Baltimore Chemical Manufacturing Co.'s Lessee v. Dobbin

Goldsborough, J., delivered the opinion of this Court: This is an action of ejectment for a portion of a tract of land called ‘ ‘Stewartsylvcmia,” lying within the limits of the city of Baltimore. The plaintiff below, the present appellant, to prove its title, offered in evidence a patent granted for this tract in 1168, to James Richards; also a deed from Richards to Daniel Chamier, executed in 1116, conveying to him this and other parcels of land in trust, to sell the same to pay the claims of certain creditors of Richards, and that, in 1181,. a certain Mark Alexander made claim to “Stewartsylva-ma.” To support this claim, the appellant read to the jury a copy of a notice published in the Maryland Gazette, in May 1111, in which, Chamier advertised this land to be sold at public sale on the 15th of June then next. Then for the purpose of laying the foundation for the presumption of a deed from Chamier to Alexander, it offered to read a copy of a letter from Alexander to the commissioners, for the sale of confiscated lands. This letter and the endorsement thereon, is set out in the record.

It also offered to show that Alexander became an insolvent petitioner in 1181, and returned in his schedule, his claim to this tract of land, ²¹⁸ and that it was subsequently sold by Samuel Moale, the insolvent trustee, to one Isaac Oaustin, under whom the appellant claims; that it took pedal possession in 1881, of a part of “Stewartsylvama,” other than the part for which the defendant took defence, and held the same until 1849, when it sold a part of said tract to other persons, who have since been in the undisputed possession, occupancy and enjoyment of the part so sold, as the appellant had been; that at the time of the purchase by the appellant, in 1881, the whole of this tract was barren, uncultivated and waste, lying near to and on the harbor of Baltimore, and entirely unimproved in any manner whatsoever, and too narrow and unimportant to justify any other possession than that shown by the said claim, and