Opinion ID: 1744526
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 19

Heading: Bovard's Attitude Toward Hoover

Text: Marvin Hobbs described John Hoover as a real nice guy. Curiously, Spencer Bovard described John Hoover in similar terms. When asked by his own counsel about John Hoover, he said, He was a real good man. Whatever may be said of that, what seems remarkable to us is for Spencer Bovard to so characterize a man who, if Bovard's version is true, had committed a base fraud against him, by conspiring to cheat him out of his interest in the Northwestern lands to the end that he had spent forty years trying to recover what was rightfully his. If true, it is inconceivable that he would refer to the perpetrator of that egregious wrong as a real good man. Other weaknesses in the Bovard claim could be cited, but we have belabored the point enough. We are entirely convinced the Bovard trust is specious. We have searched this record for any evidence to document Spencer Bovard's version of the facts. We find none. The only support for the Bovard trust is the uncorroborated account of Spencer Bovard and, for reasons already discussed, we are unwilling to rely on that without something more substantial than Mr. Bovard's word. It is not that Mr. Bovard failed to keep records. He kept numerous records from the very time these matters were occurringbank records, hotel bills, receipts for gas purchases, invoices for machinery and tools bought or rented for the mining operation. But we also find records of John Hoover indicating that he was paying these expenses and the most that can be said of Bovard's records is that they point to some common venture involving the Northwestern mine, but fall considerably short of establishing an ownership in the land. In that regard we find nothing.