Albuquerque daily citizen. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1895-1903, 1899-08-31
THn s0c0aR0 GRANT.
Decided Adversely 10 Private Claimants
BY The Land court.
NO EVIDENCE OF RAN

The court OF private land claims on
Tuesday 0verrulod tbs motion for a new
hearing In cases 1870 AUD 1872, relating to
the a Jose Y Sauto rOrIUlO III Jemez
grant, situated III Rio ArriDa aud berna-
iillO counties. Inc court confirmed the
grant some time ago, bus the claimants
claimed lou square leagues, while the
court only confirmed IA square league.
The claimants we're flUrencio ~oaudUyal
ct al. and Jose AibinO Baca Ut al. Judge
n. b. Laughlh represented the claim
ants.
Case No. l27, involving the pos session
OF the important town Ot SJcOrrO grant,
waS rejected. The area claimed was Si3.
2og,Oy acres In o1cOrtO county, upon
wnicn "A numOer OF hJurlsnlng settle.
inents are located. Ine grant was al
legged L. have been made November Is,
lfIi, and was claimed by kutimio Mon
toya. The opinion was 10y Judge Henry
L. Siuss, ana IL rs follows:
For the confirmation Of the Socorro
grant, the only original spanish docu.
inent Introduced In evidence consists of
the petition pref red by the settlers OF
sOcorro TO the spanish g0yernur of this
province, setting out that they had been
place1 In poesesslOn, but that no title
had been extended, and asked that title
be extended; on that the governor made
al order directed to Bsrtolome Bacs,
the alcalde OF that Jurisdiction, direct
Ing him TO carry Uut that order that
was made by the governor, hts prede.
cessor, when the abandoned pueblo OF
SOc0rrO was Te3ettled. There IN no eyl.
dence whatever on which we eau base
q HIDING that that order was ever exc.
cuted or carried out. Subsequently an
Other petition was prOiiered TO a sue
ceeding Spanish governor, asking suit.
stsntialiy the same thing, setting out
that no title had been extended, and
that they had no documents showing
their right 10 their property. On this
petition the governor made an order di.
recting them to apply to the alcalde OF
Belen, There Is no evidence whatever
that the alcslde OF Belen or any other
alcalde ever acted upon that order.
These are the only Documents: and
these are the only evidences before us
to establish the making OF the original
grant by the government OF Spain.
There Is some evidence Of tradition to
the effect that "a document had been
issued giving these people title, which
had been on iile In the archives Of the
alcalde OF that jurisdiction, but which
had been destroyed by fire. This evil
dence, however, Is purely "A matter of
hesrssy and tradition. No witnesses
we're found who ever saw that dOcu.
ment or knew anything about Its con-
tents. There is another document intro
duced IN evidence purportiDg TO be a re-
valuation, or, rather, an extension OF
title based upon the old Spanish grant
made by Governor Armijo in the year
ls4j. IL recites In the petition made TO
Armij) by 1rujlllo, who made the petit.
ton, that there were not and never had
been any panish documents In exist
ence, or II there were, they were lost.
We Gnd ss "a fact In the case that this
document, purporting TO have been is
sued by Arinij), Is not q genuine docu'
ment, and was meyer executed by ArmiJo,
aud Tor that reason cannot be taken
~ u basis for confirmation OF this claim.
We are OF the opinion also, AZ a matter
u law, that this document. II genuine,
would not be sufficient to authorize c0n.
htmation. In our opinion the governor
OF the territory 4 New Mexico, under
the colonization law, had no authority
to reyalidste or coalrm the grant made
by the Spanish authorities. His author
lty was derived wholly from the pro-
visions OF the executive order under the
colonization law, and vas limited to
making all original grant, or. rather.
acceding to n petition for a grant on a
petition made directly TO him by set.
tiers OF the TERRITORY, and conferred no
authority whatever beyond that. We
are. therefore, OF the opinion that the
evidence wholly fails to warrant conlr-
nation, aud the petition will therefore
be rejected, There IL no evidence that
any allotments ever we're made, no evil
dence that they had any legal title what
f, ever. either TO the tract az a whole or
ANY allOtments; II any such evidence
ever existed, II wac not Produced"
The court Of private land claims was
occupied yesterday morning with the
hearing OF case No. lGS, NJ. Il, Pen lall ct
al W. the United Statee, The grant in
Question Ia The Santa Teresa grant In
bona Ana county. The grant was made
In 1880 and V,0Sl.29 acres IN claimed.
Hon. I. b. CatrOn appeared for claimant
and ". II. Pope represented the United
States.
In case No. "a. Frank W. Clancy, attor
ney for claimants. argued the motion for
"a Teha6rinB, and the motion was submit
ted. The cases involves the possession OF
the Canon ds Carnue grant In Bernalillo
county.
a large number OF Witnesses are pres
ent TO testify in cases Nos. IA. 203, 213
and 452, which will be taken 40 to-day,
The grsnt in question Ia those cesGs Is
the San Pablo y hsulmiento grant In
BernalillO and Rio Arriba counties. The
clatmants ara Ramon Garcia ct al tor
$4,000 acres. II. II Longwiil ct al fol
twelve square leagues, Smith II. Simp.
son for lSl ,125,s7 acres, and FelicianC
Montoya. The irst three grants wer,
made in 1869, and the last March II
llSl5,