Adams v. Dignowity

28 S.W. 373, 8 Tex. Civ. App. 201
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 12, 1894
DocketNo. 247.
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 28 S.W. 373 (Adams v. Dignowity) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Dignowity, 28 S.W. 373, 8 Tex. Civ. App. 201 (Tex. Ct. App. 1894).

Opinion

NEILL, Associate Justice.

This is a suit in trespass to try title, brought by H. B. Adams and E. D. L. Wickes against James Y. Dignowity, Dan Sullivan, and Sam Johnson, to recover a parcel of ground now in the corporate limits of the city of San Antonio, which is described as that lot number 9, range 2, district 1, which contains 151 acres, bounded as follows: Beginning at the southeast corner of lot number 6, range 2, district 1, being a stake set in the north line of the Railroad reserve; thence north 20 degrees east, 700 76-100 varas with the east line of lot number 6, to a stake set at the intersection of this line with the east line of the old two-league city grant; thence south with said old two-léague grant line 745 74-100 varas to a stake set on the line of the Railroad reserve; thence north 70 degrees west 255 60-100 varas with north line of said Railroad reserve to place of beginning. The said lot number 9 being a triangular piece of land, having its apex near the old Seguin road, and bounded west by said lot number 6, east by that lot number 9, range 2, district 1, which contains 125 acres, and is north of the Railroad reserve'.

Pending the suit E. D. L. Wickes died, and his heirs were made parties plaintiff.

The defendants Dignowity and Sullivan answered by a plea of not guilty, and the defendant Johnson entered a disclaimer.

The cause was tried on the 5th day of October, A. D. 1892, before the court without a jury, and resulted in a judgment in favor of the defendants, from which the plaintiffs appealed.

Conclusions of Pact. — 1. On the 26th day of February, 1845, the mayor of the city of San Antonio, by authority of its common council, and Thomas J. Devine entered into a contract by which Devine agreed to act as the legal adviser and general counsel of the city, and agreed with the mayor to undertake and perform all legal business appertaining to said city which it might be necessary for him to do, when required by the mayor. The mayor, for and in behalf of the city, agreed to pay him an annual fee of $100 and a sum of money equivalent to one-eighth of the value of the property recovered in a suit to be instituted by said Devine in behalf of the city for the recovery of that land then claimed by San Antonio, and within its ancient limits; saving and excepting two leagues then in the undisputed possession of *203 the city. And that upon the successful termination of the suit relative to the lands, the city should employ a surveyor to survey the lands included within the disputed limits, and owned by the city of San Antonio, which tract was to be surveyed in lots of 100 acres, marking the corners of said lots with stakes, and numbering the beginning corner of each and every .lot with the numerals upon the stakes of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc., and entering upon a book, to be provided him by the corporation, a plat of the tract surveyed with the lots designated thereon and marked by the numerals aforesaid, which plat should be executed and returned to the office of the corporation within three months from the date of final settlement of the suit. That upon the return of such plat and survey, the city should advertise for sale a portion of the land so recovered, and the sale to take place within three months from the date of the return of the survey, such sale should not be of a less portion than one-fourth of the lands. That an appraiser should be appointed by the corporation, who should, in connection with an appraiser to be appointed by Devine, appraise all- the lands recovered as aforesaid— appraising all lands surveyed as aforesaid in separate tracts — and return their appraisements under their hands and seals, which appraisements should be entered .upon each lot numbered upon the plat aforesaid, according to its number. That upon the return and entry of such appraisements, the corporation should issue drafts to the amount of one-eighth of the appraised value of said tract, the drafts to be in sums of $100, payable. to Thomas J. Devine or bearer, and receivable in payment of all dues or debts accruing to said corporation. That upon the sale of the lots as provided, the proceeds should be appropriated to the liquidation of the claim of said Devine. That after the sale Devine should be at liberty to enter, by writing his name, upon the lots numbered and appraised in said book which had been offered or advertised for sale, and a deed made to him of all lots so advertised for sale that then may have been unsold at time of his entering the same; liberty having been given him to enter as many as would amount to the value of his fee remaining unpaid at time of entering the same.

2. The suit contemplated by the contract was instituted in behalf of the city by Thomas J. Devine, and prosecuted by him to final judgment in the Supreme Court, recovering possession and establishing the city’s title to the lands sued for. The result of the suit being known to the city council, it, on the 23rd day of January, 1852, duly authorized and required F. Giraud, city surveyor, “to proceed forthwith to survey and lay off all that tract of land lately recovered by the decision of the Supreme Court of Texas, in favor of the city of San Antonio, in compliance with the requisition of the contract made and entered into February 26, 1845, between the mayor of the city of San Antonio and Thomas J. Devine.”

3. On April 26, 1852, the city council accepted a proposition made to it by Devine to modify and change the contract of 1845 so as to *204 permit the city surveyor to survey the land recovered into such sized tracts as he might deem most advantageous to the city.

4. Francis Giraud, city engineer, surveyed and laid off the land and returned a map or plat thereof, which was acted upon by the city council and sales made thereby. So much of his map as is applicable to the premises in controversy is here shown.

[SEE MAP A.]

The red lines are the lines of the two leagues that were not involved in the suit brought by Devine, the land recovered in said suit being outside of said lines and adjoining the two leagues.

5. After the lots had been surveyed by the city engineer, Thomas J. Devine proposed to the council that one-half of the property, after being appraised according to the terms of the contract^ should be advertised sixty days and sold for one-fifth cash, the balance on a credit of fifty years, and that one-half of the cash received on the day of sale be paid to him, and the scrip issued to him, as per agreement, to bear 8 per cent interest. This proposition was accepted by the council on August 26, 1852, and the council then ordered, “that there should be exposed for sale at public outcry, at the city hall door, in the city of San Antonio, on the second Monday in November next, and each succeeding day until sold, after having been advertised sixty days in public prints and otherwise, one entire half of the lands recovered by the city of San Antonio * * * by a late decision of the Supreme Court, laid off and surveyed, as heretofore provided, in lots containing four to-one hundred acres, as per plat to be seen in city hall,” and that the terms of sale be one-fifth of the purchase money paid cash on day of sale, and balance bearing interest from that day at the rate of 8 per cent per annum until paid, for a time not exceeding fifty years, payable semi-annually, with a lien on the lots and improvements thereon.

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Bluebook (online)
28 S.W. 373, 8 Tex. Civ. App. 201, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-dignowity-texapp-1894.