Legal Battle Lines Drawn over Old Town Land
A crowded courtroom and high-stakes condemnation proceedings unfold as the Northern Pacific Railway targets land near the Old Town mill.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Federal court this morning took up the trial of the condemnation cases of the Northern Pacific railway, beginning with the suit against James Garvey and others for a piece of land just beyond the Old Town mill. Murray, Quick and Pritchard were in court for the railway company and Coiner and Harvey Garvey, the latter one of the defendants, represented the defendants. A dozen other attorneys representing other clients were on hand to give their moral support to the defense. In the selecting of the jury there was a great shifting and both sides exhausted their challenges before they were satisfied to go ahead. The jury was finally selected just at noon and adjournment was then taken until 2 o'clock. Judge Metrlek is on the bench, having come from Idaho especially to hear these cases.
“A dozen other attorneys representing other clients were on hand to give their moral support to the defense.”
The tension between railroad expansion and private property rights defined much of Tacoma's early growth. Today, similar battles over transit corridors and land use continue to reshape the city’s footprint.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.