The Topeka state journal., 1899-11-22
WHAT A KANsAN LEARNED
Received Expensive Experience From
Man From Arkansas.


X case will come to trial in few
days over in the district court of JEFF
ferson county which proves that while
Kansas may laugh at the denizen of
the state of Arkansas, for tricks that
are vain and ways that are dark the
aforesaid denizen knows his business.
The case is suit for damages and
is brought by w H. Thompson, Of
Topeka, for E. w. Benedicts, formerly
a merchant of Valley Falls, against
S. T. Butner, who succeeded to Mr..
Benedicts' business. The amount sued
for is 50 900.
The trial of the case will occupy the
court for a week, perhaps for two
weeks Much of the testimony is in the
form of dispositions taken IN Arkan-
SaS. Three hundred dollars have thus
far been spent in taking these depOsi-
tiOns, and they cover hundreds of type
written pages.
Up to a year and a half ago Mr.. Ben
edicts owned a stock Of merchandise in
Valley Falls and his home, consisting
of a house and six lots. He had lived
there since before the war, and had
built up a good trade But a year ago
last winter he became dissatisfied with
Valley Falls and made up his mind ne
would go to Arkansas, purchase a trult
farm and go to raising fruit. He made
a hasty trip to JudsOnia, Ark, some
distance north of Little Rock, to look
at a farm, but he did not purchase.
Some time afterwards Mr.. Benedicts
received a letter from a real estate
dealer at JudsOnia, offering him two
farms belonging to S. 7. Butner-
Printed descriptions of the farms were
sent him. One of them was said to
contain 217 acres, partly fenced, well
cultivated, large amount of fruit set
out which paid a profit of $500 or $4OO
per acre a year; it was represented that
the land would produce $500 worth of
tomatoes per acre, and it was said to
have a fine house, newly papered and
painted, with other good buildings, in
Guiding a blacksmith shop, and the
farm was listed at $4,000. The other
farm contained 120 acres, the buildings
We're not quite so good as those on the
l-rSt farm, and it was listed at 81, 500.
The agent said there were several
parties after the land, but the owner
wanted to come to kansas, and he
wanted to trade them for Mr. Bene-
diets store. After some cores pond
ence Mr. Butner, the owner of the
farms, came to Valley Falls. He gave
Mr.. Benedicts the names of several
parties to write to, and as the offer ap-
peared to be all right on its face the
trade was cOnsummated, Mr.. Bened1ctS
giving his store, house and furniture
for the two farms and the furniture IN
the houses. The furniture was traded
in order to save transportation.
Mr.. BenedictS remained in Valley
Falls a month after the trade was con-
Summated in order to teach Mrs. But
ner the mercantile business. Then he
went down to Arkansas to take charge
of his new possessions. When he got
there he wished he had come before
he made the trade He claims that the
houses and other buildings are falling
to pieces, that horses were kept in the
kitchen of one of the houses, that there
was only a little fruit set out, that the
land had been farmed since before the
war and was all run out" and that
there was only a little furniture of the
poorest kind in the houses. He has a
number of pictures to show the cOndi-
ton the buildings are in.
The depositions taken in Arkansas
put the value of the land at about So
per acre, including the buildings. Since
the trade was made one of the farms
has gone to satisfy a mortgage, and
the other is mortgaged for more than
it is worth to Mr.. Butner. Mr.. Bene-
diets claims that he has been swindled.
and he has brought a suit to recover
S3, coo damages, the amount he claims
to have lost in the transaction.