The Ground Under Rainier Addition: A Seven-Year Title Fight Ends—for Now

Judge [Lichtenberg?] in the superior court yesterday entered judgment in favor of Henry S. Alger in the case involving the Hill tract, including thirty-five acres and covering the entire tract, which is now on Jackson street, a lot adjoining the addition on the south and known according to the government survey as lot No. 10, township 24 north, range 4 east. The lot contains about seventeen acres and has not been platted. The case is one of the most important in the history of the courts of this state and involves litigation extending over a period of years. Three times was it tried in the superior court and once in the supreme court.

The land was originally patented by the government to W. C. Hill and J. Vance under a location of Porterfield scrip. Early in the seventies Fred A. Minnick, who was then marshal of Seattle, filed a pre-emption claim on the tract and settled upon the same, and upon due proof of settlement and qualification, sufficient to satisfy the requirements of the pre-emption law, received at the local land office his final certificate. It was afterward ascertained that the tract in question was included within the corporate limits of Seattle, and therefore was not authorized by law to be entered, and accordingly the commissioner of the general land office canceled the entry after a hearing among the various parties who claimed title to the land. In the meantime, and before the cancellation, the plaintiff, Henry S. Alger, bought in good faith the land in question from Minnick and received a deed therefor, which was valid.

An appeal was taken from the decision of the commissioner of the general land office to the secretary of the interior, and that officer affirmed the decision of the commissioner of the general land office. Before the secretary of the interior, however, made his decision, Congress passed an act validating and confirming all entries made within the corporate limits of cities where it was afterward ascertained that they were so situated and where no part of the land in question was occupied for municipal purposes nor settled upon by any person except the pre-emption claimant.

After the decision of the secretary of the interior, W. C. Hill and J. Vance, who were then connected in some way with the land department, ascertained the situation of this tract and purchased the same with Porterfield scrip and received a patent therefor. On April 9, 1898, Henry S. Alger, the grantee of Minnick, brought a suit in the old territorial district court claiming that the act of Congress had confirmed the title to the land to Minnick and his grantees, and that he was the equitable owner of the same, and that the defendants were the trustees holding the legal title of the land in trust for Minnick and his grantees.

The case was first tried before Judge Lichtenberg and the plaintiff was nonsuited, and on an appeal to the supreme court of this state the judgment was reversed and remanded for a new trial. A second trial was had afterward before the same judge in the superior court, with the same result, and again the supreme court reversed the judgment, holding in substance that upon the facts stated in the complaint and upon the evidence adduced by the plaintiff, the plaintiff had a good title to the land, the same having been confirmed by the act of Congress aforesaid, and again remanded the case for a third trial.

This was had a few days ago and resulted in a judgment and decree in favor of Mr. Alger, adjudging him to be the true and lawful owner of the land described in the complaint and appointing Mr. Keene, an officer of the court, with authority to execute a conveyance of the land to Mr. Alger. Mr. Keene, soon after the rendition of the decree, executed the deed and delivered the same to the successful plaintiff after protracted litigation for seven years.

A portion of the land alleged to be the property of Mr. Alger has long since been platted by persons who bought from Mr. Hill and divided into lots and blocks and streets, and many persons, relying upon the sufficiency of the Hill title, erected valuable improvements thereon and are now occupying the same. It is claimed by the plaintiff that all these parties at the time of the purchase had full notice of the claim of Mr. Alger, who at the time of the commencement of the suit filed notice of lis pendens in the auditor's office and set forth his claim of title to the premises. It is not yet known whether the defendants intend to appeal the case. Greene, Allen, Hughes & McMicken are attorneys for Mr. Alger, and Stratton, Lewis & Gilman and D. A. Rochester appeared as attorneys for the defendants.