Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1896 — Stepped It Off. [ARTICLE]

Stepped It Off.

It is a common-ly accepted theory that a man steps three feet, sfwl many a tract of laud has been “stepped off” instead of measured with a Chain, la the West they obviate the difficulties o-f surveys by the land being divided into sections, but in Pennsylvania much of the property, especially in the mown tad must still be descri bed by metes and bounds. In one of the counties in western Pennsylvania are two brothers, one of whom is tall and lank, rhe other short n-nd fat. Many years ago they pur-' chased a tract of morptaiu land, calling for a mile square. They divided tin* labor of measuring it. one stepping off one side, the other the o-ther side. Then they fenced it in and were i>erfeetdy satisfied until recently, when suit was brought to recover a considerable tract of land. Each brother swore t'liat -lie knew the measurement to be right and told him it had been done. Then, as the spectators saw the short legs of the one, scarcely long enough to reach the floor when he sat in .a chair, and the elongated extremities of the other, there was a general laugh, in which the judge and attorney joined. Upon surveying it was found that one line was a mile and a half long and the other only a little over half a mile.