Balkam v. Woodstock Iron Co
Decision Date | 26 May 1894 |
Docket Number | No. 329,329 |
Citation | 154 U.S. 177,38 L.Ed. 953,14 S.Ct. 1010 |
Parties | BALKAM et al. v. WOODSTOCK IRON CO. et al |
Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
These were two actions of ejectment by Harriet A. Balkam and others against the Woodstock Iron Company, the Anniston City Land Company, and others. The actions were consolidated. The jury found a verdict for defendants (43 Fed. 648), and judgment was entered thereon. Plaintiffs brought error.
The plaintiffs in error, as heirs of Samuel P. Hudson, brought two suits of ejectment for the recovery of certain lands. By agreement, the suits were consolidated, and tried as one. After judgment on verdict in favor of the defendants, the case was brought here by writ of error.
Samuel P. Hudson, a resident of Calhoun county, in the state of Alabama, died intestate in August, 1863. At the time of his death he was seised of certain parcels of land in Calhoun county. He left a widow, Kezia A. Hudson, and several children, some of whom were minors. James F. Grant was appointed administrator of his estate by the probate court.
The widow petitioned the court for allotment of dower, and, after due proceedings in accordance with the laws of Alabama, her right of dower in the land in controversy was duly recognized and decreed.
In January, 1866, the administrator petitioned the court to order the sale of the real estate, saving the rights of dower of the widow, in order to pay debts, alleging the insufficiency of the personalty.
To this petition the widow and heirs were made defendants, and a guardian ad litem was appointed to represent the minors. A day was set for the hearing. All parties, including the minors' guardian, were duly notified, and a commission was issued for the examination of certain witnesses. The caption of the interrogatories to be addressed to these witnesses recited that the answers, when taken, 'were to be used in evidence before said court on the hearing of and in behalf of the application made by James F. Grant, administrator of said estate, to sell land belonging to said estate.' The witnesses named appeared before the commissioners appointed by the probate court, and testified as to their knowledge of the land, and of the heirs and distributees, and swore that, to the best of their information and belief, the personal property of the estate was insufficient to pay the debts. The caption to the answers of each of the witnesses recites that they were sworn and examined by virtue of a commission issued out of the probate court of Calhoun county, Ala., 'in the matter of the estate of Samuel P. Hudson, deceased, the application of James F. Grant to sell land.' The certificate of the commissioners attests 'the examination of the witnesses in the above-stated matter of Samuel P. Hudson, deceased, on the application of J. F. Grant, administrator, to sell land.' The answers of the witnesses under the commission were returned to the probate court, and were filed by the judge thereof on the 10th of February, 1866. On the 15th of February, 1866, the day set for the hearing of the petition, the following order was entered:
'Probate Court for Calhoun County, Alabama.
'February 15th, A. D. 1866.
At the sale thus ordered, the widow, Kezia A. Hudson, purchased the reversionary interest in the lands in controversy for $450. The administrator duly reported the sale to the probate court, stating in his report that he had adjudicated to Kezia A. Hudson the 'remainder after the demands of the dower interest in the land,' which had been set apart as Mrs. Hudson's dower. This report was sworn to by the administrator, and on May 15, 1866, an order was passed approving the same, and ordering it to be filed. Afterwards the administrator made a formal deed to the widow, which reads as follows:
Upon which deed are the following indorsements, to wit:
'Filed in office April 9th, 1866, and recorded April 16th, 1866, and that the deed had on it fifty cents revenue stamps, this 16th day of April, A. D. 1866. A. Woods, Judge of Probate.'
On May 9, 1866, the administrator prayed the court that the estate of his intestate might be declared insolvent, and, after due hearing and notice to all parties in interest, the prayer was granted.
Mrs. Hudson, the purchaser of the reversionary interest, lived at the time of the sale, with her children, on the lands bought by her. Subsequently she conveyed them to the firm of Sherman & Boynton, who in turn conveyed them to H. L. Jeffers, and he again to the Woodstock Iron Company, one of the defendants in error, which latter sold a portion of the lands to the Anniston Land & Improvement Company, and that corporation conveyed it to the Anniston City Land Company, and, as was admitted, all the purchasers went into possession at the time of their respective conveyances, and held the lands openly and unequivocally as owners thereof. The property, since the sale, has become very valuable, a portion of it being within the municipal limits of the town of Anniston, and the other portion adjacent thereto. Mrs. Hudson died June 26, 1879.
On June 28, 1887, action was brought by the heirs of Samuel P. Hudson in the circuit court of Calhoun county to recover the lands which had been...
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