Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About The Ione independent. (Ione, Or.) 1916-19?? | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1930)
PA1A 7m 'II " i V. : T - h 'j Hli Uvci M H Li I n fc; i I 4yU Lrvr -A k! LV Hi M i- til ejsm, fc!(K fcvu -V II: T.A . i-T ' Va TJ1 M ; I k. .. 1 1. 1 S il u (la SI II By ELMO SCOTT WATSON IIXEXTLY K, V. Gunn, a merchant of KlchtnonJ, Va exploded a vertltaMe bimihshell In tlie Old Do minion nud sent state of ficials, historians and nt tonioys scurrying ti dig In the archives ly declar ing that he Is the real owner of the greater rrt ot the land upon which stands the state canltol end that he wants to he paid for it on the basis of Its original valuation, made In 1TS4, of some plus compound Interest nt the rate of 3 for cent a year for 14(5 years. And that has set some of the mathemati cians to figuring Just how colossal a sum would be a principal of $0,r00 plus compound interest for nearly a century and a half. The Richmond merchant says that the state of Virginia can not produce any records to prove that the land condemned In 17S4 for a public square was ever paid for and says he will ask relief from the general assembly at its next session if the state refuses to consent to a suit alleging breach of contract. Failing In that step. Mr. Gunn has been advised by counsel that he can go into the federal courts on the proundg of the violation of consti tutional property rights and he affirms be can prove his contention by exist ing records. Mr. Gunn points to a letter sent to Thomas Jefferson, then ambassador to France, by members of a legislative commission, asking Mr. Jefferson to engage an architect in Tads to pre pare plans for a state capltol and as suring the author of the Declaration of Independence that "the Mil on which Gunn's yellow house stands, and which you favored as the best situation (for a state capltol contin ues to be preferred by us." The original Jefferson letter is In the custody of the Coll. ge of Wil'lam and Mary. The original condemnation order has been placed on record In the Henry County court, after re maining obscure for nearly K) years. Mr. Gunn has been working on bis claim siin'e childhood, but made no effective headway until the original condemnation Jury's report was un earthed from dusty archives. "Thirty years nzo, I met a man who was then ninety years old." Mr. Gunn said recently. "Ashing me If I were a descendant of the old Gunn family of Richmond, he told me that bis father, who worked for the state government, had Informed Mm that the state of Virginia never paid for the land condemned for u-e as a public S'juare and the permane nt seat of the state government. The rea son, he said, was that the condemna tion proceedings records had been lost and that no claim against the state could be proved In court. "I wus told by rny family as a boy that rny family never had ln-en com pensated by the state. My i efforts were blocked until the original con demnation order was found. The pa pers by mistake were gent in ITS to the city clerk's office for recording, instead of to the clerk of the Henry County court. Th're papers, plus maps uncovered and the letter to Thomas Jefferson, which shows Mr, Jefferson had Inspected the old Gunn plot while governor of Virginia mid favored It for a ttate capltol site, speak for themselves. "I have been informed by Auditor C. Lee Moore lie can llnd no record of the state having paid for Ihe prop erty it condemned In ITS J. I took the matter up with Governor Ryrd toward the close of his udmlnlstratlon. "The governor, after referring my letter to the secretary of the coin inonwealih for Investigation, Informed me that the facts were as I had stsited them to be, Insofar as the existence cf any record of payment by the stale was concerned, "a the Judgment of legal advisers, the mere condemnation proceedings in the ubsence of payment did riot take the title to the property from my t7 .ira R 1 1 ancestors, 1 feel I have a substan tial claim to ownership of the land on which the state capltol now stands. I cannot sue the state for breach of contract without the state's consent, and the statute of limitation has ex pired. Tut I believe the people of Virginia would like to see the proper settlement made." Nor is this Richmond merchant the only one who Is Interested In this mat ter for he declares that other old Richmond families, among them the Snyders, Curries, Archibald Carys, Trices and Acrille Cootie, had half acre lots condemned In 1TS4 and present-day descendants of those families are watching with interest his move for restitution. Nor is this Virginia case unique, for Oklahoma has a somewhat simi lar one, only the "No Man's Land" there has infinitely greater potential riches to make it worth fighting for. It is a small triangular tract of about two acres in the heart of the great Oklahoma City oil fields which has been "lost" for CO years. No "Roomer" homesteaded it after the "run" into Oklahoma in ls,sa The surveyors and mapmakem seemed to have missed it and It is still government soil. No one seems to have dreamed that this valuable parcel of land was avail able to a clalmer until recently when Forrest I'urrott of Oklahoma City, guided by maps w hich others had seen, no doubt, but failed to realize their significance, began a bit of "prospect ing" In the archives of the register of deeds at the Oklahoma county court bouse. What he found was almost unbe lievahle a plot of unclaimed land, sandwiched right in the middle of one of the richest oil areas of the world. S'o Mr. I'arrott staged the "ruu of lV.V)." With an armful of stakes he dashed out to the little silver of river bottom hind and drove his pegs. Then, as la the prairie schooner and sunhonnet days of 42 years ago, Mr. I'arrott set about making his claim legal. He went back to the court bouse and filed an affidavit of his claim, setting forth he was filing on it as a homestead ami claiming pri ority rights as an ex-sen lee man. The triangular shape of the neg lected piece of land was caused by the unties of the North Canadian river. When the government surveyors made their first survey of jT0 they did an excellent Job f.,r working out the river bottom Into ehopped-up lots, but they forgot this one tract. The tract is In the center of the most Intense drilling activity In the Oklahoma City oil field. Half a mile east Is T. 15. Slick's No. 1 Ralley 17,-Ouj-harrel-a-day well, and the same distance south the 2'..HHMiarrel-a day well owned by Wirt Franklin. And yet these are only two ex amples of queer claims which result from surveyors' or nmpmukers' errors or some slip-up in registering deeds or some other title to land. A curious case was reported from New York re cently, tnd added another Item to the record of high-priced real estate In that city where some plots of ground are literally worth more than the number of silver dollars It would take to cover them. In this ease a pur chaser of re-il estate paid a total of .1,'JW for 213 square Inches of land $"') a square inch It came about In this way: One of the Mrs. Vanderbilts wanted to buy a plot of ground In Fast Fifty, seventh street between First avenue and the river, on which once stood five brownstones, built In the seven ties by one Harvey Dennis, a consid erable realtor of his day. Naturally the prospective purchaser wanted to be sure she had a clear claim to the title, so she had experts of the Title Guarantee & Trust company look It up. For what if after the house were erected somebody should boh up and claim a strip of property, eighteen feet by one inch, running right through the building? .Such a demand would form a grave crisis. In this Instance a hunt was made for the Dennis heirs. It was hard to find them. It took two months, during which time more than 3(10 letters were written. Finally they were located. There were six heirs in all. The situation was ex plained. The tltlo company people finally got them to sign a quitclaim for S.ihj each, or $l.2 In alb That Isn't much, but then neither was the land to which they were unintentionally the heirs. It amounted, In fact, to Just one and a half square feet. But If New York can claim the smallest and the highest priced pieces of real estate, Chicago can point with pride to the world's costliest cow path which runs right through n mod ern 22 story skyscraper known as the 100 West Monroe building. The cow path dates from the early ft' when Dr. Jared Rassett liought the entire Clark street frontage, l.K) feet deep, betwetMi Monroe and Madi son streets. In the center of the block he built his home with a cow barn fur his cow, "Itessle." As time went on, Ioctor Rassett sold most of his property but always with a pro vision for a 1)-foot easement so that "Bessie" could make her way to the barn. So In 1023 when the 100 West Mon roe Building corporation took over the lease for the property they found the flaw which preserved the path but too late to do anything about It. The deed was subjected to litigation and It stood the test. While their solution of the problem was a little costly, it was rather unusual, for they usurped the air rights and left "Bessie" her 10 foot path with an IS-foot clearance, Just In case she should desire to bring In a wagon load of luur some time. Above the 1 rwt level the building Juts out at right angles, covering the cow path and extending upward for 20 stories. While set-back buildings are common sights In Chicago this Is the only "set-out" building on record. And the space lost would bring uliout $1'.', s) In yearly rentals. Another cnrlous situation, cause,) by a Haw In a title, was reported from New York recently. The story of It, as told In the New York World, fob lows : "A legal catch in the title of what usi-d to lie known as City Hall place a street only ubout tVn) feet long that ran from in back of the Munlplcal building at I mane street to l'enrl street Is holding up plans for the proposed civic center around the new county court house and Foley square. "The rlddlo which Assistant Cor poration Counsel Joel J. Squire of the bureau of street openings Is charged to solve Is what can the city do with the forty-foot roadway which bisects one of the most valuable plots of real estate In New York. Tart of this riddle Is what will the Church of St. Andrew, which stand on the west of the old street, do about Its parish house which stands on the east of It. Under the plan drawn by Joseph Johnon, City Hall place was to be scrapped to make room for the new federal building and the parish house was to be torn down and re built on plot adjacent to the church. "This new plot was to be exchanged by the city for the old site of the parish house. A section of City Hall place was Included in the new site. Rut when the church officials a.skod for a title deed to the land the city was surprised to find that It could not be given. The reason was that the city owns only right of way ease ments which were obtained In !(( from the original owners of the plot, but that some unknown heir of the original owners holds the free title. "Had the city or federal government actually erected a costly building on part of the old street and had the true owners turned up and set forth their claims, the money loss to the city would have been tremendous according to real estate authorities. "Old City Hall place Is estimated ns worth close to $1,000,000. Mr. Squire says he is not ready even to venturs a guess us to what can he done abou' it." Ei by Wuktern Nowatr Union.) fry Evelyn Campbell WNU Burvlo THE ST0HY I.tnrin ll vet tilll't nir-t1n-woll father dirt when f ho In k'Vii tio'ti, Imvlnti Iit lltll txyomt om m t 11 !( Im'k ri'i'UMVute Tln'e h liikri to hr tattlers fi'ieiul, SiMintcr Convr, to dli )oi of. Aftrr whirlwind rourtKhlp t.truta iiinrrlen fourt my limit. Too ln( li dlnoot rr h l nMinlliii tulveiiturer llvlnii by hln will. CHAPTER II Continued - There was one small sheaf of cer tificates that 1. In. la had been advised Hot to sell for two years at least. But these went Into it broker's hands before Mr. and Mrs. Courtney Roth left Boston. However clever one may bo, there are times when currency Is absolutely necessary, ami Ib'th ex plained that with n lovely young bride on his hands this was one of the times, lie passed lightly over the fact that It was Linda's money that furnished the means of ihelr migration, lie forgot the unpleasantness as quickly as pos sible, and advised her to do the same. The Roths went around the world, but not as rapidly as they had planned. It took two years to go as far as they had counted on going In nix weeks. But they did not travel as ihe crow lllos; they went as the fox runs from cover to ooxer, wherever the grass una greenest and the hares most plentiful. Not n bad two years. If you didn't care too much, a gay two years If lovely frocks and brilliant restaurants were enough; If you didn't mind ugly seems with landlords, and delayed luggage. If you were careful about making friends and chose them among people who had delightful houses and plaved bud curds. Linda wus made amazingly hen tit I fill and Interesting by all this travel and change, and Court ney Roth held his head higher than ever. Wherever they went people re marked about them. "What a lucky pair. They have everything. Good looks, popularity, and wonderful times I Life Is per petual play for them." It was a desperate sort of play that carried on rather grimly behind the scenes. Linda learned all her husband could teach her In those two years, and If she did not respect him she liked him In a tolerent way, pitying bis boyish ness and sometimes even admiring his coolness In the face of overwhelming situations. But Roth had lived for ten years when Linda lived one. He was burned out wltb peculiar fires and he wanted to rest, though never suspecting his own tiredness. If was a game, how ever, that had no breathing spaces. The mad whirligig of change held both of them relentlessly. Ho grew to do- pend more and more upon Linda's : Ingenuity In managing. nd when she j fit I led or seemed to full, he became victimized by a silly, futile rage that blamed her for their partleulor pre dicament. It took them two years to get to Switzerland, but they reached there at the proper moment The Ice was at Its best and all the winter sports were ns keen as If the weather had been ordered by aerial wire. Roth meant to enjoy every moment of IL He liked snow and lhre were some new stunts that year. But three I days after their arrival he had an un comfortable Interview with the man ager of the hotel. He promised to move on that night; then he went up stairs and struck Linda across the face with a blow that left an ugly mark tot lime to come. He left her lying across the bed shielding hei shame, and swaggered out, determined to have his play to the last. He had It for two hours. Later they drought him In. on a stretcher with a broken neck, ard that was the end of a honey moon tbu! should novel have begun. CHAPTER III The Wall of Pretense The Iruln stopped with such a sud den Jolt that the book dropped from Linda's band. She had not been read ing, anyway, and so she let It lie un noticed. She. had been staring through the thick, double glass window of the pullnuin nl the grayness .that pressed against the pane like (. blanket. No sign of life was to be seen In that void, and this suited her mood ad mirably, for her mentality was at a standstill without a glimmer to re lieve Its Intense atrophy. That morn ing she hud opened her eyes to snow and a leaden skies, and all through Ihe slay this had persisted until she hud subconsciously thrown herself upon the breast of the landscape and become n part of Its dreariness. But the Jolt and accompntiylng grinding of brakes, shrill and nerve wracking, disturbed her mood. She glanced nil her helplessly around the lighted car, and her eyes encountered those of the good looking young man across the aisle, who at that moment chanced to he looking toward her. Across the tall hacks of sections all through the coach other Inquiring faces ;ioored. most of them stupid and anx ious. The possibility of an accident hud aroused every one from the lan guor of dullness that belonged to such s rfay. "What. Is It?" Linda asked, speak ing quite naturally to the young man, who seemed to have absorbed all the Intolllgonoo of all the passengers, "Have we run luio u wall or it dliohr He smiled, appreciating her cool ness when the other women were Hi read)' beginning to Duller. "One or both," ho answered easily, "I'm afraid we've met tha Waterloo of trains passing through Nebraska In January. A snowdrift can he a wall and a ditch as well." He bud the pleusautest smile. It crinkled his eyes at Ihe corners and they smiled, too, Nice brown eyes that had n remark ably straight look about them. "I'll go and see," he said, and swung oft down the aisle after the other men whe were pushing one another In the pas s..;o. Linda leaned back and waited. She wtis a seasoned traveler and knew thai fretting got no one anywhere. Ho be cause the delay was baleful and men aclng shu let n pleasant thought of hoi neighbor ripple across her mind. A hoy a "harming boy. Men had their place In her 1 1 f tt large place as they must have In the life of sit) beautiful woman, but she Irtd fortiteC curious little fancies about them. Sin '' So Without Knowing How It Camt About Anttey Found Himmf Sitting Bend th Btautlful Young Womjts saw all men as seekers of prey slock animals, well fed am beautiful; shag gy, and horrible reptilian I She sn her kind were always prey, of course She thought of these things as nut ural and jtiuvoldahle. But the boy was different. He hut made no gesture of Joining her, evei after she hud spoken first. He hae seemed almost afraid to look at her .She was thrilled and a little sorry foi It I m, knowing what must happen when he did look. He returned almost at once. "It It a drift," he snld, pausing beside her "A whopper. It's bail news, but I n afraid we are stuck here for a few hours." I.lnda lifted her brows slowly. Nt young man could be expected to guesi what this meant to her. Ills ciimiihI tone treated the whole occurrence hi a light adventure. Rut If she was s day late. If she misled the Grcgon and Ihelr nice Invitation to Miami Il thpy went on without her. Her mini ner gave no bint of this perturbation She merely sank deeper Into the com fort of her fur coat, as If she alreadi sensed coming discomfort from chill) cars and Insufficient food. I.lnda Roth had learned to look al men. She knew already that this out was the right sort. She could speitf a bored half hour talking to him ami save herself at least from tlresouu thoughts. So without knowing how It came about llrlan Ansiey found him self silling hosldc the beautiful yoimi woman, who smelted faintly of sprlns Mowers, In spile of the snow. (TO HE (ONHNI.'KD.) Do. M.d. Small Town Famous Kanisjok Is a small lown In north em .Norway, above the sixty ninth meridian In the center of the region known us Lapland. It lies a few miles west of the continence of the Karnsjok and Tana rivers, I he latter forming the boundary between Norway and ('Inland. The town's population Is made up mostly of Laplanders ami Is the home of the Hallo family, made famous by an Alaskan maliimute, named In honor of one o' Ihe members of the family Balto was Ihe lead dog of Gijnnar Kassou's famous team Unit carried diphtheria serum on Ihe last GOmlle lap In Ihe (io tulle sledge race front Nomina to Nome during the epidemic of February. 1!I25. Figuring Wrfre'i Coil In the Civil war, I lie Fnlon troops numbered 2,12S,!U8; I hen, (tie vari ous estimates of the Confederals forces, ranging from about lii)0,i)()0 lo 1. 4i h,, i ii i(). The total Union loss was il.V.i.WS, Including killed, dead fron? wo:. mis, disease, etc. Tlio Confeder ate loss (partial statement) Is given Is l,'l.'l,S'.'l dead from wounds or dis ease. The cost of the civil war has been estimated at $.'i,ikiii,ihm),(HH). The total number of soldiers mobllbod In the World war has been estimated nt fi,o:!.S,N10; the total killed, 8.r l:t.r1. wounded, 21 ,21 WW. hnfossor Ro gait's esllmate of the direct cosls ol the World war Is $lSi!,.'!,'i:i,(i,'l7,0!)7 and of the V;dlruot conln, $l;l,012.r 12..KW. .MR K ?.P JT? If i v ' saw v. jt . .. - aa' i mil ifrnj'-" MakesLife Sweeter Too much to eat too rich a diet -or too much smoking. Lots of things oatiso sour stomach, but oui thing ran onrreet It quickly. Phil lips Milk of Magnesia wlUalkallntr.o the acid. Take n spoonful of this pleasant preparation, and the sys tem Is soon sweetened. I'hllllps Is nlwnys ready to relievo distress from overeating; to check nil acidity; or neutralize nicotine. Remember this for your own com fort ; for the sake of those around you. Kudorsci! by physicians, but they always say J'Mh'fn. Don't buy something else und expect tha iniiio resul! 'PHILUPS r. Milk . of Magnesia Challenge Old Ideas About Lightning Rods In a rommuiilciitioii to the Acad emy of Sciences In I'nrls. sii I'ut Ii Under Magazine, M. V. SclmfTers de nies the f.itnllliir notion Hint light nl nl! seeks wet ground nnd that lightning rods should always have their ends earthed In tnoUi soil, or better still, In the wet ground nt tlx) bottom of mone nearby creek or pond. Thing n generator of electric sparks long nnd powerful enough to be considered veritable art;lbl-i lightning. Sch. liters found thai the 1 1 jinnee from which a opark would Strike it it the pain which the spark took ns nfTecteil but Utile by the Wotticx or drym- of the " under neath ntt earthed I'ghinlng rod or Similar conductor. Dr. I'.. I". Free. In reporting the in Vestlgntor's tiln It. pnliilt mil Hint It Is well known that the paths Hill rhurticicr of natural lightning flashes frequent1)' lire erratic, Sih-iii-Ing to obey done of the e-slabllnbed laws of electric oiiidiieiloii. The really effective matters In lightning danger or proieciinii, f Schnnrs Is correct, are the presence of laetsl ob Joels or other substances which might be highly conducting for the electricity ati-l the numbers of the eleciriCcil gn atoms called Ions In the air. Storks Avoid Crist Britain Storks ure rare blrd.i In Great Brit ain, and have always been so. but an ancient chronicler writes that In Hid storks came and built their iictson the roof of St. Giles' chinch In IMIti burgh, und, after Maying a year, left lo return no more. "And whither they Hew." he writes quaintly, "no man kiiowcth." IU' Sucker rjoraee What makes yon think that girl you've been taking out taxi cab riding is playing you for a fish? Herbert I Just found out she was married to the driver. London An fwers. HEADACHE? Why suffer when relief is prompt and harmless: Millions of people have lcsmn! to depend on Haver Aspirin to relieve a Sin Men hcailaclie. They know It eases the pain so quickly. And that it Is so harmless. Genuine Rnyer Aspirin never tiarms the heart I-ook (or the Bayer Cross stamped on every tablet MINIMUM PROOF RESTS WITH PATIENTS letters and mmei and adilrcuet of hundred! of grateful paUcnt contained In nur I' ld'.li HOOK on Hci tnl and Colon allmrnttt alto detail of lir. C J. Dean non-iurglcal method of hnu mcnt, which we uia ciclunlvely. cienil fur It tmlay and li-arn of our wuii ii-;n ASSUkANCK TO KI.IMINATK PILK3 UK nFAMV1 K " 'liNDi ii II CAPf nuiMrytww7'iT,t:ii.. ibswii LOION CLINIC rnnyu n b ( (! titUMf Jyii ii? r. A t T i. r. n wiivii wnis-iMrl VI WTtON Tun MMn 0B i M Ml 0