Donald v. St. Louis, Kan. City & N. Ry. Co.

• Decision Date: 04 December 1879
• Citation: 3 N.W. 462,52 Iowa 411
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court
• Parties: JOHN DONALD, APPELLEE, v. ST. LOUIS, KANSAS CITY & NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY AND OTHERS, APPELLANTS.

52 Iowa 411

3 N.W. 462

JOHN DONALD, APPELLEE,

v.ST. LOUIS, KANSAS CITY & NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY AND OTHERS, APPELLANTS.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Filed December 4, 1879.

Appeal from Appanoose circuit court.

Action to recover for the value of the right of way of defendant's railroad over plaintiff's land. The cause was submitted to the court without a jury, and judgment rendered for plaintiff. Defendants appeal.Trimble, Carruthers & Trimble, for appellants.

J. C. Coad, for appellee.

BECK, C. J.

1. This is an agreed case, and was submitted to the court below under the provisions of chapter 10, title 20 of the Code. The statement of facts upon which the cause was tried is as follows:

“In the above entitled cause it is agreed as follows, to-wit:

“1. That in the spring or summer of 1868 one Mathias Gregory was the owner in fee simple of the following described real estate, to-wit: South half of the north-west quarter of section 13, township 68, north of range 16 west, in Appanoose county, Iowa.

“2. That at said time, and during the time said Mathias Gregory owned said real estate, the St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway Company, without first obtaining the right of way over and across said land, entered upon the same, located and constructed its road over and across said land, and said St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway Company, its lessees and successors and grantees have continued in the exclusive possession and use of said land on which said road is built on said land, ever since same was graded, to-wit, spring or summer of 1868.

“3. That in the fall of 1868 the North Missouri Railroad Company leased said St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway for a term of twenty years, and continued to use and operate said road under said lease until August, 1871, at which last-named date the North Missouri Railroad was sold on deed of trust, and was bought in, together with lease aforesaid, by Morris Jessup, trustee; that said Jessup, as trustee, continued in possession of and operated said St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway through and over said land until February, 1872; that at the last-named date he sold said North Missouri Railroad and said lease on St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway to St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway Company.

“4. That at the October term, 1872, of the United States circuit court for the district of Iowa, a mortgage, heretofore given by St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway Company on its said road, was foreclosed, and said road, from the Iowa and Missouri state line to Ottumwa, Iowa, was, on the eighteenth day of March, 1873, sold under said foreclosure to Charles Parsons, trustee for bondholders, for the sum of $500,000, and on the first day of October, 1875, said line of road was sold by Parsons, trustee, to the St. Louis, Ottumwa & Cedar Rapids Railway Company, and is now owned by said last-named company.

“5. That the St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway Company have had possession of and operated said line of road from said state line to Ottumwa, Iowa, under lease from said St. Louis & Cedar Rapids Railway Company, Charles Parsons, trustee, and St. Louis, Ottumwa & Cedar Rapids Railway Company, ever since February, 1872, and it and its predecessors have been in exclusive possession of said line of road through and across said real estate ever since the spring or summer of 1868.

“6. That on the nineteenth day of February, 1874, Mathias Gregory sold and conveyed said land to John Donald by original deed, which is hereto attached, marked exhibit ‘A,’ and made a part hereof, and said Donald still holds title to said lands described in said deed.

“7. That none of the owners of said land, nor any railway companies, nor any one in their behalf or in behalf of the trustee aforesaid, ever commenced proceedings to condemn the right of way over and across the real estate hereinbefore described, and no right of way was ever conveyed across said land by any one owning said land at any time.

“8. That the value of said right of way over and across said land is fixed by the parties hereto at $175.

“9. That said St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern Railway Company and St. Louis, Ottumwa & Cedar Rapids Railway deny that they or either of them are liable to said Donald for the...