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stew

- Sat, Feb 21, 2009
Gazette & Courier - Monday, September 13, 1875
Court record
Court record - The fifth week of the Superior Court continued the business of the term, beginning Tues. with the following trials before the court:
John O’Donnell vs. Bartholomew Reardon & Trustees - Finding for the plaintiff, amount $68.68, and the charging of the Trustee (the Keith Paper Co.) with $76.07...Erastus Cowles vs. Edwin A. Ball - This was an action of trespass, wherein the plaintiff alleged that the defendant, who, being a highway surveyor, had, in repairing the highway on Deerfield Meadow, trespassed upon the plaintiff’s land, plowing into the Broughton Pond road, a turf embankment some 3 ft. wide and 68 rods in length.
Also, by removing a stone at the western terminus of the road. The question at issue being the true location of the northern line of said road. The defendant claimed that he had not exceeded the original limits of the road, which was laid out in 1796. The case developed the fact that the race of old men were not yet extinct, and the remembrances of the greater portion of Deerfield were required on the pros and cons of the matter in dispute. Finding for the defendant...
Henry Couillard vs. Elihu Smead - This was an action by the plaintiff, as tax collector of Shelburne, to recover $33.85, being a tax assessed in 1871. The defendant claimed that the tax had already been paid by J.B. Whitney, who, acting as his agent, handed the plaintiff the money in the yard of his livery stable at Shelburne Falls, and moreover, fixed the date as Apr. 29, 1871.
The circumstances attending the alleged payment were detailed by Mr. Whitney, while the plaintiff, while testifying that at the date named he was at Winchester N.H., engaged in the joint occupation of "courting a woman and trading horses", succeeded in raising an issue of fact, which, after a subsequent attempt by the plaintiff’s side to show the true status of the witness Whitney, for truth and veracity, and the counter attempt of the defense to discredit Couillard on the same ground; the truth might be said to indeed be "trembling in the balance". Finding for the plaintiff, amount $40.78...
The inhabitants of Leverett vs. the inhabitants of Rowe - This was an action to recover for money expended by the town of Leverett in assisting a pauper by the name of Rice, and whom it was claimed, had a legal settlement in the town of Rowe. The circumstances of the case were quite peculiar. One of the ways by which a person gains a settlement in a town is by the possession and residence on an estate of freehold for 3 years.
A settlement once gained of course continuing until a new one is gained elsewhere. In this case, Mr. Rice owned and lived upon a place in Rowe, but a few days previous to the expiration of 3 years he returned the deed of land to the original grantor, who then conveyed the property to a new party. Mr. Rice continued to live upon the land for some few weeks after giving up the deed as mentioned.
The new party who took the property did not take possession; neither did the original grantor exercise any act of ownership except the mere transferring of the deeds till after the expiration of 3 years. The question arises whether the fact of giving the deed back by Rice to his grantor, did moderate the circumstances, divest Rice of his seizin of the freehold. If not, of course he gained a settlement; while if the residence or the seizin were cut short by a few days, the statute would not be complied with and the town would not be liable. The point raised was so peculiar that the Judge reserved his decision...
Lucius Smith vs. Austin Drake, appt. The case came up on appeal from a magistrate’s findings. The court found for the plaintiff and assessed damages of $7.42...
The following cases were disposed of by judgment without trial: Samuel B. Fletcher vs. Henry Herring - This case has stood upon the docket for a long time, having been tried by a jury in 1873. It was settled on agreement by a verdict for the plaintiff, amount $19...Moses Stebbins vs. Jasper Gillett - This was another of the old cases consisting of many items of an account with offsets. Judgment was granted on award of referee...Edward H. Fitts vs. Samuel Sugland - Judgment on award of referee for plff. Damages, $4. Each party to pay their own cost...
Turners Falls Lumber Co. vs. David A. Wood - This was an action on 2 promissory notes, one of $1200...and the other of $518...Judgment for plaintiffs on both...Edwin Pierce et al. vs. Levi A. Bates Jr. et al. Judgment for plaintiffs against Bates for account of $52.50...Edwin Pierce et al. vs. Allen Mansfield - Judgment for plaintiff on a promissory note...for $58...
William L. Bradley vs. Edward Barney - Judgment for plaintiff on a promissory note...for $212...Bradley Fertilizer Co. vs. Edward Barney - This was an action on a note given by George Fuller of Deerfield, upon which the defendant was sued as surety, for $300. Judgment for plaintiff on the same...
Asa C. Lewis vs. Lorenzo D. Joslyn appt. Judgment for plaintiff, amount $30...Nathaniel Holmes et al. vs. Stephen L. Pratt - Judgment for plaintiff on note...for $59.10, upon which $40 had been paid before suit. William R. Armstrong vs. R.L. Goss. Judgment for plaintiff...for $400...Nathaniel Holmes et al. vs. Thomas Lap[?]. Judgment for plaintiff for $11...
George W. Potter et al. vs. R.J. Goss. Judgment for plaintiff on 2 notes, one for $732 and another for $82.89, also an account of $319. Total, $1134.52. Frank L. Eldridge vs. R.L. Goss et al - Judgment for plaintiff on note, amount $350...In the case of S.L. Shattuck et al. vs. George Jones, in which a verdict for plaintiff was given by the jury, a motion was filed for a new trial. But the motion has been overruled.
The docket has been well cleared of old cases this term, some 40 being settled out of court, to which no reference has been made in our reports. Judge Aldrich has earned the thanks of suiters by his persistent labors in holding this, the longest term of the Superior Court, known for many years. The court adjourned for the term Fri...The law term of the Supreme Judicial Court will begin Sept. 28, with the full bench.
Subjects: Animals / Reptiles, Business Enterprises, Courts, Courtship, Crime, Deerfield (MA), Economics, Government, Greenfield (MA), History, Horses, Law and Lawyers, Leverett (MA), Montague (MA), New Hampshire, Old Age, Outhouses, Poor, Rivers / Lakes / Oceans, Roads, Shelburne and Shelburne Falls (MA), Turners Falls (MA), Vendors and Purchasers, Work, Rowe (MA)