The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-03-20
Mr.. HERRlNG'S FIND.
May Get $4,000 Property in Atchison
County.

Lee Herring, a Topeka carpenter liv-
ing at sol East Tenth street. has Sc
cured a valuable piece of information
which win likely result in his coming
into possession OF a $4,000 Atchison
county farm, about three miles north
of Nortonville.
Herring learned by consulting the
records in the government land Office
in Topeka that a valuable A acre tract
which has been occupied for the past
40 years by Charles r. Bunnell has
never been patented. It was pre-
empted in 1859 by a man named Ed
Coppac, one of John Browns men, who
was killed at Harper's Ferry. But
Coppac never secured title to the land
from the government. However, he
transferred the land, and the title
changed hands a number Of times be-
fore it came into the possession of Bun
nell by warranty deed
Last September, Herring made
homestead entry on Bunnells A acres
and a few weeks ago, created a sensa-
ton in Atchison county by putting up
a notice that he would proceed to
prove Up on the land in the form re-
quired by law
Herring is not related to George W.
, Fisher, the register of the land Office,
/ but the two families live just across the
| street from each other here in Topeka.
/ Herring's home is 906 East Tenth and
Fishers is sol East Tenth. Herring's
mothers name is reported to be Fish
! er, but it is claimed that there is no
/ kinship.
It was also reported that Herring
was employed as a clerk in the land
office, and there obtained the s'tip"
4 which enabled him to take possession
/ of the land, but this is a mistake.
Judge J. G. Wood, receiver of the
government land Office. said today,
after talking with Mr.. Fisher about the
case:
Herring is no relation to George
/ Fisher. They simply happen to be
/ neigh bors. Mr.. Herring came into our
/ Office some time ago and fled on a
tract of land in Atchison county. which
/ understood some other person has
had under fence for some time. The
land, however, belonged to the govern
nent, and Herring had right to
homestead it. Herring was acting
wholly within his rights, and he will
get the title to the land
State Senator U. S. Griffin. of Jeffer-
son county. who was in Topeka today,
was the one who brought the fnfOrma-
ton of the deal, and he says that the
| people up there are considerably agi-
tated about the affair.
Charles Bunnen is an old Mis-
sOurian," says Senator Griffin, land if
he had been at home, there might
have been something happen when
Herring showed up and claimed the
! land. Bunnell is the man who some
years ago gained considerable notoriety
by dividing up his property among a
| large family Of children. He gave each
| child land to the value of about $4,000,
and said that he preferred to have
! things all settled before his death
rather than leave a lot of property for
his heirs to fight about There is said
to be good of land in our county
which is subject to the same kind Of
homestead entry
It is said that Bunnell owned about
! 500 acres of land in Atchison county
which had never been protected by
valid title from the government, and
there is no doubt great deal of the
land now occupied by old settlers
may be honsteaded as was the Bun
nell farm.
Senator Griffin tells of another man
who owned a farm adjoining his own
who had some trouble similar to that
I comprising a number of acres at one
corner of his farm had never been
! properly patented, and som body dis
covered the fact and fled on it. It cost
the owner several hundred dollars to
buy his land back.
It seems somewhat questionable just
what recourse Bunnell has under the
changed ownership Of the land he
thought was his. Tt is possible that he
may recover from the parties who sold
him the land, but some think that he
will only be able to recover from the
county the amount of taxes which he
has paid on the land during the past
/ forty years. Bunnen says that he viii
resist Herring's claim in the courts.