The Donation Claim That Ended in Murder—and Took Decades to Settle

Register George G. Mills, of the Olympia land office, has just completed a lengthy opinion in an interesting land contest of 320 acres near Sumner. The land has been in litigation for many years, and in its history is chronicled the death of one man and a prolonged siege in the courts.

In 1853 Michael Connell filed on 320 acres of land in the Puyallup Valley as a donation claim, and resided upon it until 1855, when he was killed in the heat of the Indian War before having proved up. The donation act provides that in case a donee dies before proof is made, the heirs may appear and perfect the claim in his name only; and if they do not appear within a reasonable length of time to perfect their claim, the land again becomes vacant public land. After Connell's death the probate court of Pierce County appointed an administrator, who sold the land, and several transfers followed, until it finally passed to William White, who paid only a portion of the purchase price and gave a mortgage for the balance. After some years, White's note for the balance not having been paid, the note and mortgage were transferred to Archibald McMillan, and in 1885 Mr. McMillan began foreclosure proceedings in the Pierce County court. The court ordered the sale of the property to satisfy the mortgage and McMillan bought it in. When he went to take possession, however, an altercation arose between White and himself, during which McMillan was killed.

White was sentenced to imprisonment for ten years for murder in the second degree, and the property shortly afterwards passed to John A. Stone, who is in possession at the present time, and who has placed many improvements on the land to the value of about $8,000.

All purchasers of the land after the death of Connell and up to 1884 thought the title of the property was good, but at that time Charles Whittlesey, of Seattle, and W. B. Hooker, of Tacoma—the latter then a law partner of James M. Ashton, and now a member of Congress from western New York—discovered that the title to the property was invalid, and they applied for homestead entries on the tract, the applications having been filed with the old land office, then located in Olympia. Immediately thereafter White, with Stone, applied for the land. White applied under the homestead law for a portion of the tract, and for the balance under the law of June 5, 1880. Stone applied for the land on a donation certificate and patent, and the case has since been pending before the various departments of the land bureau.

Secretary Noble finally ordered a hearing to determine the rights of the various parties in contest. The local office decides in favor of Whittlesey & Hooker, they being the first applicants for the land after the death of Connell. It is decided, in the opinion, that the claims of Stone and White were only possessory rights, and extended only to such time as the first legal applicant, after the death of the donee, had secured title from the government.

Since the commencement of the litigation, many prominent land attorneys have been identified with the case, among whom are John Y. Ostrander, W. H. White, and John Arthur of Seattle; James M. Ashton, Lee & Jordan, Elwood Evans and Frank Clarke of Tacoma; and John F. Gowey, W. T. Cavanaugh and Phil. Skillman of Olympia. James M. Ashton is now Stone's attorney in the case. Stone has 112 acres in hops, and the remaining 208 acres are all fenced.