Baltzell v. McKinnon

49 So. 546, 57 Fla. 355
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJanuary 15, 1909
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 49 So. 546 (Baltzell v. McKinnon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baltzell v. McKinnon, 49 So. 546, 57 Fla. 355 (Fla. 1909).

Opinion

Hocker, J.

On July u, 1907, appellant filed a bill in the Circuit Court of Jackson County against the appellee to cancel a certain deed executed to him by M. L. Dekle, trustee, as a cloud on the title of appellee to a certain one acre lot-near the town of Marianna in Jackson county, and praying that .he, his agents and servants be enjoined from trespassing thereon. Appellee filed a cross bill setting up his title and praying the cancellation of a certain deed to said one acre tract executed on the 5th of September, 1904, by Susan Bellamy and her husband, and for an injunction against trespassing by the appellant, her agents, servants, etc. The substantial facts set up in the cross 'bill were also' stated in the answer to the bill, replications were filed and a larg-e volume of testimony was taken. The testimony occupies nearly two [357]*357hundred pages of the record, consisting mostly of the opinions of a large number of witnesses as to 'the location of the particular acre in dispute, and of divers acts of notorious adverse possession of the same by the respective litigants and those under whom they are supposed to claim for a number of years. This acre never enclosed, and with no building upon it of any sort, 'has apparently furnished during the past twenty years an almost incredible amount of firewood, poles, fence posts, light-wood, etc., to its several alleged owners, considering that it still seems to be a very well wooded piece of land. This litigation is sustained either by the great value of this single acre, or the gaudium certaminis which has always been a characteristic of a conquering race. One can feel his heart’s beats quicken and his spirit rise as he read's the details of this strenuous struggle. One party attempted to build -a fence, the other knocked it down. An arrest was made and the arrested party tried and acquitted, and the whole community seems to- have been kept in a state of excitement for a number of years. It was well perhaps for the peace of society that the court of -chancery was invoked to settle this controversy. Both parties claim to deraign title through Amanda S. Barkley (nee Bryan).

On the 3rd of July, 1858, William C. Bryan and wife conveyed to Amanda S. Bryan, her heirs, etc., the west ‘half of the northwest quarter of Section Four, Range Ten North and West. The appellant alleges in her bill that Amanda S. Barkley executed a deed of the one acre on the 22nd of August, 1877, to Martha Jane Burkett describing it therein as follows : “the following described land lying one mile wes-t of the town of Marianna being at the northeast corner of the land so- owned by her, and commencing at the road front of the house of Joseph W. Russ on the road leading from the town of Marianna to Camp[358]*358bellton, running thence seventy yards south, thence seventy-yards west, thence seventy, yards north, from thence seventy yards east to the point of beginning;” that Martha Jane Burkett, <a year or two after she became seized of said lot conveyed the same to Susan Bellamy, wife of Guff Bellamy, but the deed was never recorded and has been lost; that Amanda Barkley lived until May 24th, 1879, eight years after the execution of the deed to- Martha Jane Burkett, and never claimed this acre of land, but recognized it as the property of Martha Jane Burkett, and afterwards as the property of Susan Bellamy, and in 'her will recognized it as the Guff Bellamy lot, which was a clerical error; that on the 5th of September, 1904, complainant purchased all the right, title and interest of Susan Bellamy and Guff Bellamy to this acre, and received from them a quit claim deed to it, -the original of which is attached to the bill as Exhibit“C” and made a part of the bill; that complainant obtained a tax deed on the 3rd of January, 1876. which attempted to- described the acre in question. The tax deed is made a part of the bill as Exhibit “D.” The bill admits that by clerical error the acre in question is not correctly described in this- deed. The bill alleges that on the 20th o-f October, 1883, complainant sold and conveyed to one Emanuel by deed made a part of the bill as Exhibit “E,” the said acre of lánd,. but admits that it is not correctly described therein; that on the 8th of October, 1901, Emanuel White sold and conveyed -the said lot of land to W. H. Milton, but admits that it is not correctly described therein; that W. H. Milton on the first day of January, 1902, sold and conveyed the land to the complainant, and that this deed, also incorrectly describes 'the land. The bill alleges that all the foregoing parties went into- open notorious and exclusive adverse possession -of said lot of land and exercised such a-ct of ownership over it as it was susceptible [359]*359of, it being* a vacant lot with no buildings or improvements on it containing trees suitable for firewood. The two last mentioned deeds are mlade parts of the bill as Exhibit “F,” and “G.” The -bill further alleges that since 1876, when she entered into possession of the land she has had her residence on land adjoining the one acre-in controversy, separated only by a public road called the Marianna and Campbellton road, her residence being; within two 'hundred feet of said lot; that she ‘is the widow of the late G. A. Baltzell, who lived with 'her and had', charge of said lot; that said one acre lot is within the present corporate limits of -the town of Marianna; that; the holdings of land in the neighborhood are in small! quantities by various persons; that 'her husband died on; the 29th of March, 1903; that neither complainant nor any of her neighbors ever heard that D*. L. McKinnon; claimed this land until a few days before the death of her husband; that in 1905, -complainant began to- enclose this; lot of land with a fence, and that D. L. McKinnon most wantonly and recklessly with force and violence tore down and destroyed the fence. The bill then alleges o-th-. er trespasses by D. L. McKinnon, and that he prosecuted. N. A. Raltzll, her son, unsuccessfully for trespasses on; said land. The bill at great length alleges that D. L. Mc-Kinnon has never been in possession of this acre of land;, that he pretends and claims a title to it; that he has trespassed on it, cut cedar posts therefrom, and threatens to. further trespass; that complainant has recently discovered that D. L. McKinnon predicates 'his title on a deed executed to '-him by M. L. Dekle, trustee; that Dekle was. never appointed trustee, and never as trustee or as an individual had any interest in said lot of land and never intended to convey the same to McKinnon, ¿md neither the executor of Amanda S. Barklev nor any person claiming by or through or under them or either of tlw*” ever asserted any claim to said pro-prty, under the will of said’ [360]*360Amanda S. Biarkley, who did not die seized and possessed of the same. The 'bill alleges that while the deed to Dekle trustee to McKinnon conveys no title to the latter yet he claim’s that it does, and it probably embraces the land in dispute in its description, and alleges that it depreciates the. market value of' the lot and .is a cloud on complainant’s title. The bill prays for a removal of this cloud, ancfdor an injunction as before stated. The answer and cross bill of D. L. McKinnon admits that Amanda S. Barkley was at and before her death seized of land in Jackson county, but dries not admit she ever owned the land described in the bill as conveyed by Amanda S. Barkley to Martha Jane Burkett. They deny that any of the other conveyances described in the bill embrace the land in question, except perhaps the alleged bogus quit claim deed from Guff Bellamy and his wife dated 5th of September, 1904.

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Bluebook (online)
49 So. 546, 57 Fla. 355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baltzell-v-mckinnon-fla-1909.