Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-24
THE GAINES CASE ENDED It Has Been Before the Courts
 Since 1886. PLAINTIFF WON THE CASE None of the Heirs Ever Reaped Any Benefits
 From It.
 IT WAS A BONANZA FOR THE LAWYERS The Value of the Property Claimed Was Estimated To Be Worth $35, 900, ,ooo, But the City Compromised for
 Few Thousand Dollars.
PLAINTIFF WON THE CASE.
IT WAS A BONANZA FOR THE LAWYERS

Washington, Nov. 23.-The famous My ra Clark Gaines case, it is believed, was finally ended in the supreme court of the United States yesterday when Chief Jus tice Fuller announced that the appeal of the city of New Orleans from the judg- ment of the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of I4ouis- jana in favor of the United States ex rel c. w. Whitney, had been dismissed for failure to print the record. Myra Clark Gaines, then Mrs. w. w. Whitney not the Whitney just named). instituted the first suit for the recovery of the property bequeathed her by the will of her father Daniel Clark, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Louis- jana in 1886, and five years later it had reached the supreme court of the United States. From that day in 1S41 until yes-- terday, in one form or another, the con- troversy has had place on the calendar of the court. In 1856. the plaintiff, then widow, having survived both MT. Whit ney and Gen. E. P. Gaines, whom she subsequently, married, filed an original bill in the supreme court of the United States against the city of New Orleans to recover property held by it, and de- cision in her favor was rendered at the December term, 1867. The value of the property claimed was estimated in 1861 to be $35, 5,000,0 900. Suits subsequently, prose cuted were filed for the purpose of get ting possession of property included un- der the supreme court Judgment of 1867 It Is estimated that she recovered $6, ,000,- 900 or $7 ,000, 900 in all, but she derived lt- tie personal benefit therefrom. as 1t was largely eaten up by the expense of main- tainng the litigation. She died iE Jan uary. 1885.
 The appeal dismissed yesterday origi- mated in a judgment entered by the su- preme court of the United States in 1891 in favor of Whitney, the administrator, and against the city of New Orleans for $595,313, with interest at per cent from 1881. Under this decree the circuit court for the eastern district of Louisiana is sued an execution against the city, which was returned nulla bona (no good). Thereupon Whitney applied for a writ of mahdamus to compel the city council to levy a tax wherewith to pay the judg- ment. The city answered that the ordi- nary expenses of the city, together with interests on its debt of $20, ,000, ex- hausted all the revenues from taxation, the rate of which was then as great as the city could impose under legislative restrictions. A peremptory writ of man. damus was Issued by the court after hearing the case to arrange to pay the judgment, and from this decree the city appealed. In the meantime, how. ever. a settlement was affected with the heirs, and then there began the further appeal. The city allowed it to lapse, and the dismissal yesterday was ordered un- der the rules. In the history Of the case all the prominent attorneys in Louisiana were engaged either on one side or. the other. For Mrs. Gaines the attorneys of nationl prominence who appeared in the supreme court of the United States within the last thirty years were Jere- ax.tr IOtar bell, an ex-justice of the supreme court, and Thomas J. Semmes of Louisiana.