
judgment of the lower court awarding
the executors $1,3OO,OOO for the use of
the property was nOn-cOncurred in.
This case has been the most interest
ing, the hardest contested aud the most
prolonged known to the judicial history
Of:this country. Over thirty years ago
Justice Wayne, Of the United States
supreme court, said that when the his
torian of the American bar should come
to write up the case it would be regis
tered as the most remarkable in the his
tory of our courts. The case had then
: before the supreme court five times in
one form or another, and has now been
decided as many times again. The first
suit in the case was brought by Mrs.
Gaines (then the wife of Gen. Whitney,
IN 1884, and since that time decision has
followed decision in regard to it until it
has become by-wOrd that there was
always Gaines case pending. The
first suit sought to recover what was
known as the Evariste Blanc tract in
New Orleans. Blanc bought the tract
for about s4.50O from the executors of
Gen. Daniel Clark, prominent citizen
of New Orleans. He sold it and some
other land to the city of New Or
leans for $45, 900 and the city subdivided
the tract and sold it to a number of per-
SOEs for between 5000, 900 and S7O0, 600,
agreeing to defend all questions of title,
Mrs. Gaines having few months be-
fore claimed it. The grounds on which
Mrs. Gaines set up her claim were-that
she was the child of Gen. Clark by Sc
cretmarriage between him and Seulima
Carriere, woman well known in the
city. and that Gen. Clark has left a later
will than the one under which the prop
erty was sold. This secret marriage
formed the axis upon which the litiga-
ton revelved, and the case was fought
with bitterness by both sides. 1t was
not until few years before the war
that Mrs Gaines was finally declared to
befhe legitimate child and lawful heir
of Gen. Clark. Even then the
city of New Orleans did not sur
render. After the war Mrs. Gaines was
compelled to bring suit for damages.
Ins1SS1, the circuit court of the United
States for the Louisiana district gave
judgment in her favor for 81. .925, ,667, aud it
is on appeal from this judgment that the
case to-day was decided. The present
case, it is generally conceded, exhausts
all the resources OF the law, aud is re-
garded as final settlement of the It'll
cation. Mrs. Gaines, fighting to the very
last for her rights, is dead. and so it is
believed are lher immediate relatives
except her daughter-in-law. Hattie L.
Whitney. in whose name, as admins
tratrix of the estate of Mrs. Gaines, the
case stands on the court docket. Justice
Bradley rendered the decision of the
court, which was unanimous. Justice
Lamar and Chief Justice Fuller were
not members of the court at the time
the case was argued, and took no part
in the decision.