Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1912 — GENERAL AND STATE NEWS [ARTICLE]

GENERAL AND STATE NEWS

Telegraphic Reports from Many Parts of the Country SHORT BITS OF THE UNUSUAL Happenings in Distant and Nearby Cities and Towns—Matters of Minor Mention from Many Places. $235,500 Slice of Gary Given Woman “Squatter.”

Michigan City. Ind.'. May' 17. Alter an alb night session, in the su|>erior court, a Verdict in favor of the plaintiff, was returned today by the jury in the case of Mrs. Drusilla Carr of Miller, Lake county, against Mrs. Rose Hitt, Arza Hitt, \V. W. Hall and Mrs Mary B. Mathens.' According to the verdict, .Mrs, Carr is entitled to 157 acres of land on the shore of Lake Michigan, worth $1,500 an acre, or a total of $235,500 for the entire tract. Before Gary was built the land was hardly worth its taxes. Mrs. Carr’s title, according to the verdict, is by virtue of possession for more than twenty years. " Mrs. Carr and her husband “squatted’ on the land thirty-six years ago, and. the latter engaged in fishing, hunting and trapping. Mrs. Carr had a small house on the land, and said her right to the property had never been disputed until the rise of Gary made it valuable. The persons who claimed to be the actual owners claimed that Mrs. Carr had not been in possession even for twenty years, as her real home had been in Miller, Millvale and Indiana Harbor, and that she had occupied the land only intermittently and accidentally. The trial has been in progress nearly three weeks, and fifteen lawyers were employed. This was the second trial the first having brought a disagreement a year ago at. Valparaiso. It is asserted that the city of Gary was behind Mrs. Carr in her action to quiet the title, as the city wishes to take the property for park purposes.