Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-01-07
STUCK ON TITLES.
Money Borrowers Object to Paying
the Cost of Examination.
A BIG DEAL IN LOWER ALLEGHENY.
Ritter & COnley Pay $95,OOO for the Man.
chester Iron and Steel Works.
LAND SOLD AT NEARLY $4,000 AN ACRE

of titles to property sold in Pittsburg than
most people think. When a man wants to
borrow money on bond and mortgage, the
lender, of course, insists upon the examins-
ton of the title. The expense of this is
sometimes quite an item, and the owner, as
general thing, objects to paying it, but he
is always compelled to yield the point or go
without the money. 1t would be better if
he would give in gracefully at the first as it
| would save time and trouble.
| Sometimes on tair representations OF the
| owner, the examination is omitted, the lender
assuming all the risk, and it occasionally hap
pens that he is overreached. A gentleman on
Fourth avenue loaned 5000 on Southside
property not long ago, and on assurance that it
was unencumbered he waived examination of
the title. Afterward he found that it was
weighed down with back taxes.
There are such obvious reasons for the exam
ination of titles that it is not little singular
that anybody should object.
The year so far has been productive of q
number of unusually important transactions in
real estate. The purchase of Brunot's Island
and the proposed improvements there have
been noted in another department Of THE
DISPATCH. Another deal of scarcely less i'm
| portance has been consummated in the lower
part of Allegheny city. The transfer was
made last Friday.
For some time Ritter Conley, the we'll
known boiler and tank manufacturers had
been looking around for good site whereon to
erect q plant for the manufacture of struc-
tural iron, they being convinced that there was
good opening here for such concern. They
had a number of offers from agents and owners
on the Northside. up the Monongahela toward
BraddocR. and down the Ohio as far as Sc
w1cKley, but were unable to find anything in
those districts that suited them in all respects.
Finally, through one of the insurance COM
panies of the city, they opened negotiations
with Mr.. G. W. Cass for the purchase of the
old Manchester Iron and Steel Company's
plant. formerly owned by Harbaugh, Matthias
& Owens, and known years ago as the Superior
Rail Mill, and with out much delay the transac-
tion was concluded and the transfer made az
before stated.
The ground comprises a fraction over six
acres, in the Ninth ward, Allegheny, and eI-
tends from Preble avenue to the Ohio river.
The price paid was S95, ,OOO or nearly $4,000 an
acre. The works have been idle since the panic
of 1873, and the buildings show the effects Of
the teeth of time and neglect They will be
repaired, where possible, and new ones ere cted
at once, as Messrs. Ritter and Conley propose
to have one of the largest and best manufactur-
ing establishments in the city. They will de-
vote exclusive attention to structural iron.
The nail plant will not interfere in the least
with their large boiler and tank works on Sec
ond avenue, as they will be entirely distinct in
their products as we'll as management.
This is an important event in the industrial
history and movements of the day IN Pittsburg.
1t indicates not only prosperity in the leading
industry of the city, but is suggestive Of hope
fuIness in the future and of large expansion
during the year.
Brickmaking has within few years grown to
be one of the leading industries of Pittsburg.
Natural gas has worked a revolution in the
process of manufacture, but other improve
ments have been SO great and important that
very soon the old-time brickyard, with its long
rows of dilapidated shades, its quaint grinding
wheel and raw-boned, starvedlooking steed
will have become thing of the past. The ro-
nance of the brickyard, beautiful only in its
mud frescoes on everything, quaint and homely
enough to suit even boyish eyes, will soon pass
into oblivion, as has everything in this age of
Improvements that interested boyish fancies
years ago. The term brickyard will soon be-
come a mIsnomer, fraud and a delusion; it
will be wiped out of the long list of euphonious
names LQaG nave RI6eIeQ American ears ever
since the first American brick was made
A brick foundry, with all the dignity the
words imply, a plant representing big capital
big machinery, all securely housed under
costly buildings containing miniature railways,
patent dryers, patent gas ovens, and heaven
only knows what else, is bound ere long to
supersede the old-time brick yard with all its
pleasant recollections. And why not? The
making of brick has become a science. 1t now
represents brains, capital, art, skill, beauty
and effect. 1t means broad-gauge men who
read and think. and experiment 1t means
business en- terprise and the aggregation Of cap
ital entering into millions.
According to the decision Of the Supreme
Court of Minnesota, in the case of Lax ct al VS..
Peterson ct al, the term 'lot of land; is not
limited to the particular city, town or village |
lot upon which the building is erected as
bounded and described on the plot but denotes
one single parcel lying in body known and
treated by usage or the contract OF the parties
as one tract Hence, when the owner of two |
contiguous town lots contracts by one entire |
contract for the erection of a row of houses
upon them the parties will be deemed to have
connected and treated the whole as one tract,
and where labor is performed or material furn-
ished under one entire contract for the erection
O1 SeN0Edl OnuCu W Tue sdLn6 person
and situated upon the same tract of land, lien
attaches upon the whole tract for the whole |
value of such labor or material
A promissory note which formed the basis of |
recent action in the California courts tran as
follows: ION demand, after date, for value re-
ceived, / promise to pay. or order, the sum |
of $4,000 in United States gold coin" The |
defense interposed was the statute of limita- |
tions, the action having been commenced more |
than nine years after the date Of the note. The |
plaintiff contended that as the note was pay
able on demand after date it could not have |
matured at once, and that. therefore, an actual !
demand was necessary to put the statute in |
motion. The Supreme court of California,
however, held the language used in the note |
did not take it out Of the class of ordinary de-
mand notes, which are due Immediately with
out any demand, and that therefore the note |
was barred by the statute of limitations