Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1909-11-05
Litigation Affecting West
Virginia Lands in Raleigh
and Wyoming Counties
Decided.
$4,000 ACRES IN
CONTROVERSY
Western Pocahontas Corpo
ration Upheld-Tennants
Claimed Acreage.

Richmcnd. Nov. 5.-The case Of
Abraham Accord against the West
ern 20: ahontas corporation. appeal
ed from the United States district
court Of Charleston. w. Va, was fl
nally dismissed yesterday afternoon
when the United States circuit court
of appeals affirmed the decision
of the lower court.
The litigation is in regard to the
title of 28,166 acres of land situat-
ed In Raleigh and Wyoming cOun-
ties OF West Virginia and dates back
to 1865, when a grant OF 10000
acres of land was granted to James
Welch. Later a grant of several
hundred thousand acres of land was
granted 10 Wilson Cary Nicholas,
and it was discovered many years
afterward that the later grant in
cluded a portion, the property In
litigation, of the first.
This second grant created cloud
to the title. which was afterward
removed by the purchase of the prop
erty from the Nicholas estate. After
many transactions the property
came into the hands of the Western
Pocahontas Coal and Lumber Com
pany. Later another corporation
was formed, which bought the land,
called the Western Pocahontas cor
poration.
The tenants OF the land who
brought suit for it's possession and
who had been living on the land as
their own and refused to recognize
the Western Pocahontas corporation
as the owners. Surt was then
Wrought by the corpora Ion to have
the title cleared.
The lower courts decided that
the tenants had been living on the
land under lease and ordered that
they be ready to vacate at any time
the corporation decided that 1t need
ed possession.
The plaintiffs in the lower court
charged that the corporation had
been formed entirely for the pur-
pose of purchasing the land from
the Western Pocahontas Coal and
Lumber Company at the foreclosure
sale in 1905. when the Western
PocahOntas Coal and Lumber Com
pany dissolved In substantiation
cf this. and also i'm support OF the
allegation that the Chesapeake and
OHIO Railway Company was really
the owner OF both corporations, it
was shown that George w. Stevens.
president OF the Chesapeake and
Ohio, was president of the corpora
tion; that Decatur Axtell vice-pres-
ident of the Che apeake and Ohio
was vice-presldent Of the corpora
tion, and that the only Office pos
sessed by the corporation was in
President George w. Stevens ONCE
I'm the Chesapeake and Ohio build |
ing
The Western Pocahont8s corpora
ton attorneys, on the other hand !
showed that the defendants had
formed a Citizen 1'riOn Society for
,he purpose OF securing the land |
had had the land surveyed and had
piven each other deeds to the prop
,N,y on which each defendant was
located These deeds we're not al
lowed g., be spread on the land
hook. OF the counties I'm which they
were situated and holders Of the
deeds a.vcr paid taxes on the prop
crty.
The United states circuit court
Of appeals decided. after reviewing
the evidence I'm the case fully. that
the property belonged TO the West
cm Pocahontas corporation and
that tff1o TO tho rroporfv vvar c1ear