The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-02-06
Legal Disputes from Mingo,
Bfaxton, Doddridge and Ty-
Ter Counties Adjusted.

CihlUu1 W6I0 6uuVuASoA LILO VIVA W
the state supreme court In cases which
) have been pending before 1t from
nGingo, Doddridge, Tyler, Braxton and
Mcdowell counties.
.aIn the case Of Barnett against
Greathouse, from Doddridge county
In which the terms Of will disposinG
I Of several hundred acres OF valuable
Doddridge and Gilmer county lands
J and more than $4,000 In cash was in
yolved, the judgment Of the lower
court was reversed and the bill was
dismissed.
BY the decision Of the supreme
court the will made by the late Pick
ard Brannon was declared to be legal
the efforts of the plaintiff in the case
to prove Brannon was Of unsound
mind when he made the instrument
being held insufficient.
: The court announced written opin-
ion in the combined cases Of McKin-
zie against Hatfield. Mayor Chancey
against Hatfield, Kennedy against
Hatfield and Hatfield against Hatfield,
known as the Matewan election case
which was decided few days ago,
writs Of mandamus being awarded.
The syllabus Of the opinion, writ
ten by Judge Mason, is as follows:
Certificates OF the result Of an
election, made by the commissioners
at the voting precinct, are prima facie
evidence of such result. The ballots
II identified as the same cast, are
primary and higher evidence; but
when it appears that such ballots have
been tempered with and altered, they
lose their character as primary evil
dence, and the result OF the election
will be ascertained and governed by
such certificates"
RidenOur against Roach.
In the case Of Ridenour against
Roach, from Doddridge county, the
decree Of the lower court was modi-
fed and affirmed; Williams, judge.
The syllabus is as follows:
II. In a suit to set aside a convey
ance, as made with intent to defraud
creditors, proof of the granter's fraud
casts the burden upon the grantee to
prove actual payment Of valuable
consideration.
"2. Fraud may be proven, as we'll
on the part Of the grantee as the
grantor, by circumstantial evidence.
and may be legally inferred from such
established facts and circumstances
as will lead reasonable man to con-
clude that the purpose was to defraud
the grantor's creditors.
"3. A secret reservation by an in
solvent grantor OF material interest
in the land granted, is fraud in law
as to his creditors.
+ "4. A decree setting aside a fraud
ulent conveyance in so far only as 1t
affects the rights Of plaintiffs and d.
recting a sale of the property, and
application Of the proceeds to pay
ment of costs and plaintiffs debt, but
which is erroneous only in that 1t d.
reefs the residue OF proceeds. If any,
to be paid to the grantor, instead Of
the grantee, will be corrected on ap-
peal, in that respect, and then af-
firmed, with costs to appellees."
Court against Railway Company.
The decision of the circuit court Of
Wetzel county, was modified. affirmed
and remanded, in the case of the
County Court Of Wetzel county against
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Com
pany; Poffenbarger, judge. The syl-
labus follows:
. Il. Acquiescence Of county court
In the appropriation of one of its
highways by a railroad company,
without its consent or acquisition Of
the right of condemnation. until after
the railroad had been constructed and
put in operation upon the location so
taken, does not preclude right in the
former to require the latter, by way
Of restoration of the public right, to
construct a substitute road as nearly
equal, as is practicable, in point OF
utility, to the road so taken and oc-
cupied: but the county court, in such
case, has no right to GUST the railroad
company from its location on the site
of the former road, Notwithstanding
the wrongfulness Of the apppropri-
alton, since the railroad company has
by law the superior right OF location
enforcible by proper procedure.
"2. Long acquiescence of county
court in the substitution by a railroad
company Of an inferior and insuffici-
ent road, for the one so taken, does
not preclude Its right to compel the
railroad so to improve the substi-
tute road SO as to make it legally SUI
ficient.
"S. Clause 6, section 50, chapter 81
OF the code, ser. sec. 2949, does not
impose duty upon railroad company
crossing Of appropriating public
road than the one so crossed or ap-
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