Coulson v. La Plant

• Decision Date: 02 July 1917
• Docket Number: No. 18286.,18286.
• Citation: 196 S.W. 1144
• Parties: COULSON et al. v. LA PLANT et al.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

196 S.W. 1144

COULSON et al. v. LA PLANT et al.

No. 18286.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 1.

July 2, 1917.

Appeal from Circuit Court, New Madrid County; R. G. Ranney, Judge.

Action to quiet title by John Coulson and others against William La Plant, Jr., and others. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiffs appeal. Reversed, and cause remanded.

J. R. Breer, of New Madrid, for appellants. Riley & Riley, of New Madrid, for respondents.

GRAVES, J.

Action to quiet title under section 2535, R. S. 1909. Petition is in the usual form, and as short as one could be made under such section. The land involved is 160 acres in section 15, township 24, range 15 east, in New Madrid county. By answer the defendants (1) admit that they claim an interest in the land, and aver that interest to be a fee-simple estate; (2) they plead both the 10 and 30 year statutes of limitation. Reply was, first, a general denial, and this followed by a plea in these words:

"For second reply to the answer of the defendants, plaintiffs say that on the ____ day of ____, 1878, one Charles Coulson died in the county of New Madrid and state of Missouri, and left surviving him these plaintiffs and Lola Coulson, now Lola Nannie, as his only children and descendants, and as his widow Angeline C. Coulson; that at his death he was seised and the owner of the lands described in plaintiff's petition; that at and before his death the said Charles Coulson resided upon the land so set out in plaintiff's petition and used the same as his homestead; that afterwards administration of the estate of the said Charles Coulson was had in the probate court of New Madrid county, Missouri; that at the November term, 1879, the said Angeline Coulson presented her petition to the said probate court, praying that homestead be set off to her in said lands; that commissioners to set off said homestead to the said Angeline Coulson were duly appointed by the said probate court at the said May term, 1879; that afterwards, to wit, on the ____ of May, 1880, said commissioners filed their report in said matter in the said probate court, setting off to the said Angeline as homestead the lands described in plaintiff's petition, which said report was at said May term, 1880, duly approved by said probate court and in all things confirmed; that it was ordered and adjudged by said court at said term that the said lands be and are set off to the said Angeline as homestead. Plaintiffs further state that the said Angeline is now dead and that she died on the ____ day of ____, 1909; and plaintiffs again pray judgment."

From this it appears that the issues were issues at law and not in equity. The cause was tried before the court without the intervention of a jury. Upon motion of plaintiff, the court made a special finding of facts and law, as follows:

"The facts in this cause as I find them to be are as follows: That the plaintiffs are the only surviving children and heirs of Charles Coulson, deceased, who departed this life intestate in the year 1877, and also left surviving him his widow. Angeline C. Coulson, who died in the year 1910. That before his death Charles Coulson lived upon the southwest corner of the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 15, township 24, range 15 east, a part of the land involved in this suit. It was immediately adjoining the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of said section 15, which last tract he owned; that the balance of the land sued for was the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the east half of the northwest quarter of section 15, township 23, range 15; that a portion of each of said 40 acres of land was cleared land, in cultivation during the life of the said Charles Coulson.

"And the court further finds that the said Charles Coulson did not in his lifetime pay for said lands or obtain a deed thereto, and that he did not before his death acquire title thereto by adverse possession, but knew that the same was owned by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company, and acknowledged its title by trying to buy the lands from said company.

"And the court further finds that after the death of said Charles Coulson his widow, Angeline C. Coulson, at the May term of the probate court, 1880, undertook to have set out to her as her homestead a part of the land herein sued for, to wit, the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter, the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter, and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter, all in section 15, township 24, range 15, by the probate court of New Madrid county, Missouri.

"The court further finds that, Charles Coulson having no title to said land at the time of his death his widow, Angeline Coulson acquired nothing by the proceedings, in the probate court of New Madrid county, Missouri.

"The court further finds that the said Charles Coulson during his life, nor his heirs, nor any one for them, after his death, did not pay any taxes on the land sued for.

"The court further finds that the lands involved in this suit were first conveyed to the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company by the United States of America, and that the said railroad company on the 20th day of May, 1881, conveyed by good and sufficient deed to one Ulysses C. Suit the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter and the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 15, in township 24, range 15, containing 80 acres, more or less, and that Ulysses C. Suit and wife, in January, 1895, by deed conveyed to Feilding Gullion the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 15, in township 24, range 15, and on the 8th day of April, 1886, the said U. C. Suit and wife conveyed to William B. Scott by deed the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 15, in township 24, range 15, and that the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad Company in November, 1881, conveyed to Angeline C. Coulson the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter and the southeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 15, township 24, range 15, and on the 16th day of January, 1895, Mrs. Angeline C. Coulson conveyed to Feilding K. Gullion the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 15, township 24, range 15, and on the 6th day of June, 1889, W. B. Scott and Angeline conveyed to Feilding Gullion the east half of the northwest quarter and the northwest quarter of the northeast quarter, all in section 15, in township 24 north, of range 15 east; that all of said deeds, soon after their execution, were spread upon the land records of New Madrid county, Missouri.

"The court further finds that in May, 1881, at the time the said U. C. Suit purchased said land from the railroad company, he took possession of the same, used, occupied, and claimed it as his own until he conveyed same to Feilding K. Gullion, and that W. B. Scott took possession of the part purchased by him, occupied and claimed and used it as his own, and that, after Scott, Mrs. Coulson and U. C. Suit conveyed to Feilding K. Gullion the lands heretofore mentioned by the deeds above specified, Feilding K. Gullion took possession thereof, and cultivated it, and claimed it as his own, paying the taxes thereon until the time of death.

"The court further finds that Feilding K. Gullion in the year 1895 executed to the county a school fund bond for the sum of $600, secured by a mortgage on the lands involved in this suit to secure the payment of said bond, and that said mortgage was filed for record on the 13th day of February, 1895, and recorded in Book 35, at page 306, of the Deed Records of New Madrid county, Missouri, and that, default having been made in the payment of said bond, the same was ordered foreclosed by the county court of New Madrid county, and the same was sold by the sheriff of said county at public sale, and Thomas J. La Plant became the purchaser thereof on the 23d day of March, 1900, for the price and sum of $2,122, and a deed executed to him therefor by J. A. P. Willett, then sheriff of said county, which said deed is recorded in Book 37, at page 26, of the Deed Records of New Madrid county, Missouri, and that Thomas J. La Plant took possession of said land under said deed and occupied and claimed it as his own until the date of his death; that Thomas J. La Plant died in the year ____ and left surviving him as his only heirs his two sons, William La Plant, Jr., and Louis La Plant, the defendants herein, who are minors, and William La Plant is their guardian and curator.

"The court further finds that, during the time the said Feilding K. Gullion claimed said lands, he paid all taxes thereon, and that Thomas J. La Plant paid the taxes on said land during his lifetime, and after his death taxes were paid by William La Plant the guardian and curator of the minor defendants, and that the defendants were in possession of said land at the institution of this suit.

"The court further finds that the plaintiffs after the death of Charles Coulson lived in the immediate neighborhood of said land, knew that the widow of Charles Coulson and the said U. C. Suit had purchased the same from the railroad company, knew that the widow, Angeline Coulson, and the said Suit were in possession, claiming to own said land by reason of said conveyance from said railroad company, and knew of the sale and conveyance of said lands by them, and that their grantees and those claiming under them were in possession thereof claiming under said conveyances; and the plaintiffs knew of the school fund mortgage given on said land by Feilding K. Gullion, knew that the same...