The Hundred-Thousand-Dollar Ballard Land Grab

Judge Lichtenberg yesterday afternoon gave a decision for the defendant in the case of Anna Sophia Brygger et al. vs. John Schweitzer, involving the title to valuable real estate in Ballard. The property in question is a part of section 10, township 25 north of range 3 east, and is worth about $100,000. The land was selected on March 10, 1854, by the university commission for university purposes, and was sold on the same day to John Ross, and by him was conveyed to Johann Brygger, now deceased. John Schweitzer afterward applied for a government land claim and was allowed to make a homestead filing at the land office at Olympia on the property now in dispute. He settled on it in 1879 and lived there until 1883, when final proof was made and a patent issued. The university commissioners and Ross, who had not yet made a deed to Brygger, protested against the final proofs but their protest was disallowed. They appealed to the general land commissioner at Washington City and then to the secretary of the interior and were beaten. During the pendency of the appeal to the secretary, a patent was issued to Schweitzer. The suit was brought by Anna Sophia Brygger, the widow of Johann Brygger, and Ole Schillestad, the administrator of his estate. They asked that Schweitzer be declared a trustee, holding the property in trust for them. The case was first heard about nine months ago by Judge Lichtenberg and then decided in favor of the plaintiffs. A motion for a new trial was made by the defendants and the plaintiffs, believing that the case would be taken up to the United States court, consented to another trial in order to have certain further evidence appear in the record. This time the court reversed his former ruling. The case will be appealed to the supreme court of the state and from there is sure to go up to the United States supreme court.