Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-11-24
TITLE TO OLD CEMETERY
PROCEEDINGS TO PREVENT
SALE TO THE DISTRICT.
Twelve Heirs Of Charles Beatty
Claim That Property Should
Revert to Them.

| the old Presbyterian cemetery on
street, Georgetown, on which an option to
purchase is held by the District Commits
sioners. the land to be used for a munich
pal playground, yesterday reached the
District Supreme Court. Charles A. Beatty
and eleven other heirs Of Charles Beatty
| filed suit for an Injunction against the
trustees OF the Presbyterian congregation
of Georgetown to prevent the consumma-
| ton OF the sale. The compliments also
ask that the deeds under which the
| church claims title should be declared
| null and void and that the title be REIN
! vested in them.
Charles Beatty, a pioneer wealthy citi-
zen Of Georgetown, owning large tracts of
land, under a deed of August &c. 1902,
| granted to certain trustees in trust for
| the use and benefit of the Presbyterian
congregation of Georgetown. the unin-
corporated predecessors of the present de-
PENDANTS. the land in question, to be used
by that congregation for a meeting house
and burydng ground, stipulating in the
deed Of grant that at any time that the
land so granted should be used for any
other purpose than that for which 1t was
granted 1t should revert In fee simple to
the heirs-at-law of the grantor, Charles
Beatty. 1t is shown in the petition that
the Presbyterian congregation OF George
town accepted the provisions of the grant
through the original trustees and that for
| a long period Of years the ground was
used as the site of church and burying
ground or cemetery, in which were in
TERED from year to year. covering the
| early history of Georgetown, the remains
| Of many prominent people. among them
many of the heirs of the grantor
Provision as to Use.
Under an act of Congress Of March %,
1906, the congregation, which prior to that
time had been an unincorporated body,
was duly Incorporated under the title of
THE Trustees of the Presbyterian Con-
gregation of Georgetown" in which
among other things it was provided that
no part Of the ground appropriated and
inclosed as a grave yard be disposed of
for any other purpose"
At the time Charles Beatty made the
grant to the congregation the Maryland
bill of rights was in force in this juris-
diction. The thirty-fourth section of that
bill limited the conveyance of real estate
for the use of religious societies The
sections reads:
THAT every gift, sale or devise of lands
to any minister. public teacher or preach
er Of the Gospel, as such, or to any re-
ligious order or sect. or denomination,
without leave Of the legislature, shall be
void; except always any sales, gifts or
devises of any quantity of land, not ex-
ceeding two acres, for church meeting
or other house Of worship and for burial
ground, which shall be improved, enjoyed
or used only for such purpose, or such
sale, gift, lease or devise shall be void.'
" For a Specific Purpose.
The compliments claim that under the
grant and law in force at the time the
grant was made this land was granted for
specific purpose to be used for a meet
ing house and burying ground, and that
when the land SO granted shall not be
used for the specific purpose for which it
was granted it reverts to the heirs-at-law,
and that the trustees are not and never
have been vested with the title in fee
simple and have no right to sell the land.
1T Is shown in the bill that the church
congregation has not used the land for
many years for a church or burying
Egfonnd, neglecting the property, which
heb become a waste, overgrown with
weeds and underbrush 1t is shown in
the bill that within the past three months
the defendant has removed the bodies, or
part of the bodies, buried in the old bury
ing grounds; removed all the tombstones,
plowed up the grounds and abandoned
the land as burying ground and place
of worship, and that they have entered
into contract with the District Com
missionerS to sell the lands to be used as
a public Fairgrounds, and by reason of
this action the land reverts to the heirs
at-laW.
The bill asks for a decree giving the
heirs at law title in fee to the land with
permission to re-enter and take possess
sion, and a perpetual injunction granted
against the trustees of the congregation
from selling or conveying the lands in
question to the District of Columbia or
selling or conveying it to any one in any
manner.
Attorneys Padgett & Forrest and w. H.