The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1892-06-18
The Alt Swamp Land Sale Ex-
planned.

r court should be dismissed, and NJ
b Alt given a new and perfect deed i
: accordance with the petition now o.
file in the County Court. The Demo
: cratic party has been made to approx
l of this sale by endorsing Mr.. Lin
I baugh. The people should under
. stand the matter fully, and as the.
are making inquiries of me dali,
almost about this case, l make thi
statement:
r Prior to 1873 the county of Cap,
, Girardeau was the owner of a larg'
amount of land known as Swami
Land. held for Drainage and for til,
School Fund. On the LIST day o
February. 1873, all of this land re
naming undIspoSed of, was sold to j
W. Mckay. amounting 10 about 20.
600 acres. at one dollar per acre
Under this contract credit was givcI
until day of May 1873. the pur
chaser paving interest from the date
of his purchase. The purchaser fail
ing to comply with his contract. the
time TO make payment was extended
on the 2lsl day of May 1873. to the
9Th day of June 1878. Mr.. Mckay
tailed 10 pay ANYTHING of the principal
or interest and un the 9th day of June
1878. through his agent appeared in
court and set this contract aside.
No interest was ever paid and the
old contract was set aside to defeat
the payment of interest: this is mani
fest. On the am day the Court sold
the land to James w. Mckay. the
same man of London, England. L. X.
Van Frank and Eli j. Crandall for the
price of one dollar per ,.cre. and a
payment was made of two thousand
dollars, and 4 note given for the bal
ance of the money (Sls.O0O). bearing
10 per cent interest. The note was
pnynblc June 6ih, 1874. and the coli
tract. both of record and on file coll
tainS the following agreement among
other matters. to-wit:
when said note becomes due and
PAYABLE. or a failure to pay said note
and dollar per acre aforesaid. for any
excess of land ovcr 10000 acres. then
the ten per cent So paid two thousand
dollar>) shall be and is hereby de-
clared to be forfeited, and remain the
property Of the county, without an.
recourse therefor by said parties of
the second part they or either of
them. their heirs or assigns. executors
or administrators. This provision
was made because the county had lost
the interest for the year on the first
| contract. that had been set aside.
These parties failed 10 pay. or make
any arrangements for an extension.
before the 6h dny Of J"ne 1874. anil
on that day the forfeiture was on
pkctc HRder the e Hf"dct.
In the meantime however. the
Legislature had provided by law. on
the 9th day of March 1874. that no
Swamp Land should he sold for less
than one dollar and twenty-five cents
per acre. After this and the forfeit
urc. Mcs>rs. Mckay and others ap-
pcarcd in court and had the time en-
tended to make the payment for The
land. The contract for the sale OF
this land or whatever rights Messrs.
Mckay and others had acquired was
on the 10Th day of February, 1875.
sold and assigned by them to the
claimant William Alt. of London.
England. WHO bought with full knowl-
edge OF all these facts and Il deed was
attempted Ia be executed 10 him on
the 29Ih day of March, 1873. The
matters herein charged. all appear of
record.
The deed on its face shows. that
the land was sold for less than one
dollar per acre. when III law ever
permitted the Swamp Land 10 be sold
for less than one dollar per acre. |
Ito not desire to discuss the law. but
after the forfeiture OF the old contract
was complete. Mr.. Alt claims the
right Ia defeat the plain provisions
OF our law bv buyin" this contract.
and had no contract himself and cal
claim nothing outside OF the law.
Ii j. the well settled INV of this
State. that County Courts can only
net strictly within the powers contided
to them. and in this trust. any act
outside of lis power is void. and all
parties must take notice of, aud know
the law at their peril.
In several suits growing out of this
sale by the county, the cour:s have
held that Mr. Alt acquired no title by
his purchase and | give below the
written proposition of Mr.. Oliver on
file in the County Clerks office. as
follows:
OFFICE OF II Il. OLIVER,
ATToRNEY AT LAW.
JACKSON, Mo-. February 18th. 1883.
To the Hon. tie County Court Of Cape
GiyurdcGH Comfy Missouri:
MISUNDERSTANDING that the
sale of the Swamp Lands of this
county TO VIM. Alt was unauthorized
and in violation of the Statute Laws
of this State. | hereby offer to take
the necessary steps TO make u test
case of said sale and to test the same
in the Circuit and Supreme Court. OH
any part of said lind. with a view to
testing the title to the whole of it,
for a reasonable consideration or fee.
in such sum as the County may gain
by such litigation. Respectfully,
X. B. OLIVER.
Endorsed, filed Februry 9th, 1888.
WILLIAM PAAR.
County Clerk.
Mr.. Oliver is now however. the
attorney of Mr.. Alt in the matters
growing out of the title to the Swamp
Lands: and this proposition is given
simply to show that the County Court
and Mr.. Limbaugh knew of the con-
dition of the whole matter, or could
have known by all examination of
their record.
After these defeats in the courts.
Mr.. Alt on the 4th day of November
1891. through his attorney, Mr.. j. W.
Limbaugh. then the active assistant
County Attorney, appeared in the
County Court and presented his
petition addressed TO the Court, adj
hitting that his title was detective
and PRAYING the Court to give him a
new and amended deed. This petit
ton was presented and being Eeard by
the Court. without notice to any one
lust before Court vas ready to adj
iouru. No one was present when