Hawley v. Griffin
| Decision Date | 30 October 1902 |
| Docket Number | 497,2326,572,1695,2308,2300 |
| Parties | ELIZA B. HAWLEY et al., Appellants, v. M. E. GRIFFIN, et al., Appellees. ELIZA B. HAWLEY et al., Appellants, v. MICHAEL FELL et al., Appellees. ELIZA B. HAWLEY et al., Appellants, v. FRANK M. BARNARD et al., Appellees. JOHN M. MASTERMAN, Appellee, v. ELIZA B. HAWLEY et al., Petitioners for New Trial, Appellants. M. E. GRIFFIN, Appellee, v. ELIZA B. HAWLEY et al., Petitioners for New Trial, Appellants. FRANK M. BARNARD, Appellee, v. ELIZA B. HAWLEY et al., Petitioners for New Trial, Appellants |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Clay District Court.--HON. LOT THOMAS, Judge.
OF the above-entitled actions, Nos. 2,300, 2,308, and 2,326 are suits in equity to set aside certain tax deeds, and redeem from tax sales under which defendants claim title to lands owned by plaintiffs' ancestor, John Irwin, in Clay county, Iowa. Actions Nos. 497, 572, and 1,695 were originally brought by the plaintiffs named therein to quiet their title to the same lands above referred to, and decrees obtained as prayed for. In these last-named actions, the parties who are plaintiffs in the first three actions above named appear and file a petition to set aside the decrees and for a new trial. The district court denied the relief asked in each case, and the plaintiffs and petitioners appeal.--Affirmed in part, and reversed in part.
AFFIRMED in part, and REVERSED in part.
R. S Hall, Finley Burke, Geo. W. Covell and M. L. Hayward for appellants.
Carr & Parker and Richardson, Buck & Kirkpatrick for appellees.
OPINION
Plaintiffs are the children and heirs at law of John Irwin, who died intestate October 20, 1893. The general outline of the controversy is as follows: Mr. Irwin, who had been a country merchant in Ohio prior to the year 1856, came west about that time, bringing with him a large number of soldiers' bounty land warrants, of which he had obtained assignments, and by which he secured title to several thousand acres of land in Iowa including the tracts in controversy, and a still larger area in Nebraska. In the year 1865, the lands now in suit were sold for the unpaid taxes of the years 1858 to 1864, inclusive, and in 1871 were again sold for the unpaid taxes of 1870, and upon these sales treasurer's deeds were made to the purchasers. Thereafter each of the holders of the tax title to the several tracts of land in controversy brought action in the Clay county district court to establish and quiet said title in themselves, each making John Irwin a party defendant. Service of original notice in each instance was had upon Irwin in the state of Nebraska and, he making no appearance, default and decree as prayed was rendered against him more than a year prior to his death. The claim now asserted by the Irwin heirs against the tax title is that from a date prior to the tax sales down to the time of his death their said ancestor was insane and wholly irresponsible, and that the tax sales, treasurer's deeds, and the decree of the district court confirming and quieting such title are void and without any effect to devest the title of Irwin. As we have before stated, Irwin died October 20, 1893. The petitions in each of the six several proceedings involved in this appeal were filed October 20, 1894. On the same day original notice in each case was placed in the hands of the sheriff of Clay county, with intent that the same be promptly served. Actual service of such notice was had on the same day in cases 572, 1,695, and 2,326, but in each of the other cases service was not effected until a later date. The owners of the tax title deny the alleged insanity of Irwin, deny that there were any erroneous or irregular proceedings in obtaining the decrees quieting their said tax title, and allege that, even if the allegations of insanity be established, the actions to redeem from the tax sale and the proceedings for a new trial were not begun within one year from the death of Irwin, and are therefore barred by lapse of time.
I. The story of John Irwin's life, as disclosed by the testimony, is an extraordinary one, but the record is by far too voluminous to attempt a detailed rehearsal of the facts. As is usual in such cases, there is a large array of witnesses on either side, and the opinions expressed by them as to the mental condition and capacity of Mr. Irwin during the period from 1861 to his death, in 1893, are more or less irreconcilable. We have read and re-read the record with much care, and after comparing the testimony of all those who attempt to speak upon this subject; their apparent intelligence; their personal acquaintance with Irwin; their opportunities to observe his demeanor, conduct, and appearance; the degree of their intimacy with him; the facts which they relate as the basis of their opinions; and all other circumstances disclosed which tend to affect the weight and value of their testimony,--we think the following history, stated in outline, is clearly established. John Irwin, living in Ohio until middle life, was evidently a pushing, thrifty, intelligent, and prosperous business man. Those who knew him there describe him as of pleasing address, peaceable, quiet, cheerful, and attentive to his own affairs, though somewhat peculiar in his methods. Evidently of a careful and saving disposition, he accumulated what in those days was counted a competence. There is nothing to show that during this period of his life he failed to pay his taxes, or was wanting in due respect to the law or to law officers, or was anything other than a good and orderly citizen. About the year 1856, as is commonly known, there was much speculation in soldiers' bounty land warrants, then recently made assignable. Apparently Irwin became infected with the speculative fever, and converting his means largely, if not entirely, into land warrants, he came West, and ultimately took up his home in Nebraska City; living there until he died, in 1893, at the advanced age of 94 years. Soon after his arrival from the East, he located his warrants, and obtained title to lands to an aggregate amount estimated at from forty-five thousand to fifty-five thousand acres.
About this time there was developed a marked change in the man's characteristics. Always saving, he became miserly in small things, but the princely domain which a keen business instinct had led him to acquire he allowed to slip from his grasp without an intelligent effort to save it. He denied the power of the state to tax his lands, or to sell them in satisfaction of tax liens. The subject of taxation excited him to frenzy of anger. He gave no clear or consistent idea of the theory upon which his opposition to taxes was based; sometimes declaring taxation to be unconstitutional, but more often that it was a scheme or conspiracy undertaken to rob him. Sometimes he called himself "Lord Irwin" or "Earl Irwin," and said his property could not be taken. His property, and the schemes of others by which he was being robbed of it, were ever in his mind, and the slightest touch upon the subject would cause an explosion of his wrath. Indeed, he did not wait for any one to broach the subject, but forced it into every discussion, whether relevant or irrelevant. He gathered crowds about him in public places and delivered harangues upon the subject of his wrongs, and rode up and down the streets shouting his grievances and vituperating his supposed enemies. He haunted the courts with great regularity for years, taking his place within the bar, and persistently interrupted proceedings to demand some order or some relief against those whom he believed arrayed against him. At times when compelled to be a silent spectator of the proceedings, he would compliment a ruling which pleased him by arising and "making a courtly bow" to the presiding judge. When an officer visited his place with a writ, he assaulted him with a deadly weapon. In 1861 a horse of no great value belonging to him or to his wife was seized by the provost marshal (Judge Mason) for military use, but was soon returned uninjured. Conceiving this to be a great wrong, he prepared an itemized bill of the damages he claimed to have sustained. This bill, made out with great care, and consisting of separate items for the use of his horse, a broken hinge on his barn door, loss of hay crop, mental anxiety, loss of comfort in being deprived of the use of the horse for exercise, and numerous others of like fanciful character, aggregating over $ 9,000, he repeatedly sought to have collected by proceedings in the state and federal courts. Taking it then before the legislature session after session, he was tireless in waylaying members and importuning them with apparent sincerity to support his claim. This one topic seems to have been the only thing which in his mind could rival in importance the general subject of taxation and robbery. The bill spoken of, or some document in reference to it, was ever in his pocket and ready to be brought forth and displayed to any one who would listen to him, or to be called to the attention of the court whenever permitted to interrupt its business for that purpose. He became slovenly in his person, went thinly clad in the most inclement weather, and at times appeared upon the street in attire too scant for decency. His talk was disconnected, his eye wild, and his voice loud, harsh, and imperious. He collected in trunks and boxes large quantities of scraps of paper, of no apparent use or known purpose. He refused to pay the taxes upon his home, and the title thereto was saved only through the intervention of friends in the interest of his wife. ...
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