The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1910-09-09
The court
IS SHOCKED
Disclosure Brought Ont In
Taylor-Gro Case.
Judge Birkhead Refuses to Car
eel Deed on Insanity
Plea.

IaylOr against j. II. Grogg ana
others pending in the Ohio circuit
court in which there is a partial
victory for the defendants. The suit
was brought to set aside and have
cancelled a deed to 424 acres of land
in Ohio county upon the grounds that
at the time the deed was made, the
plaintiff was mentally incapacitated,
and also upon the grounds of fail
ure of consideration, upon the idea
that the stock in certain coal COM
! pany, which was to be taken as part
payment of the land, would sell on
the market at par value. The opin-
ion shows that Judge Birkhead has
given this case considerable thought
and he says the plea of insanity
of the plaintiff is not sustained, and
he refuses to order the contracts
cancelled. The court however says
that there has been a failure in the
consideration, and directs that the
defendants pay the plaintiff the sum
of $533.33, or have the Green River
Coal Mining company to deliver to
the plaintiff $4,000 more stock in the
corporation. Judge Birkhead, in his
opinion says that the situation dis
closed by the record shocks the court
The opinion in full is as follows:
This suit was brought by the plain
tiff in which he seeks by the prayer
of his petition to cancel two deeds
made by himself and wife to a tract
of land containing 424.6 acres. One
of the deeds is conveying the mineral
rights and the other the surface
of the land. The deeds are dated in
1907, and he seeks to have them can
celled on two grounds: First a men
tai incapacity to make the deed and
bind himself thereby and second, on
the ground that the defendants prac-
), ticed fraud on him in securing the
deed. The tract of land lies on the
north bank of Green river in Ohio
county, and seems to have some fine
coal land under it, and it is the key
to other coal lands situated further
back from the river.
AS to the first ground, the mental
, incapacity on the part of the plain
till to make the deed and bind him
self thereby, l have read second
time a large part of the evidence in
this record, carrying in my mind
this charge in the petition and am
inclined to the opinion that taking
his own evidence as indicating his
mental condition, that this court is
bound to conclude that he is a man
OF reasonably good sense; that is
be answers the questions with rea-
sonable intelligence and seems to I'M
derstand them, and his answers are
responsive to the questions in most
every instance, so on this ground !
think the plaintiff must fail. On the
second ground, that he was deceiv-
ed and misled by the statement OF
the defendants, Dudley and Gregg,
that the value of the stock in the
Green River Coal Mining company,
a corporation organized in part by
the defendntas, Dudley and Gregg,
guaranteed to be worth par on the
market when it was issued. The cor
poration, defendant, Green River
Coal Mining company, seems to have
been capitalized at S1,5O0,000. There
has been about 100000 of the cap
ital stock paid in, as l gather. To-
gether with the plaintiffs land it
seems that the defendants, Dud-
ley and Gregg, has about 1922 acres
of mineral land, all of which they
seem to have turned over to the de-
PENDANT company.
| incline to the opinion that the
court cannot cancel the deed made
by the plaintiffs to the defendants,
Dudley and Gregg, because 1t has
been conveyed by them to a third
person. / incline further to the opin-
lon, though with some doubt, that
the plaintiff, being a confiding man
as / gather from this record, has
listeped with too much confidence to
the statements made BY booster rep
resentative OF the defendants, Dud-
ley and Gregg, in the purchase OF
this land. 1t is reasonably clear to
my mind that the plaintiff was to
receive $4,000 in cash for the min
eral and surface Of his land, and the
residue of 1t he was to take in stock
in the corporation to be organized and
II is reasonably clear In my mind
that he should receive a fair valua-
ton in the stock for the land which
he actually conveyed to them.
think the court places fair esti-
mate on the value of this farm, from