Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1914-06-26
WHOLE TOWN is
INVOLVED in SUIT
Title to Property in Jenkins,
ky.,in Dispute-Scene of Fa-
nous Authors Stories.

freezing, Va, June l2.-At the re-
cent term of United States court held
ut Catlettsburg for the Eastern Dis
trict of Kentucky suit was tcrmi-
mated involving 200-acrc tract of
land upon which the mining town of
Jenkins stands, and which, with thc
improvements upon it, is valued at
Sl,o0O,O00. This suit was brought by
William Fillmore Addington and his
wife, Nancy Ann Addington, against
the Consolidation Coal Company. to
recover realty, which through II tech
nicality of conveyance had become le-
gally entangled.
The grounds upon which the action
was brought are somewhat tedious.
and date from 1860, when the father
of Mrs. Addington. Solomon Bentley.
died III Pike county, KY. leaving the
tract of land now in dispute to his
wife and only heir, the latter to have
two-thirds of the tract, and the widow,
the remaining onc-third. According
to the stipulation of Bcntlcy's will,
Mt the age of twenty-onc his daugh-
ter, who during the intrim had mar
ried William Fillmore Arlington. was
given possession of her share of the
land.
Some years after the death of Bent
ley his widow remarked, and on June
), 1884 she, her husband and Mrs. Adj
dmgton joined in deed of convey
ance of the land in question to John
w. Wright, bitter known as "Dcvil
John. This deed of conveyance was
acknowledged, but not executed under
seal, neither did Addington enter into
the conveyance. Later Wright sold
tins tract with others to the Northern
Coal and Coke Company, who in turn
transferred it with other holdings to
the Consolidation Coal Company.
Now the plaintiffs seek to have the
conveyance set aside on the grounds
that the wife could make no legal
conveyance, as the laws of Kentucky
require the husband to join with the
wife in deed of conveyance of prop
erty that comes through her hands.
The plaintiffs We're represented by
Judge Robert l.. Miller, of Pikcville,
Ky, Senator Roland Il. Chase. of
Clintwood, Va, Judge w. b. Bond,
of Wise, Va, and David Hayes, of
Whitesburg, Ky; the defense, by the
partners in the law firm of EIagcr and
Stewart,of Ashland, KY, S. S. Willis,
of Ashland, KY, anr George C.. Peery.
of Wise, Va.
AT the conclusion of the trial Judge
a. M. j. Cochran, before whom the
case was tried, ordered the court ste
nographcr to have Il typewriter copy
of the evidence ready for review by
September l, as soon $ possible after
which he would render decision.
Considerable interest attaches to
the proceedings of this case on ac-
count of the principal scenes of John
FoX's story, "Thc Trail of the Lone
some Pine" being laid on Elkhorn
Creek where now stands the town of
jenkins. 1t was there that Judd Tol-
liver lived in i large log dwelling,
which was recently torn down to make
room for the offices of the Consolida-
tion Coal Company. 1t was on the
creek above the dwelling that Hale,
one of the principal characters of the
story, met June, the little daughter
of the mountaineer who socn appear
ed on the scene in n threatening man.
ner, gun in hand, proceeding which
was characteristic of the mountain
moonshiner of decade ago.