United States v. Flint Lumber Company
| Decision Date | 06 July 1908 |
| Citation | 112 S.W. 217,87 Ark. 80 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. FLINT LUMBER COMPANY |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from Yell Chancery Court; Jeremiah G. Wallace, Chancellor reversed.
STATEMENT BY THE COURT.
Proceedings were instituted in the Yell Chancery Court for the Danville District by J. W. Eldridge against the Flint Lumber Company to wind up its affairs on account of its insolvency, and W J. Kelley was appointed receiver. Afterwards, on the 6th day of August, 1906, appellant was allowed to intervene in the suit.
The intervention alleges that the S.W. 1/4 of sec. 30, Twp. 6 N R. 22 West, on and prior to the 10th day of June, 1902, was vacant land of the United States and subject to homestead entry at the land office of the United States at Dardanelle Arkansas. That on said day one George Gamey, at the instance and request of said Flint Lumber Company, with the intent of defrauding the United States out of the pine timber growing upon said lands, duly filed as required by law his application, under section 2289 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, to enter said lands. That said George Gamey and said Lumber Company, in violation of the laws of the United States regulating homestead entries, cut and removed from said lands 350,000 feet of pine logs, which were cut into lumber by the said Lumber Company. That the lumber was sold and the proceeds appropriated to the use and benefit of the said Lumber Company.
The Lumber Company filed its answer, which in substance was a general denial of the allegations of the intervention.
The facts are as follows: Dailey B. Henson testified that he was acquainted with John W. Eldridge, Harry B. Daniels, J. W Whitehead and George Gamey. That he heard both Eldridge and Daniels speak of getting timber from Gamey. That he heard Daniels say that the Flint Lumber Company had furnished Gamey the money with which to make his homestead entry, with a contract or understanding that the Lumber Company was to get the timber off of the land.
J. M. Hall testified that he was acquainted with the persons mentioned by the witness Henson. That he heard Whitehead say that the Flint Lumber Company had furnished Gamey the money to make his homestead entry. That it was his understanding from Whitehead that the Lumber Company had bought the timber, and that it had it cut and hauled to the mill. That, while the timber was being cut, he understood from Gamey that he stayed on the land, and that he worked at the mill of the Lumber Company. That Gamey also told him that the Lumber Company furnished him the money to make the homestead entry. That the Lumber Company bought the timber on the land and had had it cut and taken to its mill.
A. R. Stafford testified that he knew all the above named persons. That he lived on the adjoining tract to the Gamey homestead. That a short time after Gamey made his homestead entry he moved in a small house that Majors, who formerly homestead the land, had built. That all the merchantable timber was cut off the land. That as soon as the timber was cut and removed from the land Gamey left and has never returned. That Gamey had two pieces of ground fenced, where he had some truck patches, and that he judged they contained 5 or 6 acres.
J. A. Caldwell testified that he was acquainted with all the above named persons and worked at the mill during the time the logs were cut and removed from the Gamey homestead. That he thinks Gamey and his brother cut the timber, and that Gamey's brother. Levy Bryant and Marion Crowder hauled the logs to the mill. That he understood that Gamey's brother, Crowder and Bryant were at the time working for the Flint Lumber Company.
E. E. Weir testified that he knew all the parties above named. That he was manager of the Flint Lumber Company. That he never heard Eldridge say anything about the timber from the Gamey homestead. That Eldridge sold out his stock before much of the timber was taken from it. That, after the Flint Lumber Company purchased the mill, both Daniel and Whitehead looked over the timber they owned and also other timber in the vicinity of the mill that they expected to saw. That in doing this they looked over the timber on the Gamey homestead. Whitehead was the president of the Flint Lumber Company.
The testimony also shows that 225,000 feet of pine logs were cut and removed from the said land to the mill of the Flint Lumber Company. That it sawed the logs into lumber. That the value of the logs in the tree was $ 1.00 per thousand. That it cost $ 1.75 per thousand to haul the logs to the mill of the said company. That the market value of lumber at the time the timber was taken was $ 7.00 per thousand.
This was all the evidence.
The court rendered a decree in favor of the intervener for the sum of $ 225, the value of the logs in the tree with interest thereon at the rate of six per cent. from the 1st day of January, 1903; found that it had priority over any other claim allowed in the case.
The intervener has appealed.
Reversed and remanded.
James K. Barnes and L. W. Gregg, for appellant.
Lands entered for a homestead continue to be the property of the United States until final disposition thereof by the land department, and one who enters a homestead has no right to cut and remove any timber except such as is necessary to clear the land for cultivation, etc. The parties in this case are shown to have been wilful trespassers, and appellant is entitled to judgment for the full value of the timber. 159 U.S. 491; 167 U.S. 178; 191 U.S. 84; 19 Wall. 591; 106 U.S....
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