The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-01-15
ADDITIONAL CITY NEWS
UNITARIAN CHURCH STORY
AS Told by Mrs. Carter for Board Of
Trustees.

| On account of several insidious articles
and letters which have appeared IN ehe
/ Eagle, it seems necessary to make
plain statement of the facts connected
with the purchase of the property for
merly belonging 10 the W. c. T. U. by the
| Unitarian church.
I L. H Todd Cnot Rev. TODD, OUT ior-
mer PASTOR, by whom the purchase was
made, acquired the property oy forecios-
/ ing a mortgage of two thousand doiiars.
/ He bought in the property at one hunored
dollars over four years ago, ana ever
since that time he has allowed the W. g
IT. L. TO use the property without the pay
ment Of one dollar in rent. interest or
| taxes. If Mr.. Todd had waited until next
/ May or June his rights would have been
outlawed 1t was high time for him 10
/ sell or take possession Of his property IL
ne was to realize anything from II
! Whether this condition of things had
| any connection with the animus shown
/ by the W. c. T L. toward the innocent
purchaser, who thus stayed the running
OF the statute of limitation, is still uncer-
/ tain, or at any rate not proven. The
property rights of the W. c. T. Z. had
! been lost at the sheriff's sale nearly five
years ago; the use and possession they
still held through the long continued in
! diligence of a stranger.
/ The taxes meanwhile had accumulated
until they were about twice the value of
the property. Is it strange, then, under
! these circumstances, that Mr.. Todd was
willing and anxious TO offer his deed to
any one for the nominal sum of one hum
dred and twenty dollars, subject to all tax
liens
The Unitarians decided to pay one hun
dred and twenty dollars and adjust the
taxes afterwards as best they could. This
was done for one thousand dollars, which
! they paid. Thus the Unitarian church so
! ciety succeeded to all the rights of L. H.
! Todd, the mortgage, and afterwards the
owner by purchase at sherif's sale. The
| Unitarian Church society now stands in
! the place of L. H. Todd. Dr. George F.
! Lewis, the agent of Mr.. Todd, stated that
he and Mr. Todd's partner. some three
years ago. offered the property to the w.
/ c. 7. L. for twelve hundred dollars at 5
per cent interest, Mr. Todd to pay the
! back taxes This the w. {. It. L. agreed
! to accept, if they could raise the money.
! Some time afterwards, when this pro-
! ject failed, DR.. Lewis went 10 take pos
session and collect rent, but was put off
on the ground that they had no funds and
could not get any, to pay rent. Three
years ago, Mr.. Todd Cwho is an Episco-
palian) through DIR. Lewis, offered the
property to the st. Johns Episcopal
church as a gift, but the church declined
| to accent it
After the Unitarian Church society had
bought the property, the w. c. T. u.
without assigning any cause, refused to
give possession. The Unitarians then Of
fered to let them remain in one Of the
buildings until spring, rent free, if they
would vacate the other building, but they
refused They then opposed the confirma-
ton of sale to Mr.. Todd. and the motion
for a writ. of assistance. Their supposed
rights were ably and extensively pre-
! scented in bthe district court, but 1t was
found that. they had no claim whatever to
the premises. Then the W. c. T. L. Of
fered, through their attorney, TO give a
quft-claim deed and remove at once, il
| the deficiency judgment were released.
I'VE accepted the offer and secured the re-
/ lease. upon which their attorney Informed
lis that they had decided not to go out,
but wanted to remain until the sheriff put
! them out After renting a room in the
Fletcher block and removing a part Of
their goods, the custodian sat down and
calmly awaited the kind offices of the
/ sheriff. ait was a case of voluntary mar
| tyrdom." While we regretted their tenn
porary resistance to law and right, we
entertain no unfriendly feelings toward
/ the society, but heartily wish them sue
/ cess in their disinterested work.
/ Any party who wants to know the truth
/ IS invited to thoroughly investigate all
the facts, remembering that there ara
/ two sides to every story.
MRS. L. s. CARTER,
For the Board Of Trustees, First Unfair
tan Cht1rcln INichita Kansas