Bullock v. Greer

179 So. 264, 181 Miss. 190, 1938 Miss. LEXIS 61
Mississippi Supreme Court·Decided February 21, 1938·No. No. 33053.·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

*193 Ethridge, P. J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This cause originated in a justice of the peace court in Lincoln county, the action being one of replevin filed by the appellant against O. F. and Cyril Greer. The justice of the peace entered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, from which judgment appeal was taken to the circuit court by the appellees, the appellee C. F. Greer not signing the bond, and disclaiming interest in the trial in the circuit court.

The subject matter of the replevin suit was wood blocks cut from certain lands lying south of the old channel of Myers creek in section 5, township 5, range 8. The channel of the creek had been changed by a cutoff. The original channel of Myers creek ran in somewhat of a semicircle through the Bullock lands, about 12 acres lay south of the old creek channel. The appellants introduced deeds showing that the lands involved in their description had been patented from the government, and that the deed records of the county had been destroyed in 1905. The lands, with others, owned by the Bullocks, as shown by their deed, was the F. E. % of F. E. Vi of section 5, and *the E. % of F. W. Vi of F. E. Vi of section 5, all in township 5, range 8.

*194 The record shows that B. F. Bullock and Demaris Bullock, his wife, executed a deed to S. E. Bullock in 1902, conveying these lands; and that in October, 1907, a deed was executed by S. E. Bullock and wife to Demaris Bullock, conveying back to her the said lands. The appellants were the sons of Demaris Bullock, who died in 1918. The lands had also been sold for taxes, and she had acquired the tax title.

. During the lifetime of Mrs. Demaris Bullock she had filed a suit to confirm her title against all persons having claim to the lands above described, excepting from the bill and decree 12 acres lying south of Myers creek. No specific person was made defendant to that suit, and, after her death, her administrator revived it in the names of the appellants, her sons, and decree was entered in 1919, after the death of Mrs. Demaris Bullock, confirming the title against all persons having any claim to the land lying north of Myers creek. Subsequent thereto, about 1928, during an overflow a new channel was cut by the creek, south of the old creek channel, containing about 3 acres lying between the two channels, and it was from this land that the timber in question was cut.

The appellants introduced proof to show that about 1915 one Hodges, who owned the land known as the Brent place in the.record, and the father of appellants, acting for his wife, built a fence along the southern border of the property embraced in the deed of Bullock, supposed to be the dividing line, and treated at the time as the line between Mrs. Bullock and Hodges. Evidences of this old fence were found by the surveyor who surveyed the lines before the trial of this cause in the present controversy, .and the line, was found to be but a little distance from this old fence line. There was conflict in the evidence as to where the old fence line was, the witnesses testifying to different locations — that is to say, some of the witnesses for defendant claimed that *195 the old fence was near the old channel of Myers creek, while witnesses for the plaintiff claimed that it was some distance south of the new channel, and near where the true lines of the governmental subdisivions were run by the-surveyor. Evidence for the plaintiff showed that timber had been removed from this 12 acres by the Bullocks and persons having the land in charge for them; while the testimony for the defendants showed that some timber had been cut by the owners of the land now known as the Brent place. The Brent deed was derived from C. D. Hodges and B. E. Hodges to Mrs. Caroline Cook, of date March, 1915, and it conveyed the N. E. 14 of the S. E. %, and the S. E. 14 of the N. E. 14 and the E. 14 of the S. W. 14 o-f N. E. 14, section 5, township 5, range 8, stating in the deed that Myers creek was the boundary on the north side.

Appellees also introduced a deed of trust from J. J. Boyd and Lula Boyd to Lincoln count}7', dated October, 1918, conveying land described as the S. E. 14 of N. E. 14 and the N. E. 14 of S. E. 14 and the E. 14 of the S. W. 14 of N. E. 14, section 5, township 5, range 8, containing 100 acres, more or less, and stating that Myers creek was the line on the northern boundary. They also introduced the trustee’s deed by J. A. Haul, substituted trustee, to Lincoln county, dated January, 1928; and deed from Lincoln county to J. W. Brent, conveying the same land, with the same statement that Myers creek was the boundary.

These deeds were objected to by the appellants, because the land was described by governmental subdivisions, and the statement contained in them that the creek was the boundary on the north did not constitute evidence to extend the calls of the deed to the boundary from the governmental subdivision to- the creek named.

There was also a deed introduced-by appellees from Britt Hall to Sarah Price, dated August, 1877, conveying “the N. E. 14 of S. E. 14 and that part of 3 H. 14 *196 of N. E. % south of Myers Creek and 3 H. y% of S. W. 14 south of Myers Creek, Sec. 5, Township 5, Range 8.”

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Bullock v. Greer, 179 So. 264, 181 Miss. 190, 1938 Miss. LEXIS 61 (Mich. 1938).

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