News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-04-17
CHEAP LAND.
A SENATOR FROM A NEW STATE
UTILIZEZ A LOCOMOTIVE.

A SENATOR FROM A NEW STATE
UTILIZEZ A LOCOMOTIVE.
Frontier Lifs--How I 0utwitted a Law.
yer.
"You never heard how I made use
of locomotive to secure a valuable
piece of property, did your" said 6
Senator from one of the new States
"Well, it's rather curious sort of 9
story, and dates back about thirteen
years, to time when things out on the
frontier were comparatively primitive.
l had invested all the money / had in
the world in half section of land on
which the city of Souix Falls now
stands, only to find subsequently that
my title to the property was weak,
owing to deed recorded after [ had
made the purchase, the person who
made the sale to me having meanwhile
died. On the strength of this deed
suit was brought against me to recover
three-fourths of the land, and it looked
as though l was going to lose it.
"But there was q mystery about the
case, somehow. / could not find out
for some time in whose behalf it was
that the suit was instituted, but finally
l discovered that it was a man named
Jones, living four miles out of Mime
apolis on a farm. Without delay l
took train for Minneapolis and went
to see Jones, who said that he could
not be the man | sought, for the reason
that he had never owned any land in
Dakota. Nevertheless l made up my
mind that he was the person who actu-
ally had the title, although he was not
aware of the fact. The lawyers in
Sioux Falls through whose firm the
suit against me had been institu ed,
were simply trying to swindle with q
view to getting hold of the land with
out notifying the holder of the title to
the property that he had any such
ownership. That was all clear enough
to me when I learned the fact that one
of the firm Of lawyers in Sioux Falls
was Jones' uncle. So made up my
mind that must obtain from Jones q
| title.
got ex-Judge Sanders of Minneap-
oils, an old friend of Jones's, to go
with me to see Jones, and explained
to Jones the matter in detail-the pre-
else value of the land, the manner in
which came into possession of it, the
validity of his own title, and all the
details. Even had | SO desired, it
would not have done for me to dis
guise anything, because any misrep-
resentation on my part would render
my title invalid. l merely urged that,
ON the strength of certain Circumstance
es which gave me moral right TO the
land, he ought to give me title and SO
place me in possession of nv own
again. His own friend, the Judge,
urged like argument, and Jones fin
ally agreed to give me a title for the
nominal payment of $40. The papers
were drawn and l went on my way re-
joicing, with my full and clear title to
the property, which was then worth
$4,000. Unluckily Jones had COM
municated with his uncle, the lawyer
in Sioux Falls, during this interval be-
tween our two interviews. and didn't
have time to get out of Minneapolis
before Jones turned up at the hotel and
demanded the deed back. This meant
that he had received word from his
uncle to hold on to the land at all haz-
ards, because it rightfully belonged to
him. Of course l would net give up
the deed, and then ensued most ex-
traordinary contest.
"Although had the deed my tit g to
the property was not made until that
deed was recorded at Sioux Falls. Jones
might make the transaction naught by
simply executing another deed and
placing 1t on record first. The only
thing for me to do was to anticipate
any such action on his part by getting
to Sioux Falls myself as quickly as pos
sib!e. So l took the first train for
Sioux Falls, and after | got on board
kept sharp lookout. The only person
who excited any suspicion in my mind
was a deformed little man whom /
knew to be lawyer, and who ap-
preached me before we had get very
far on our 25O-mile journey. CONVEX
sation followed during which allayed
his suspicion that l was wide-awake
and confirmed my own notion that he
was an agent of the enemy. Indeed,
] became satisfied that he actually had
a deed in his pocket which it was his
purpose to have recorded before mine.
Several times he got off at stations and
telegraphed ahead to Sioux Falls, as
managed to learn, for team of fast
horses and a carriage to meet HIM at
the depot on his arrival. | saw at that
rate was likely to be beaten unless l
could devise some scheme. l set my
wits to work, and an idea occurred to
me.
left the deformed man and went to
have little talk with the conductor,
the result of which did not appear
until we had got within three miles of
Sioux Falls. At that point the train
came to full stop, and the locomo-
tive, from which it was detached,
went on to the depot. was on the loco
motive, which the other passengers all
supposed had gone ior wa.er, includ-
ing the deformed lawyer, who thought
that was in rear car and was chuck
ling already over his anticipated
victory. When l had been landed in
the city the locomotive went back for
the train, and the deformed man upon
reaching the depot jumped into a car
riage and was driven as quickly as
possible to the Court House, where he
threw down his deed, saying that he
wanted it recorded at once. But the
clerk said that he was just finishing the
record of another deed handed to him |
half an hour before TO- a certain half |
section of land. The lawyer took |
look at the record and sa W that he was
beaten, though he could not imagine
at the time how it had been done.
Jones's uncle who engineered the at
tempted swindle, afterward voted for
mo when ran for the Legislature, be-
cause he said that l was the only |
man who had ever gotten away with
him i'll a business matter" Wv ashing-
ton Star.
Jacks Bear Stery.