Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Caswell

• Decision Date: 18 January 1928
• Docket Number: (No. 1030-4930.)
• Citation: 1 S.W.2d 597
• Parties: MAGNOLIA PETROLEUM CO. et al. v. CASWELL et al.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

1 S.W.2d 597

MAGNOLIA PETROLEUM CO. et al. v. CASWELL et al.

(No. 1030-4930.)

Commission of Appeals of Texas, Section A.

January 18, 1928.

Error to Court of Civil Appeals of Ninth Supreme Judicial District.

Suit by Anna E. Caswell and others against the Magnolia Petroleum Company and others, in which W. F. Brewer intervened. A judgment for plaintiff and intervener was affirmed in part and in part reversed and rendered by the Court of Civil Appeals (295 S. W. 653), and all parties bring error. Judgments reversed, and judgments rendered for defendants against plaintiffs and intervener.

F. D. Minor, of Beaumont, and W. H. Francis, A. S. Hardwicke, and Walace Hawkins, all of Dallas, for plaintiffs in error.

Howth, Adams & Hart and A. D. Lipscomb, all of Beaumont, for defendants in error.

CRITZ, J.

This suit was originally filed in the district court of Jefferson county by Anna E. Caswell et al. against Magnolia Petroleum Company et al., for damages and injunction. One W. F. Brewer intervened. On final trial in the district court, judgment was rendered for plaintiff and intervener against all the defendants. The defendants appealed to the Court of Civil Appeals for the Ninth District at Beaumont, which court in part affirmed and in part reversed and rendered the judgment of the district court, Justice O'Quinn dissenting. The cause is now before this court on writs of error granted on motion of both the appellants and the appellees in the Court of Civil Appeals. The issues of the case are stated in the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals. 295 S. W. 653.

A correct solution of the matters in litigation in this cause requires a construction of the following agreed judgment, entered by the district court of Jefferson county, Tex., on November 22, 1886, in consolidated causes Nos. 876 and 895, on the docket of said court, which judgment reads as follows:

"These cases on this the 22d day of November, 1886, being regularly reached for trial by consent of the plaintiff and the defendants in both suits, it is ordered by the court that both of said causes be consolidated, and by consent of all parties duly represented consent in open court judgment is rendered as follows, to wit: It is considered and ordered, adjudged and decreed by the court that the plaintiff Amanda Cartwright do have and recover all and from the defendants John C. Craig, Anna E. Caswell, surviving widow in community and executrix of the last will and testament of Christopher C. Caswell, deceased, Emma Caswell, William R. Caswell, Sadie Caswell, George W. Caswell, Lizzie Caswell, and Seawillow Caswell, the last six defendants being minor chidren and heirs at law of Christopher C. Caswell, deceased, and represented in this court by their mother and natural guardian, Anna E. Caswell, and by their guardians ad litem George W. O'Brien and A. S. John, Esqs., the following described tract of land, to wit: 3,256 1/8 acres more or less of land in Jefferson county, Tex., part of the tract of land known as the league granted to David Brown, colonist, situated on the west bank of the Neches river, which said league is more particularly described as follows: Beginning on Noah Tevis corner from which a pine 20 in. dia. bears N. 40 deg. W. 10 6/10 varas ditto brs. 55 E. 10 8/10 varas; thence west 6,258 varas to Noah Tevis corner; thence south 2,300 varas to a mound around a stake on the William E. line; thence east 10,802 varas to the west bank of the Neches river; thence up said river with the meanders thereof to the place of beginning, with the following exceptions, to wit: About 500 acres of said league of land sold by said David Brown to Joseph Hutchinson and wife on November the 4th, 1839, as appears by deed of said David Brown on record in Book C of Records of Deeds for Jefferson county, pp. 310 and 311; about 10 acres of said league of land conveyed by said Brown to Elizabeth McFaddin by his deed dated 29th of November, 1836, as appears of record in Records of Deeds for Jefferson county in Book A, pp. 77, 78, and 79. About 320 acres of said league of land conveyed by said Brown to said George Washington Tevis by his deed dated July 30, 1840, as appears of record in Records of Deeds for Jefferson county in Book D, pp. 99 and 100; about 50 acres of said league of land sold by Worthy Patridge, sheriff of Jefferson county, March 2, 1847, to Frederick W. Ogden, which said 50 acres was conveyed by deed from said Patridge to said Ogden, dated March 2, 1847, as appears in the Records of Deeds of Jefferson county in Book F, pp. 15 and 16; about 200 acres of said league of land sold by Mathew Cartwright to John J. Herring on December 27, 1856, by his deed of that date as appears of record in the Records of Deeds of Jefferson county in Book L, pp. 94 and 95; about 23½ acres of said league of land conveyed on the 12th day of May, 1857, by deed of that date from Mathew Cartwright to John J. Herring as appears of record in the Records of Deeds of Jefferson county in Book L, pp. 174 and 175; about 20 acres of said league of land sold and conveyed by Mathew Cartwright on the 4th day of October, 1849, by deed of that date to John J. Herring as appears of record in the Records of Deeds for Jefferson county in Book M, p. 98; also 6 lots of land part of said league of land in the old town of Santa Anna, sold and conveyed by said David Brown to W. C. McDaniel on the 24th day of May, 1837, by his deed of that date as appears of record in the Records of the Deeds of Jefferson county in Book D, pp. 218 and 219 — all of which records of sales and deeds are hereby expressly referred to and declared to be a part thereof for the purpose of describing the land recovered by the said plaintiff in these consolidated cases of and from the said defendants, and it is hereby declared that all of the land hereinbefore set forth and described is recovered by the said plaintiff of and from the said defendants hereinbefore named except and less the two following described tracts of land part of said Brown league, to wit: 96 acres of land of the David Brown league on the bank of the Neches river, beginning at the N. E. corner of a tract of land sold by Mathew Cartwright to John J. Herring; thence down the river bank thus S. 83 deg. E. 268 varas N. 83 deg. E. 149 varas to corner 60 feet west of a fence and corner made for C. C. Caswell; thence south 1,300 varas for corner; thence west 417 varas to Herring's estate line; thence north to the river following Herring's line to the beginning; also 224 acres (making in all 320 acres) of the same league; beginning 60 feet east of the second corner of the tract last above described at a corner made for C. C. Caswell at a post from which a pine bears N. 6 W. and a pine brs. N. 22 W. marked `X' thus; thence south 1,322 vrs. to a line of the Tevis survey (now owned by Jeff Chaison); thence with said line north 81 deg. east at 700 vrs. to its N. E. corner; thence S. 4 deg. W. 301 vrs. with Tevis east line; thence east, 209 vrs. to a corner; thence north 1,629 varas to bank of river; thence up the river bank E. 83 deg. W. 930 varas to the place of beginning — both of last two mentioned tracts of land containing together and in the aggregate 320 acres of land which is considered, ordered, and adjudged that the said defendants John C. Craig, Anna C. Caswell, surviving widow and executrix as aforesaid of Christopher C. Caswell, and the minors, Emma, Wm. R., Sadie, George W., Lizzie, and Seawillow Caswell by their guardians aforesaid do have and recover of and from the said plaintiff Amanda Cartwright. The 60 feet left between the two surveys or tracts last above described is left as a right of way for the convenience of the plaintiff or her assigns, and the said 320 acres of land adjudged to the said defendants is to be divided between the said John C. Craig and the other defendants as they may agree and determine.

"It is further ordered,...