Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-08-26

ruthers, with an unmarried son named
'Finice Caruthers, arrived in Oregon and
settled upon "a tract of land of $40 acres,
exactly where the city of Portland now
stands. AS the law required actual resi-
dence and cultivation the mother and son
drew line through the middle of their
tract, throwing 320 acres on one side and
320 on the other. They built house
which stood right on the line and the
mother lived in ono end of the house and
cultivated her claim while the son lived
in the other end and did the same by his
320 acres. At the end of four years both
applied to the land office at Oregon City,
and certificates for the two tracts were is
sued in the name of the government They
lived upon the land for many years, and
no one disputed their possession of it, In
1858 the woman, who had claimed to be a
widow, died and left her property to her
son. At any rate, he claimed it as sole
heir. Two years later he died, leaving as
it was supposed, no heirs, but some debts
Mr.. Silvers, merchant was appointed
administrator of tho estate, and as was
his lawyer it thus CHANGED that 1 was
drawn into the case.
"About this timo the state of Oregon
put in a claim to the property under the
law of escheat, it being supposed that
there were no heirs. Two residents of
Portland Andrew Knott and Robert
Ladd, having been advised by their attor-
neys that Mrs. Caruthers' had no right
under the law to take land, jumped the
property, as we say in the west-that is,
they proceeded to settle upon it, each tax
ing one-half or 100 acres under the home
stead law and applying to the land office
for certificate of patent. 1 appeared at the
land Office and entered protest, anR this
was the beginning of II famous case.
argued that the title of tho old lady was
perfect; that the act of congress should be
| construed generously, as are the natural
! ization laws; that the words his and
him should be so construed as to include
She and her The local land office de-
cided against me. Certificates were issued
to Ladd and Knott. / appealed to the
commissioner of the general land Office
here in Washington and was again over
| ruled. l carried tho case to the secretary of
interior and met the same fate with him.
Not to weary you with legal details,
suit was Mt once brought in the state
courts. Tho solo question involved was
whether or not II woman could take do
nation of land under the act of congress-
We were beaten here and in the supreme
court of the state, but when we finally
reached the supreme court of the United
States and asked for an Interpretation of
the law it was decided in our favor The
women of this day and generation will be
glad to know that this great tribunal, by
that decision, placed woman on an equality
with man before the law.
"You would naturally suppose this to
be the end of the case, but it wasn't. In
fact, we had only passed the skirmish line
of this great legal battle.
while this litigation was pending a
citizen of Oregon named Dolph Hannah
visited the southern states and came back
with n great number of deeds from divers
persons named 'Caruthors, and placed
them on record conveying this property to
him-that is, the whole $40 acres. His
theory was that the old woman Caruthcrs
had never been married; that her son,
Finice, was an illegitimate child, and
. therefore could not inherit, and that the
property descended under tho law to her
collateral heirs, of which there were a
great number, as he claimed, and from
these were tho deeds he placed on file
About the same time another and the
most important question of all arose. Two
old pioneers residing in Oregon, named
James Moore and Green Davidson, insisted
I
that tho old lady's name was not 'Caruth.
crs, but Thomas. Their theory was that
her maiden name was Elizabeth Caruthors
and back about 1920 she married a man OF
} tho name of Joseph Thomas in Tennessee
I that this son, Finicc, was the fruit of that
marriage; that Thomas deserted her short
ly afterward; that he was well known
> character on the levces at st. Louis ant
l was grcat wrester-an athlcte-and was
5 there known by these men as Wrestling
/, Joe;' that he subsequently became great
mountainrcr, hunting and trapping in thu
Rocky mountains, again returning to tn,
levees at st. Louis. They said they believed
) he was living, and that they could fins
him. They went back to Missouri, re
turned to Oregon with an old man, then
according to their theory, more than 81
years of age, and asserted that he was til,
: husband of tho old woman and as sucl
, was the sole heir to all the property.
By this time the other litigation re