The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1907-11-20
ENDED ATLAST.
Famous Lawsuit Settled after One
Hundred Years of Litigation.
PECK VS. BORDEN CASE

ASsa W - S~sneS e7sV We kSt
+ Which Originally Involved One HUI
: dred Thousand Dollars, Is Ende
After Estate Had DwinHed to ST
, Thousand DoliarS.-Each Heir Go
Very Little as There Were a Grea
Many Of Them.
A famous lawsuit which has bee,
IN litigation in the courts Of v'irgini;
for a period Of more than one hun
dred years, was recently terminated
there by the receiver for the propert,
N litigation disbursing the remainde
;ot the estate-some s6,000-amon:
the heirs.
Quite number of the heirs O.
this estate live in Atlanta and othel
parts Of Georgia, and through the
courtesy Of Albert Borden Green
whose mother. Mr., Rachael Green
OF Decatur, was descendant of the
/ Borden family. and one of the heirs
to the muchly litigated estate, The
Atlanta Journal recently presented q
facsimile of the check which she re-
Gently received from the receiver lu
full settlement of her share of the
estate. The amount is not large, be-
ing only s14.69, but it was case OF
long division, and $4,000 doesn' I
make much OF show when cut up
among four hundred heirs.
Among the descendants of the
Bordens who live in Georgia and were
interested in this famous lawsuit,
may be mentioned Mrs. James R.
Gray, Of Atlanta, the wife of Hon.
James R. Gray, editor of The Jour
nal; j. R. Sasnett, Of Hapeville: Mrs.
Frank Little. the wife of Judge Frank
Little, Of Sparta; H. H. Sasnett, de-
ceased, Of Jacksonville, Fla; Mrs.
Mary VIII Sasnett, of Sparta; Bev. B.
H. Sasnett, deceased, Of Atlanta, and
Mrs. R. F. Greer, Of Decatur.
All of these Georgians are the de-
scendants of the Borden family Of
Virginia, and the large holdings OF
realty left by the founder of the fam
lily furnished the sinews for the long
legal battle which has been wayed III
the courts OF Virginia for a century
and more.
The case. entitled Peck VS.. Borden.
forcibly reminds one OF the celebrated
case OF Jarndyce VS.. Jarndyce. as
pictured by Charles Dickens In this
case, however, the heirs have from
time to time had divided up and par
"eled out among them something ov-
ar 100000, and the case did finally
come to an end, being unlike that OF
Jarndyce VS.. Jarndyce in that respect.
Everybody in Staunton. Va, knew
all about the Peck VS.. Borden law
suit Lawyers regarded it as in the
nature Of an inheritance. and the
interest which family OF lawyers
had in the case as counsel was hand
ed down from generation to genera
ton, from father to son. 1t was one
of the ordinary incidents Of life for
an attorney, as the shadows of life
heightened and affairs of life were
nearing to an end to call his son to
his bedside and say. My son. | have
less OF this worlds goods to leave
YOU than l could wish, but leave
you with my blessing and my interest
as a lawyer in the case of Peck VS..
Borden. 1t supported my great
grandfather as lawyer, it supported
my grandfather and father and it will
doubtless supply the comforts of life
TO your children's children.
But. like all other things Of this
earth the celebrated case at length
came to an end. 1t was like unto
the closing up Of lawyers supply
company when the receiver in the
case entered a final decree. and the
last dollar has been parceled out.
Strong men-lawyers-wept like lit
tie children. knowing that cases like
these turned up only once every few
centuries. and the new crop Of law
yers had a long and dreary period Of
waiting before such another good
thing; would be discovered.
Tie case had its inception more
than one hundred years ago when the
property of Benjamin Borden. the
founder of the family, was wrongly
disposed Of by a guardian Of his two
granddaughters. Out of this suit
collateral issues sprang and the
courts have since then been busy year
after year with some branch of the
~ase or another. When the judge
ordered the clerk to pronounce the
record in court the clerk complied by
trucking it in with the aid Of several
porters. and there was scarcely lett
room enough in the court room to
turn around. so voluminous and num-
erous were the papers which had been
fled from time to time.
Sturdy old Benjamin Borden, the
founder of the family fortunes, emil
grated from England and came to
! Virginia in 1920, settling a colony
/ near Staunton, Va, He received fol
his valuable services TO the crown a
huge grant Of land in Rockbridge and
Augusta counties, Virginia, and some
5000 acres of land around what is
now known as Bordentown, \. J.
Benjamin Borden. Jr.. succeeded
to the property at the death Of hi:
father, leaving it in turn 70 his son
Joseph Borden. Upon the latter,
death. the property reverted to hi:
two minor daughters, and this wa
the beginning Of the famous law suit
:! The guardian for the TWO girls soit
some of the property and did not ac