Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/306

288 they remain to this time, the city unwilling to purchase at the present value, and the owners determined not to make a present of the land to the public. There was likewise a suit for the Portland levee, which had been dedicated to the use of the public. The supreme court decided that it belonged to the town; but Deady reversed the decision, on the ground that at the time the former decision was rendered the land did not belong to the city, but to Coffin, Chapman, and Lownsdale. Apropos of the history of Portland land titles: there came to Oregon with the immigration of 1847 a woman, commonly believed to be a widow, calling herself Mrs Elizabeth Caruthers, and with her, Finice Caruthers, her son. They settled on land adjoining Portland on the south, and when the donation law of 1850 was passed, the woman entered her part of the claim under the name of Elizabeth Thomas, explaining that she had married one Thomas, in Tennessee, who had left her, and who she heard had died in 1821. She preferred for certain reasons to be known by her maiden name of Caruthers. She was allowed to claim 320 acres, and her son 320, making a full donation claim. A house was built on the line between the two portions, in which both claimants lived. In due time both 'proved up' and obtained their certificates from the land office. About 1857 Mrs Caruthers-Thomas died; and in 1860 Finice, her son, died. As he was her sole heir, the whole 640 acres belonged to him. Leaving no will, and being without family, the estate was administered upon and settled.

So valuable a property was not long without claimants. The state claimed it as an escheat, ''Or. Jour. House'', 1868, 44–6, 465, but resigned its pretensions on learning that there were heirs who could claim. During this time an attempt had been made to prove Finice Thomas illegitimate. This failing, A. J. Knott and R. J. Ladd preëmpted the land left by Mrs Thomas, on the ground that being a woman she could not take under the donation act. Knott and Ladd obtained patents to the land; but they were subsequently set aside by the U. S. sup. ct, which held that a woman was a man in legal parlance, and that Mrs Thomas' claim was good.

Meantime agitation brought to the surface new facts. There were men in Oregon who had known the husband in Tennessee and Missouri, and who believed him still alive. Two who had known Thomas, or as he was called, Wrestling Joe, were sent to St Louis, accompanied by a lawyer, to discover the owner of south Portland. He was found, his identity established, his interest in the property purchased for the parties conducting the search, and he was brought to Oregon to aid in establishing the right of the purchasers. In Oregon were found a number of persons who recognized and identified him as Wrestling Joe of the Missouri frontier, though old and feeble. He was a man not likely to be forgotten or mistaken, and had a remarkable scar on his face. In 1872 a case was brought to trial before a jury, who on the evidence decided that the man brought to Oregon was Joe Thomas. Soon after, and pending an appeal to the sup. ct, a compromise was effected with the contestants, by the formation of the South Portland Real Estate Association, which bought up all the conflicting claims and entered into possession. Subsequently they sold to Villard.

After the settlement of the suits as above, Wrestling Joe became incensed with some of the men connected with the settlement, and denied that he was