Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1902-02-04
A EAMous LAWSUIT.

A FAMOUS LAWSUIT.
Ont of the Shepard grant about fou
= teen thousand acres of land came int
8 the possession of DR.. Craigie in ITO
t and in November. 1882, his heirs sold
Jacob D. Brown of Oxford, the lots r,
2 naming unsold, being about six tho,
+. sand acres, including the Craigie farm
: so called, the consideration being abor
$4,000.
Mr.. Brown deposed that Col. Samu,
FL. King was co-partner with him in til
/ Craigie lands and in numbering for abou
two years, commencing in 1882, and ths
, he made conveyance to the said Kin
} of some portion of the Craigie property
He further deposed that he was CO
| partner with William B. Abbott, VIII
came to Oxford in January, 1885, to 81
/ gage in the dry goods and grocery bus
ness, numbering and farming. The sal
. Abbott was to attend to the store and h
to the outof-door business, and each +
have one-half of the profits. At thi
time he conveyed to the said Abbott on,
undivided half of the Craigie lands, ex
cepting certain lots which had been sol,
by himself and the said King, and Ger
tain other lots, reserved and marked OF
plan projected by David Noyes ant
Alexander Greenwood.
With his consent Mr.. Abbott went t
Boston for the purpose of securing
loan on the Oxford estate. In Decembe
John WEIGH and John McIntire cam,
here for the purpose of examining the
property, and in July, 1886, Mr.. Welci
consummated his first purchase of lane
in this town.
Mr.. Brown further deposed that in
January, 1886, he made deed of the
other moiety, with the same exceptions
as before, and delivered the same to the
said Abbott, for the purpose of convey
ing the whole property to Mr.. WEIGH or
his complying with the conditions SET
forth; notwithstanding the agreement,
the I'd deed was recorded without his
knowledge or consent, and he never re-
ceived any compensation whatsoever.
Mr.. Abbott gave a mortgage to Col.
King of all the lands conveyed to him in
both deeds, in consideration of the said
King discharging mortgage he had
previously received of the depOnent on
an undivided half of the property.
"With regard to the understanding and
agreement concerning the recording of
the deed of mortgage from w. Il. Alb
bott to said Sam'l H. King, deponent
saws John Welch told him subsequent to
the date of said mortgage, he had fooled
said King, by persuading him to hold on
to his mortgage and not record it, on a
promise to pay all the debts this depo-
nent owed him, and put his own deeds or
papers, subsequently made, on record
before him, and then said: Let him
help himself if he can"
Out of these transactions sprang the
most protracted and bitter litigation ever
known in the courts of this state.
Brown commenced an action against
Welch in the Supreme Court in Oxford
County June 80, 1888, to recover $50, 900.
This action Welch removed to he Cir
cult Court of the United States for the
Maine District, where it was pending,
apparently without trial until 1851, near
ly thirteen years after. At the April
Term, 1851, there were pending in the
U. S. Court at least six cases between
Brown and Welch in part of which
WEIGH was the Plaintiff. They had been
there so long that the first case was the
first on the docket and the others in
close proximity.
At the April Term, 1851, the entry
was made under the first case, "Both
parties dead; case dismissed" In the
second case, however, judgment was
rendered, as of the September Term,
1850. in favor of WEIGH who was defend
ant against Brown, for costs taxed at
S375. 90, and the judgment was acknowl-
edged satisfied by E. Fox, Atty. The
other cases were dismissed. The judg
ment in the second cases indicates that
both parties had died between the
September Term, 1850, and the April
Term, 1851, and the town talk was that
the heirs of John Welch paid the widow
Brown 81 900 to relinquish her right of
dover; a godsend to her, for she was
left nearly destitute.
In the meantime Mr.. Welch made
some kind of an arrangement with one
Paul Adams of Boston, and Adams gave
an agreement to Solomon B. Morse, Jr.,
of Westboro', Mass, to convey to him
the Craigie sometimes called Fair
farm, including as Morse claim
ed $50 acres. In various ways numerous
other persons became involved in the
matter. Morse took possession of the
farm in the spring of 1S4l and was ex-
PEELED therefrom, by proceedings before
a magistrate, in the fall of 1874. There
was an attempt to dispossess Morse, in
July, by frightening him off. 1t appears
that two of MIR. Welch's sons went there,
by Andrew Peterson, Eph- !
rain Stedman. George Farris, Robert
Hilborn, Andrew Pratt, Nathan, John
and Ezra Wright and others to the num-
Der of fifteen or twenty, drove of
Morse's men, stampeded his cattle, took
the hay from his fields, creating consid-
cradle disturbance, and both parties, it
was claimed at the hearings before the
Trial Justice, threatened to take life.
The feelings of the Welches were so
bitter that they insisted that the Sheriff,
when he served the writ Of ejectment,
should precipitately GUST the Morse fam
ily, Notwithstanding the illness OF Mrs.
Morse and his absence from town. But
this the officer declined to do; he put a
keeper in one room and gave the family
a week to get out. When the sheriff re-
turned to fully execute his precept, Mrs.
Morse was still there and refused to
leave unless she was removed by force,
but after some talk, she took her chill
dren and went to friendly neighbours
house. while the Sheriff removed the
storing part of it in an out
building and leaving the rest of it in the
ward. A house was soon after Sc
cured at Craigie's Mills, where they
spent the winter, and the next year he
removed to Portland. Sept. IA, 1874,
Morse brought bill in equity in the U.
S. Circuit Court for Massachusetts, Dis
trict, against Paul Adams and John
WEIGH. In this case the testimony was
taken and the case printed, making a
book of about $50 pages. Thirty-two
were taken, and others were
to have been questioned who did not
testify. The testimony covers the
Brown and WEIGH controversy, of which
this and several other lawsuits were in
cidents. Some Of the Opponents gave
their opinion of the character and repu-
tation of their neighbors, and it was
shown that the justice who issued the
precept to so summarily eject Morse
from his house, did refuse to recognize
E. r. Holmes, S. H. King and Charles
Durell as sufficient sureties on Morses
bond for 100000. A good many OF the
Portland lawyers were engaged in the
litigation, but in this case Henry NJ.
Fuller of Boston was counsel for Morse,
and BENJAMIN r. Curtis, afterwards
Judge. was counsel for the others.