News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1915-06-23
LAMOILLE COUNTY COURT


Pike, one of the jurymen, he being resi-
dent of Stowe and on friendly terms will
5 the contesting parties in the Burts v
! Shaw case. Deputy Sheriff Jones wa.
t designated as the officer to call tails
man to fill the vacancy and he drafted H
e. Barrows, a well-known Johnson mer
chant and exemplary citizen, to complete
the panel.
After the jury were empannelled the
opening statement for the plaintiff was
made by F. 6. Fleetwood. From this it
appeared that the plaintiffs claim that
the lot number Ii in that part of the
town OF Stowe, formerly Mansfield, was
now owned by the plaintiffs and that it
had been owned by their grantors for a
long time, practically since the original
survey of the town, it being part of a
large tract of about $4,000 acres which
was at one time owned by John Wheeler
and David Reed.
That some parts of this tract came to
the defendant by reason of deeds to T. r.
Booth and from him to Russell and then
to Shaw and that the Burt title came
from the same source as the Shaw title,
that is from the Wheelers. The claim of
the defendant is that his lot 21 which
adjoins 13 on the east of very large lot
and extends to the top of mountain COW
ering the very land on which the plain.
tiffs say 13 is located, and that he has
always claimed to own to the top of the
mountain; and that the whole range of
lots in which Is is situated has in some
very mysterious manner been swallowed
| whole without any grease, and has dis
| appeared from the face of the earth.
The time Wednesday and Thursday af.
ter the opening statement was occupied
in the introduction of the deeds and other
exhibits which the plaintiffs claim show
their title to this land, the evidence being
put in by M. P. Maurice for the plaintiffs.
Many exhibits were offered in this con.
nection, the alphabet being used I'D twice
IN marking the various papers and plans
The defendant made many objections to
their introduction and practically all OF
them were admitted subject to the excep
ton OF the defendant. The principal con-
troversy about the papers being that the
plaintiffs claim that commission ap.
pointed in 1862 to survey and establish
the line between Underhill and Stowe
marked this line by iron pins, and that it
was PSI rods west OF where it is claimed
by the defendant. loo
The location of the iron pin line on the
ground is not questioned by the defe nd.
ant. but he claims that it was at the
corner of the lots which include 21, not
where the plaintiff claims so far as the l,
lot lines are concerned, and that the co M
mission had no right to put it in3anv
other place than where the legislature
said it was to be in 1899. The plaintiff |
claims that this line where it now is |
marks the town line but does not in any
way change the lot lines, and that it is
not where the commission said it was.
Thursday afternoon the plaintiffs called
the defendant Shaw to the stand for
cross examination as a party. Shaw
claimed that he owned by his deed ali
the land to the top of the mountain and
had occupied it for many years, as ha d
his grantors before him. Among his
other statements being that he did not
care what the jury thought about mat
ter which he was inquired of At the
close OF his examination John Webst er of
Franklin was called for the plaintiff. Mr.
Webster has been a surveyor since 1869,
and had made plan of the land in this
The plan was identified
and explained and after a long cross ex.
animation by Redmond which attempted
20 show that the plan was not accurate,
was admitted by the court, and Mr..
Webster was fully examined by Maurice
is to what was shown on the plan, the
ocation of lot 10, and the place of the
Shaw cutting in 1914.15 which is in
7olved in this case. He testified that lot
g is PSI rods long east and west and
hat it was located across the crest of the ,
This had been very carefully located by
linn from surveys actually made. He
vas cross examined by Redmond, and
he cross examination was in progress
when court adjourned Friday night It'll
wo O'Clock Monday afternoon. The case
will doubtless last all the week.
The laws now on trial at Co unity
COURT is a very forceful reminder of G en-.
,rant's declaration during the Civil War
We intend to fight it out on this line if
takes all summer"
Two additional stenographers have
'een added to the force taking testimony
n the Burts-Shaw case-Misses M. L.
spencer and B. H. Weller of Burlingto n
This makes four besides the official re-
Dorter.
Garfield ROad