Logsdon v. Brailer Mining Co.

⁴⁶⁵ Thomas, J., delivered the opinion, of the Oourt. In 1850 William L. Logsdon, hereinafter called William Logsdon, Sr., of Allegany County, Maryland, and his wife, by deed recorded among the Land Records of said county, conveyed the coal, seams and strata of coal on certain tracts, lots or parcels of land owned by’ him in said county to I. Washington Tyson. That part of the deed containing a description of the property conveyed, and with which we are concerned in this case, is as follows: “This Indenture, made this twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty: “Between William Logsdon and Elizabeth, his wife, of Allegany County and State of Maryland, of the first part, and J. Washington Tyson, of Howard District, in said State, of the second part. Witnesseth— That the said parties of the first part for and in consideration of the sum of eight hundred dollars current money of the United States of America to them in hand paid by the said party of the second part, at or before the ensealing and delivery of these presents, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged and the said party of the second part, his heirs, executors, and administrators, forever released and discharged from the payment of the same, by these presents, have given, granted, bargained and sold, aliened, remised, released, conveyed and confirmed and by these presents do give, grant, bargain and sell, alien, remise, release, convey and confirm unto the said J. Washington Tyson, his heirs and assigns, all the coal and veins of coal, strata, and seams of coal, lying on, in and under the tracts and parcels of land hereinafter particularly mentioned and described which crop out, blossom or show themselves at any point in or on said tracts of land higher than and above the residence now occupied by said William Logsdon built on one of said tracts, all of which said tracts adjoin each other, lying, being and ⁴⁶⁶ situate in the county and State aforesaid; and are known and distinguished on the plat of said Allegany County, and by name, as follows, to wit: All that tract of land called ‘Bear Camp,’ and also all that tract of land called ‘Lost Pin,’ and also all that tract of land called ‘Waterford,’ and also lots numbers four thousand and seventy-five (4075) and four thousand and seventy-six (4076), and also part of lot numbers three thousand six hundred and seventy-one (3671) which was sold and conveyed to said William Logsdon by Thomas Perry, trustee appointed by Allegany County Court as a court of equity to sell the real estate in the proceedings in the case of Francis Logsdon and Benedict Logsdon, complainants, against William Logsdon, Raphael Logsdon and others defendants, mentioned; and also full ingress, egress and regress in and upon said afore herein described property, rights of way, for the purpose of getting to and at coal veins and strata and full right and power to open, work out and exhaust the said coal veins and strata on the west side of said above described property; provided, however, that nothing herein contained shall grant to authorize or empower the said party of the second part, his heirs and assigns, to enter on or use for the purposes above stated the east side of said property^ regarding and considering all the aforesaid tracts as forming together one body of land and one property.

And provided also that nothing herein contained shall grant or convey to the said J. Washington Tyson, his heirs or assigns, any coal veins, coal or coal strata which crop out, blossom or show themselves on any part of said property lower than, or any coal veins, coal, or coal strata lying below the residence now occupied by said Logsdon as aforesaid.” By deed dated October 5th, 1895, and recorded among the Land Records of Allegany County, Judge A. Hunter Boyd,, as the executor of the last will and testament of William ⁴⁶⁷ Logsdon, Sr., conveyed to William. R. Logsdon, a part of t-lie land mentioned in the said deed from 'William Logsdon, Sr., to J. Washington Tyson, called therein the AVilliam Logsdon farm:, containing about one hundred and twenty-seven acres, and described in the deed as follows: “All that farm in Mt. Savage District, Allegany County, on the road leading from Mt. Savage to the John S. Combs farm, known as the William Logs-don farm, and occupied for many years and up to the time of Ms death by the late William Logsdon, Senior, said farm containing about one hundred and twenty-seven acres more or less and being all the property conveyed to the said William Logsdon by Thomas Perry, trustee, by deed dated September 24th, 1850, and recorded in Liber No. 6, folio 341, of the Land Records of Allegany County, Maryland (to which a reference is hereby made for a more particular description of said land).

Excepting, however, from the operation of this conveyance all such portions of said land as were conveyed away in Ms lifetime by the said William Logsdon, Senior, by deeds of record among the Land Records of Allegany County aforesaid,” etc. In 1916 AVilliam K. Logsdon conveyed the farm mentioned in the deed to him from Judge Boyd to Anthony L. Logsdon and Rosalie E. Logsdon, his wife, but excepted from the operation of the deed “all the coal under the property” thereby conveyed, which interest reserved in said farm, or the coal under said property belonging to William Rl. Logsdon, passed under the residuary clause of his last will and testament, admitted to probate in November, 1918, to his four children, Emma O. Henckel, Stanley Logsdon, Augustine Logsdon and Anthony L. Logsdon, and on the 6th of May,. 1920, the said Emma C. Henckel conveyed all her interest in said property to the said Stanley Logsdon. ⁴⁶⁸ D'avicL J. Lewis and DeWarren H. Reynolds, trustees, by deed dated -tbe 7th of November, 1902, -and recorded among tbe Land Records of Allegany County, which recites that they had been appointed trustees by the Circuit Court for Allegany County “with power and authority to sell the veins and seams of coal and strata of coal 'and other minerals underlying ‘the Lióme Farm of the late Augustine Brailer, Sr./ and also all the veins and seams of coal and strata of coal-underlying the lands commonly known as ‘The Logsdon Lands/ ” conveyed to' George C. Brailer, trustee, the veins, seams aud strata of coal underlying 'all the land referred to as “The Logsdon Lands” in the terms hereinafter stated. On the 2nd of March, 1921, -the said Stanley Logsdon, Augustine Logsdon, Anthony L. Logsdon and Rosalie F. Logsdon, his wife, filed a bill of complaint in the Circuit Court for Allegany County against Tbe Brailer Mining Company of Allegany County, alleging that they, the plaintiffs, were the owners -and in possession of the farm or parcel of land which was conveyed by Judge Bbyd as tbe executor of William Logsdon, Sr., to William R. Logsdon, now known as the “Lower Farm” and included in the yellow lines on the plat filed with tbe bill as “Plaintiffs^ First Exhibit, Map,” aud that they were also the owners and in possession of the coal -and other minerals1 under said farm or land; that the defendant, the Brailer Mining Company of Allegany Oouuty, “was vested with the title to certain coal underlying-part of the original William Logsdon, Sr., tract by virtue” of the deed we have mentioned from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees, filed with the bill, and that the terms of said grant are as hereinafter stated; that said deed was intended to convey “the same mineral rights in the original undivided WilliamLogsdon, Sr.,” land that were conveyed by the said William Logsdon, Sr., to J. Washington Tyson by the deed of September 25th, 1850, to- which we have already referred, andl a copy of which was filed with the hill; that the defendant, by virtue of said' deed and a deed from Peter Logsdon and ⁴⁶⁹ wife, dated March 13, 1913, a copy of which, was filed with die hill, “became vested with title to- the surface of and to- the minerals under all that tract within the red line's on said map” marked “Plaintiffs’ Eirst Exhibit, Map.”; that the defendant never acquired by virtue of said deed, “nor in 'any other manner,” any right in the land lying south of the yellow line A-P-C-D'-E' 6n said plat or any right “to 'the coal and other minerals thereunder1,” but that, “nevertheless,” the defendant claims that it owns the minerals under said land of the plaintiffs, and has caused a plat to be prepared by a civil engineer showing that it claims the minerals under plaintiffs’ farm or land; that the plaintiffs have no definite knowledge of the grounds upon which the defendant makes said claim, but that they are advised that the defendant, claims, that by virtue of said deed from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees, it is entitled to the- coal under “all tbe lands” described therein, “and not merely to the veins which crop out. above the William Logsdon residence (the correct location of which is shown on. said map as ‘Old House’),” and that it also, claims that the William Logsdon, Sr., residence wias further s'outh than its real location, and that it is ‘the one shown mi said ma.p as the ‘Stone House’; that the exact location of the residence of William Logsdon, Sr., in 1850 is material and should be determined in tbis case, and that there 'are only a few aged and infirm witnesses now living who remember where fit stood and who can testify to the location as that shown oh said plat, plaintiffs’ exhibit, as the “Old House”; that the claim of the defendant casts a: cloud on the plaintiffs’ title, and makes it impossible for them, to sell or lease the coal and other minerals underlying their farm marked on said plat “Lower Earm,” and that they .are therefore entitled to the aid of a. court of equity to remove, said cloud by a judicial determination of the effect of said deed from Lewis- and Reynolds, trustees, and also to an injunction, restrainine.' the defendant, its officers, etc., from claiming “any title or interest in or to” said Lower Earm. ⁴⁷⁰ The prayers of the hill are (1) for a decree declaring “that by a proper construction of the deed from William Logsdon, Sr., to J. Washington Tyson * * * .and the other deeds in defendant’s chain of title, the defendant has no title” to the coal and other minerals underlying Ithe farm marked on said plat as the “Lower Farm.” (2) For an injunction restraining the defendants, its officers, etc., from claiming any title to or interest in said farm or the “coal or other minerals thereunder,” and (3) for general relief. In its answer the defendant denies that it is not entitled to the coal under the land south of the line A-B-O-DtE on plaintiffs’ plat and marked “Lower Farm,” and •alleges that it owns the coal under “Waterford,” “Lost Bin” and “Military Lots Nos. 4075, 4076 and 3671”; that if and tiróse under whom it claims have always claimed title to “the coal and other minerals” under said land; that the residence of William Logsdon, -Sr., is correctly located on the plat filed with its answer marked Exhibit No. '1; that the coal to which the plaintiffs claim title “is, in fact and law, the property of the defendant, and that all the coal, veins of coal, strata and seams of coal lying on, in and under the several tracts and parcels of land described in the deed from DeWiaxren EL Beynolds, attorney to the Brailer Mining Company do, in fact, crop out, blossom or show themselves higher than and above tire residence of William Logsdon referred to in the bill and the deed from William Logsdon and wife to J. Washington Tyson.” The answer also denies that the defendant’s claim ito “said coal and minerals” is a cloud on the “pretended title of the plaintiffs,” and alleges that “if the plaintiffs and those under whom they claim ever had any right to the relief prayed in the bill they have lost the same by reason of laches and limitations.” The pleadings and evidence in the case are not- very satisfactory, hut it sufficiently appears that both the plaintiffs and the defendant derived whatever interest .they have in the land ⁴⁷¹ included within the yellow lines on the plat filed with, the bill as “Plaintiffs’ First Exhibit, M'ap',” and marked on said plat “Lower Farm,” from William Logsdon, Sr.; that the title to and interest in said land or “Lower Farm” reserved by the said William Logsdon, ©r., in Ms deed to J. Washington Tyson are now vested in the plaintiffs, and that the defendant must have acquired whatever interest it has in the s'aid land or farm from those claiming under J. Washington Tyson and the deed to him from William Logsdon, Sr., in 1850; that the plaintiffs, and those under whom they claim, have been in continuous, and uninterrupted possession of said land or “Lower Farm” from the date of said deed to Tyson to the filing of the bill in this case; that neither the defendant nor those under1 whom it claims ever mined or attempted to mine any of the coal on or under said land or farm, and that the only possession of said eo'al or veins of coal they are shown to have had is such possession as was incident to the title acquired under said deed to I. Washington Tyson; that the location of the residence of William Logsdon, Sr., referred to in the deed to J. Washington Tyson, is above’ the level of, or “higher irp the hill” than tire land or farm claimed by the plaintiffs; that the correct location of said residence is that ■of the present David Frailer house, and shown on plaintiffs’ said plat and marked “Old House,” and that the defendant caused a plat to be prepared by a civil engineer of the land on and under which it claims title to the coal, and that said plat includes the land called “Lower Farm” of the plaintiffs.

The following plat is a copy of the plat filed with the bill and marked “Plaintiffs’ First Exhibit, Map.” The land included within the yellow lines thereon and marked “Lower Farm,” is the property claimed by the plaintiff’s. The location of the William Logsdon, Sr., residence, referred to in the deed to Tyson, is marked “'Old House,” and the land included within the red lines is the land acquired by the defendant by the deed from Peter Logsdon and wife in 1913. ^{472 473} A number of veins or strata of coal are referred to in the testimony, but it would not be possible to determine from the evidence in the case what veins, of coal extending under the lower farm in question crop- out or blossom on the land mentioned in the deed to Tyson above the William Logsdon, Sr., residence. Nor does it appear from the evidence how the Brailers, referred to in the deed from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees, to George G. Brailer, trustee, acquired title to. any of the coal or veins of coal conveyed by William Logsdon, Sr., to Tyson, or how the defendant company acquired the coal mentioned in said deed to George 0. Brailer, trustee, but as the bill alleges that the defendant by virtue of said deed from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees., “is vested” with “the same mineral rights” in a part of the original undivided William Logsdon, Sr. land as were conveyed by said Logsdon to J. Washington Tyson, and further alleges that the defendant, by said deed and a deed to it in 1913 from Peter Logsdon and wife, a copy of which was filed with the hill, “became vested with the title to the surface of and to. the minerals under all that tract” included within the red lines on, the plat of which the above is a copy, we may assume for the purposes of this case that the defendant has title to. all the coal, veins and strata of coal on or under the land described in the deed from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees, that were conveyed by William Logsdon, Sr., to Tyson.

The deed referred to in the defendant’s answer as the deed from “DeWarren II. Reynolds,” its attorney, was not offered in evidence-, unless- it is the deed we have mentioned from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees. Upon the record in the case, the questions to he determined are (1) what veins of coal or strata of coal were conveyed by William Logsdon, Sr., to J. Washington Tyson by the deed of 1850, and (2) whether the- deed mentioned from Lewis and Reynolds, trustees, to George O'. Brailer, trustee, under which the defendant claims, and the acts o-f the defendant, cast a cloud on the plaintiffs’ title to the land do- ⁴⁷⁴ scribed as the lower farm and the ocal; veins and strata of ■coal thereon.

The learned court below, in the decree from which this appeal was taken, held that upon the proper construction of the deed from Logsdon, Sr., to Tyson, the defendant, as the “successor in title to J. Washington Tyson,” was entitled to all the coal, veins of coal, strata and seams of coal under the land described in the Tyson deed which crop1 out, blossom or show themselves “at any point in or on said tracts of land higher than and above the place where stood the residence of William Logsdon, Sr., in 1850 (which location is now marked by David Brailer’s house),” and that the plaintiffs were entitled “to all the coal, veins of coal, strata and seams of coal which underlie the Anthony Logsdon farm (called the “Lower Earm”) which crop' out, blossom or show themselves on any part of said property conveyed by the said William Logsdon to J. Washington Tyson below the said ‘residence,’ and not above the ‘residence,’' and all said coal veins under said property which do not crop! out on said property described in the deed to Tyson,” while the appellants insist that, in the deed to Tyson, William Logsdon, Sr., reserved all the coal on or under the land described in said deed below his residence, and that therefore the defendant has no title to or interest in any of the coal on or under the lower farm. 1. While we are unable to adopt the contention of the appellants, we cannot entirely concur in the view of the court below. The rule followed in the construction of deeds is clearly stated in Zittle vs. Weller, 63 Md. 190 , where the Oourt said: “It is a cardinal principle in the construction of deeds, contracts and wills that the intention of the parties shall prevail unless it violates or infringes some established principle of law. Hope vs. Hutchins, 9 G. & J. 78 .

To ascertain this meaning and intent of the parties resort must be had to the