The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-10-29
MILLIONS INvO[WD
 IN LAND LAWSUIT Kentucky Land Gases Go to the Supreme Court
 s OWNERSHIP IS MIXED
Over Two Million Acres of Eastern Kentucky Land Are in Litigation Owing to the old Virginia
 "BInnIset Grnntsv

Washington October 2S.-The contro- versy which has ragged in Kentucky for
 generations of the validity of so-called
 ''blanket' grants of lands of Virginia,
 the mother state, and even Kentuc1s itself during the earlier years of state
 hood, came before the supreme court of
 the United States today for decision. Titles of lands now said to be worth
 $10O00,O00 depend upon the decision of the court. Originally some of the land was procured at 9 cents an acre.
 During the day arguments were heard
 as to the constitutionaIity of the Ken
 lucky statutes under which 1t is claimed forfeiture of the title to 40.O00 acres of land, held by the Kentucky Union company. would be worked in favor of
 occupants of the land.
 The case will be closed possibly Mon day.
 Immediately after this case it is ex-
 pected suits involving the title of the
 Eastern Kentucky coal lands will be taken up.
 Presentation of the controversy to the supreme court today in oral arguments | revealed an unusual story In the west ern advance of American civilization. | Owing to the carelessness with which | Virginia is said to have issued grants | just after the revolutionary war to the unsurveyed and little known lands in | what is now eastern Kentucky, greatest confusion has resulted as to the true owners of the land in the 20 eastern coun- | ties of that commonwealth. To add to | this confusion it is said Kentucky did | little better than the mother state, Vir- gnia, in the first years of her history. As result additional blanket grants
 made by the new state are now chal- lenged.
 Tn all, about 2.50O,0OO acres of land are said to lie under the doubtful title of
 these blanket" grants. Of this amount the Eastern Kentucky Coal Land corpor-
 ation. of which c. B. Hillhouse is accred- ited with being chief stckhowner, claims title to 500000 acres.
 On the other hand, 300,600 citizens of the state of Kentucky have entered these lands Claimants under the "blanket' grants call them "squatters." The attor-
 ney general of the commonwealth of Ken lucky has appeared in the supreme court to assert in defense of their claim of title
 that they are the people who have built up the state, and erected a common wealth, with its court houses and school houses; its municipalities and internal improvements.
 They have for years, the attorney gen. eral has said in a brief filed with the
 court, paid taxes on the land, while search of the records, where such infor-
 nation would be found, he says, shows
 that the sum total of all taxes paid by
 the claimants under the Virginia grants
 in litigation since the organization of Kentucky in 1792 to the present time does
 not exceed $75.
 Recent legislation in Kentucky resulted In decisions by the state courts which practically took away any title which claimants under the blanket" grants
 might have had. These claimants now come to the supreme court in a final ap- peal, denouncing the legislation as
 "spoliation," and lawless confscation,
 revolutionary and subversive of all con
 stitutional and orderly government"
 In the background of the legal contest
 are many stories of conflict and suffering
 fesulting from the confusion of owner
 ship. Not only have there been conflicts
 between. the claimants by virtue of the
 blanket" grants and of possession, but hundreds of innocent purchasers of ficti-
 tious titles to the land are said to have
 spent their entire fortune in going 10
 Kentucky, only to find some one already
 in possession of the land for which they
 had paid their money.