The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1892-05-13

ness was, caused laugh by saying,
Il don do much, if | can help it. !"
He testified that the 81 acres was
purchased for $500 when the timber
was on it, and he thought that it was
not worth over that now, with the
timber off When asked as to the
character Of the soil he said: II would
hardly call it soil, exactly: it is sand"
With high water the river would
probably change its course through
the land. There is an encumbrance
of S274 on this land, ahead of my
mortgage. l have mortgage for ST.
900 against the so acres and the "a
acres. 1 released the 50 acres sold to
Morse and the mortgage was placed
on the "a acres instead.
Mrs. Smith was recalled. She cor
rected her previous testimony by say
ing that she values the Henderson
land at $780,
Thos. Hughes was called. He said
that he had seen the Henderson land
and valued it at from $500 to $500.
Washington Morse, of Henderson,
was called and said that he had
bought so acres of c. NJ. Marsh, being
the east half of the 100 acres in ques-
tion. Also bought and paid for par
eel of land, 5 or acres, of the so acres
mortgaged. Marsh gave him bond
to give him deed for it when sur
veyed. There is nearly 10 acres of this
and it Is nice, level land This is the
largest piece Of level land in the so
acres. The consideration for the en-
tire land was 81, 200. The value of the
so acres in question is $500, but with
out the 10 acres it is worth 5000. The
bond is dated Sept. 4th, 1890. Marsh
said that he owned the land himself,
having bought Fosters interest a
week before he died, and that Geo. T.
Barr would deed the interest over.
He never gave me a deed for the par
Gel of land, nor has Mr.. Barr.
Mrs. Smith was again recalled and
said that at the time of the trausac-
ton, she had never heard of the bond
to sell a parcel of the 50 acres. Marsh
never mentioned it then or at any
other time.
The State rested here
An adjournment was taken until
this morning, to allow the counsel for
the defense to secure authorities upon
which to base an argument for dismis-
sal upon the ground of the wording of
the contract.
The Marsh case came up again in
the municipal court Monday forenoon,
when G. L. Benedict, attorney for the
defense, moved that it be dismissed
upon the following law propositions:
1st. That Marsh and Foster were
tenants in common of the land in
Scott county, and that Mrs. Smith, as
administrative of the estate of p. A.
Foster, deceased, stands in exactly the
same position as Foster. That it was
her bOunden duty to know whether or
not the land in question was mort
gagged.
End. That the deed and school
land certificate in question were given
as collateral security for the payment
of the sum of 1920. That Mrs. Smith
as Administrative of the estate of P.
A. Foster has not exhausted such
security.
Bird. That Mrs. Smith as such adj
ministratrix has not paid the Duffy
judgement and thereby has not SUI
fered any loss.
18th. That the estate of P. A. Eos
ter was bound to pay the Duffy Judge
ment if the defendant Marsh did not.
That the estate stood in exactly the
same position as if no security had
been given, and thereby the estate
had not been damaged.
9Th. That the Administrative had
not demanded the payment of the
note of 1920.
9th. That there was but one mort
gage of 81 900 on both pieces Of land
referred to, and that the defendant
informed the administrative. as per
her own testimony, that there was
but $500 on each of the two pieces of
land, thus making 81, 900 in all. That
she could not have been damaged if
her testimony was true.
These propositions were denied by
Mr.. Pau, and the subsequent argu-
ment lasted for two hours.
1t was nearly six o'clock Monday
afternoon when Judge Porter an
nounced his decision upon the motion
to dismiss made by the defendent in
the Chas. M. Marsh case. In announc-
ing his ruling, he said: Under the old
penal code the crime with which
Marsh is charged was making false
pretenses, but now it comes under the
charge of grand larceny in the first de-
gree. The evidence is clear that rep
reservations were made by the defend
ant that he had paid off $500 of the
mortgage on the eighty acres, when
in fact he had not paid it off. Two
witnesses testify tn thoSa rapracan+o