The herald., 1896-10-12

four corners respectively. A visit to
the city clerks Office and perusal of
the official maps will reveal the fact that
the city engineer has taken land from
one side of the street and added slice
Of land to the property on the other
side, and the only apology for this kind
Of thing is that by so doing the symme-
try Of the street is preserved.
The records show that the city coun-
Gil passed an ordinance defining the
lines of certain streets, notably Eighth
and Ninth. and ordered the streets
graded in accordance Herewith. Up
popped a surveyor who owned some
property on the street. and drew at
ton to the fact that the streets were
not straight lines. The council, realiz-
ing that the straight streets would be
best passed resolution to make them
straight. and thereupon the same was
done-on the ground-but the ordinance
was left the same as before. The survey
or, doubtless, chuckled with glee, for he
gained a strip Of land four feet wide by
l65 feet in length at the expense of his
neighbors on the opposite side Of the
street. But these latter owners are
scratching their heads trying to gain an
idea as to what has become of that slice
of land bitten off their property.
And this is only one instance in hun
dreds.
HOW THE JUGGLE HAPPENS.
1t appears as If the action of the city
council and city engineer has been con-
tinually to shift the holdings of owners
and the Interpretation of conveyances.
Just to imagine a very possible and
probable case:
A man receives a deed by lot
and block as per certain re-
corded map. He sells it and for
greater certainty of description de-
scribes it by metes and bounds. Then
along comes the city engineer and
moves the street. and, as rule. leaves
little record of the fact. as the lot ap-
pears by deed to be certain distance
from the street corner. and the owner
naturally supposes it to be so. Let him
try it, however and he will at once find
that he has taken possession of his
neighbors property, and an ordinary
tape line will demonstrate the fact.
Main, Spring, Broadway and other of
the principal streets of the city are glar-
ing examples of this lack of method,
and an examination of the maps in the
city engineers office will show that the
case is rather under than over-esti-
mated.
WHAT IS THE REMEDY
Evangelist Moody in addressing an
immense audience with regard to rails
with regard to the method to be fol-
lowed, said that what the Christian
community needed beyond all else was
sanctified common sense" That is an
exact definition of what is needed to
straighten this matter out. Indeed
Il the AL brand above mentioned is not
obtainable, just every day "horse sense"
will answer the purpose.
Instead OF spending hundreds Of thou
sands of dollars upon useless surveys
to be discarded by the next administra
ton, let q proper survey be made by a
competent surveyor and not by a civil
hydraulic or any other kind of an en-
gineer. The streets would then be es-
tablished, once for all.
Meantime, as property owners real
ize how the city in many cases has
encroached upon their property,
they feel hot, but they can
taper off to coolness again,
for. unless the encroachment Is of recent
date, there Is no relief for them. Others
who have gained by their neighbors'
losses may at some future time be call
ed upon to yield up slice of their prop
erty. as it is not theirs, and the decision
of Judge Shaw shows the the statute
will not run against the municipality.