The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-12
ROAD SUIT FILED
Legal Action Started Against
Pauline Property Owners.
County Claims They Occupy
Portion of Highway.

Legal action to compel several prop
erty owners in and near Pauline, a few
miles south Of Topeka, to move their
fences, residences and store buildings
off the Topeka avenue road prepara-
tory to the hardsurfacing work along
that highway was talkRn today when
Ralph s. Cav, ASSISTANT county at
torney in charge of civil matters filed
suit in the district court against Reg1-
maid A. Grice.
Grice owns two tracts of land Dor
derng on the Topeka avenue road.
One tract is occupied by his residence
and the other by his commercial ga
rage 1t is alleged in the petition that
Griee's property occupies about thirty
1eet of the actual roadway.
Occupy Part of Highway.
When the surveyors and engineers
began to lay out the path of the new
Capitol highway along the Topeka
avenue road, they found that no less
than ten property owners in and near
Pauline were occupying from fifteen
to thirty feet of the public highway.
This highway was laid out in 1871.
In 1859 the original land owner, w.
D. Pauls. is said to have surveyed the
tracts of land, conducting his opera
ton from a point so many feet east
OF the section line. This point hap
pened to be squarely in the middle of
the road. 1t is the theory of the
county attorneys office that Pauls
.AENAAAANo init "Il6n the TOdu was put
thru there. that it would be clipped
from the edges of the property on
each side Judge Cav pointed out
that ordinarily when a tract of land Is
surveyed or described no mention is
made Of adjacent highways.
The road was laid out in 1871. 1t
was sixty feet wide and lay along the
eastern line Of the Santa Fe right-of-
way The part of it actually travelled,
however. does not consume the sixty
feet and HnnSPnuanf1-r during rha
years. some of the property owners
have unWittingly encroached on the
actual highway, it Is claimed. In fact.
in some places the road actually
travelled is said to be partly on the
railroad right-of-way.
Things drifted along this way for
many years without any trouble But
when it came to putting in the hard
surfaced road, matters had to be cor
rected- 1t is easy enough to divert
traffic off one part of a highway and
onto another. but it isn't so easy to
take up a paved road and move it over
thirty feet because a mistake has been
made.
Owners Asked to Move.
when il was discovered that some
of the buildings and fences encroached
upon the road. the owners were re-
quested to move them In most cases
they refused. In some cases such
action will no doubt cause much labor
and expense.
when arbitration failed, the county
decided to take legal steps An at
tempt was made to get all the prop
erty owners affected to enter a sttpu-
iation binding themselves to be gov
erred by the outcome of the suit
against Grice. But this has also failed.
apparently, and suits are now being
prepared against each of the individ-
ua1s. This will of course delay mat
tiers considerably and put the county
TO much additional expense.
Those property owners who are al
fected by the paving are H P. Better.
Ida Paul. W. S. Paul, William 5.
Myers. l. b. Osgood, William f.
Strawn. school district No. 70, Regi-
naId C. Grice. Sunnyside Congrega-
tional church and Martha Phillips