Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-11
CANNOT RECOVER LOT
IMPORTANT RULING AFFECTING
LANIER HEIGHTS.
Verdict for Defendant in Case of Mary
E. Bunten Against American
Security and Trust Co.

Justice Barnard, in Circuit Court No. ],
has rendered an opinion in favor of the
defendant in the case of Mary E. Bunten
against the American Security and Trust
Company.
A declaration was fled in eiectment to
recover possession of lot 43 of Elizabeth
Lanier Dunns subdivision Of parts of Jack
son Hill and Mount Pleasant, known as
Lanier Heights, of which the plaintiff al
legged she was lawfully vested the oath Of
April, 1900, when the defendant entered
and unlawfully elected her therefrom, and
now unlawfully detains the same from her.
The defendant pleaded the general is
sue, Issue was Joined, jury was waived
and the case was tried by the court. In
1892 Harriet Patience Dame by deed con-
veyed the property in question to the
American Security and Trust Company In
trust for the benefit of certain scholar
ships in the girls school to be, and whlch
was subsequently established under the
patronage Of the Cathedral Foundation or
the Protestant Episcopal Church In this
city. BY centempOraneous agreement en-
tered into between the grantor. Mrs. Dame
and the trustee, 1t was provided that the
deed should not be recorded during the
lifetime Of the grantor, that the latter
should pay all taxes and charges against
the property and that, during her life-
time, she should remain in possession
thereof.
Sought to Revoke Trust.
Several years later Mrs. Dame sought to
revoke the trust and wrote letter to the
trustee calling upon it to return to her the
deed which she had previously delivered to
the American Security and Trust Company.
This the company refused to do. and short
ly afterward Mrs. Dame died. leaving last
will and testament. which was probated at
her home in New Hampshire, and In which
olo hpnnpctS
property in question to Mary e. Bunten.
The latter thereupOn, as such devisee, hied
a bill in equity in the Supreme Court OF the
District of Columbia claiming that the deed
and the contemporaneous agreement were
testamentary in character, and that the
trust was revoked by the action OF Mrs.
Dame the testratrix. both in her letter to
the company ard also by the devise in her
will.
In addition to the American Security and
Trust Company a number of persons. in
Guiding the bishop of the diocese of Wash
ington. the rector Of ST. Johns Church.
and Justice Hagner. were named de-
PENDANTS. Upon the filing of the de-
PENDANTS answers. 1t Is explained, the COM
plainant abandoned the equity suit and
filed q declara ton in ejectment against the
American Security and Trust Company, and
this is the case just decided
Justice Barnard holds that "inasmuch %
the will concerned in the case could not
take effect until the death of the testatrx,
and inasmuch as the devsee in the III
must be treated as volunteer. or one who
takes property as gift without consldera-
ton and as the legal title to the defendant
and the equitable title and estate to The
officers of the church passed on the execu-
ton of the deed. there was no title left IN
the grantor to this property to be disposed
OF by her viii.
Attorney Benjamin F. Leighton appeared
for the plaintiff and Attorney Walter D..
DaVidge represented the defendant.