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1829.)

AMERICAN SILK.

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castings, the bar iron, the boiler iron, the nails, the farm. Mr. BERNARD Dornan, is authorised to collect Sub. ing utensils, the glass, the cotton goods, and various oth- scribers. er articles manufactured in our city.

On behalf, and by order of the Acting Committee. Fifty years ago, we could scarcely manufacture the

F. DUSAR. axes necessary to cut down the lofty oaks which encum- Philadelphia, Sept. 24, 1829. bered our hills and vallies; now, we manufacture steam engines of gigantic power, and accurate finish, to be ap

SILK, plied to various uses on the North river, the Northern

We beg leave to call the attention of our readers to Lakes, the valley of the Mississippi, the sugar plantations the advertisement of the society for promoting the cul. of Louisiana, and in the mines of Mexico.

ture of silk. It is to be hoped that our country friends Forty years ago, our window.glass, our tumblers and will avail themselves of the opportunity now afforded, decanters, were imported from Europe; now, our win. to acquire the knowledge of the arts of reeling silk from dow.glass gives light to the citizens of Boston and of the cocoons, and of making sewing silk; and that our patristate of Maine, and our splendid Flint Glass decorates otic citizens will aid by their funds, so useful a society. the table of the President of these twenty-four States. The price of tuition is, we understanı), $10,-a trife

But our progress in improvement has been con compared with the importance of the knowledge they fined to the manufacturing and mechanic arts, literature will become possessed of. When attained, they may not and science, which must always follow at a respectful only supply their families with the sewing silk required distance in the rear of advancing civilization, are also for their own use, but may readily and profitably dismaking among us a slow, but sure progress.

pose the surplus to any store their vicinity, as is A boarding-school now occupies the field of Brad done in some parts of Connecticut, where it is well dock's defeat, and innocent and artless females fearlessly known that silk is taken in barter for goods, as eagerly stray over that ground, where Americans and Britons,

as if money were offered for them. In fact, silk is the Frenchmen and Indians, formerly, mingled in mortal circulating medium in the county of Windham, and ad. strife. Long after that event, within the recollection jacent counties. The farmers there consider the silk of many still living, a rude "block house," protected ihey produce as a clear gain, because the business of the settlers, on the very spot where in a neat academy, feeding the worms is chiefly done by aged persons, and their decendants are now instructed in the classics.

by children, and the silk is prepared for market by the To indulge the imagination still further; had the Bri. females when not employed in their usual indispensable tish officer, whose remains with his evidences of rank, domestic occupations. The rearing of cocoons for sale were lately disinterred by a farmer's plough, at that mo may also become an object worthy attention if a convement awoke from his long sleep, his eyes would have nient apparatus be employed to feed the worms: the first fallen with amazement upon the battlements of the want of this induces a much higher price to be set upon neighboring Arsenal, and on the starry and striped ban cocoons than their real value will warrant, for the trouner of an unknown nation, that floated over him.- ble of attending the worms in the usual way, upon taHad he retraced his once bloody trail to the fatal height, bles, is very great. The society intend shortly to exwhere the unfortunate Grant had invited a disastrous hibit a frame, containing a series of shelves, which will battle, he would observe a noble reservoir filled with enable any one to attend many thousands of silk-worms, the pure water of the Allegheny, and the foundation of a with very little trouble. On inquiry, we learn that the great Cathedral—the bill itself divided and the whole price given for cocoons of the first quality is 50 cents plan cut off and insulated by a canal-towards Fort Du. per pound; a price which could not be sustained by the Quesne, the smoke of a thousand chimneys, where he quantity of silk they will yield. Directors of county had left the smoke of many rifles.-Beneath the round poor-houses should employ their paupers in rearing termination of the ridge to the Soutlı, the Caledonian worms: if they have not mulberry trees on the poormight perceive a groupe of his hardy countrymen, not house farm, they should be set out. Messrs. Terhoeven, grappling with the French and Indians, but in the peace 4 miles from Philadelphia, on the Point-no-Point road, ful operation of rearing the Ionic columns of a magnifi. have a very large stock of young trees for sale at low cent University, over which an erudite Scotsman-a rates. The Southern states would also find it profitable Bruce, now presides.--Pittsburgh Gazelte.

to attend to the culture of silk, as they could in this way

employ numerous hands, who are at present a heavy SILK SOCIETY.

weight upon their owners. Nay, it might certainly supThe Society for promoting the culture of the White plant tobacco, and much of the upland cotton, neither Mulberry Tree and the rearing of Silk Worms, having of which articles now pay well; whereas silk would meet engaged a person perfectly acquainted with the Art of with a ready sale at home, either in the form of raw silk, reeling the Silk from the cocoons, and that of making for exportation; or sewing silk, for domestic use. sewing silk, are ready to purchase cocoons, for which

Poulson's Amer. D, Adver. the highest possible prices will be given, according to quality.

MODEL INFANT SCHOOL. trong Those who are desirous of learning these Arts, will be caught them for a moderate compensation. This meas- At a meeting of citizens held on Thursday afternoon, ure is necessary, inasmuch as the Members constituting at the school room, No. 229 Arch st. ROBERT Ralston, the Society are few in number, and its funds small. Esq. was called to the chair, and Joseph R. Chandler ap: Persons willing to join it, are invited to leave their pointed Secretary. names with Mr. Isaac MACAULEY, No. 24 South Third- The Rev. Mr. Carll stated the object of the meeting street.

to the formation of a society for the purpose of estabThe Society was instituted with the view of keeping lishing in this city a “ Model Infant School,” to pre. alive the spirit for the culture of Silk, which may be pare teachers for the many schools of that kind already come one of the grand Staples of the United States, in existence, and which, when suitable instructors shall and of introducing a new branch of industry among the be supplied, will undoubtedly rise up in every town Farmers, whose families can attend to it, as in Connec. and district in the union. After a statement of the very ticut, without interfering with their usual occupations. great benefits which had attended the labors of individ

The Society deem it necessary to state, that without uals and the public, in the good cause, at various places an increase of members, they will not be able to pur in the eastern states, and especially in Boston, it was chase cocoons next year.

Resolved, to form'a society for the promotion of In. Application for the sale of Cocoons, and for learning fant Schools generally, and especially for the establishthe above Arts should be speedy, as the Reeler is en ment of a Model School, in which teachers may be qual. Eaged but for two months.

ified to instruct in thc system of infant education, and

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in the use of the apparatus so successfully employed in the many Infant schools in Massachusetts.

The Rev. Mr. Carll presented the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted:

Resolved, that it is expedient a Model Infant School should be established.

Resolved, that the object of this Model School be two fold. 1. To perfect the system. 2. To afford facilities of gaining a knowledge of the mode of instruction. Resolved, that persons either males or females (the number to be hereafter specified) be permitted to at tend the School, with a view of acquiring the necessary qualifications for conducting similar institutions.

Resolved, that in order to secure the united efforts of the friends of Infant Schools, throughout our country, in support of a plan so truly useful, every town, village, society or individual, subscribing dollars to have the privilege of sending one or more persons to the Model School- months.

Resolved, That the plan now proposed, has a reference in order that the benefits of these Schools may not be limited, economy is of vital importance; the instructors should therefore be taught to draw largely from the book of nature and from the common objects around, which are ever at hand.

Resolved, That a committee be appointed to draft a circular recommending the establishment of these Schools in every town and district throughout our state and country; and also an invitation to co-operate in the establishment of a Model School, which committee when appointed shall receive any communication relative to the interests of the Society.

The committee consists of Rev. M. M. Carll, J. R. Chandler, and Rev. R. M. Cushman.

Resolved, That a committee of four be appointed to draft a constitution for the Society, and take such measures to enlist the services and procure the contributions of individuals in its behalf, as they may think conducive to the benefits proposed in its formation, with powers to call a meeting when in their opinion the interests of the Society shall require. The Rev. Mr. Carll, J. R. Chandler, Rev. R. M. Cushman, and Mr. J. A. Stewart, were appointed on the committee.

ROBERT RALSTON, Chairman.

J. R. CHANDLER, Secretary.

PENNSYLVANIA CANAL.

Canal Office, Lewistown,

Sept. 22, 1829, 10 o'clock at night."}

My dear old friend.-Lewistown is at this moment in an uproar of rejoicing, by a brilliant illumination, and all the other usual accompaniments, on account of the water being this day let into the Canal-it has descended in feeder and canal about three miles, and is progressing on without any breach as yet. To-morrow several boat rides are projected.

In haste, yours, Col. JACOB HOLGATE.

JAMES CLARK.

in full operation, and the wealth and produce of the west flowing through it, is no longer a chimera. The experiment of yesterday, fully demonstrates, that the canal so far as made, will hold water, and that the feeder from the river and the creek, will be sufficient to fill the different levels snd pass any number of boats that will be on the canal.-Juniata Gazette.

Pottsville, September 26.

Last week, our city (in miniature) was enlivened by the cries through our streets of "Sea Bass," "Fine Fresh Sea Bass," which had such an effect upon the visages of our mountaineers, that it would have been a fit subject for the pencil of a Hogarth to imitate. Had any person been so presumptuous as to have asserted 7 years ago that so delicious a food as Fresh Sea Bass would adorn the tables among the hills of Schuylkill county, he would have been set down as a madman,and sent to a lunatic asylum.

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Schuylkill Valley Rail Road.-This work is progressing rapidly-six miles will be completed in the course of next week.

Mount Carbon Rail Road.-Inquiries have been frequently made as to the time when this work will be commenced. We can only state that the President of the Company, and Mr. Robinson, engineer, made a hasty examination of the route shortly after the organization of the company. What they concluded on, we are unable to state-but, we know, that if the work is not commenced in a short time, we are afraid very little will be done towards its completion this season.

Mill Creek Rail Road.-The proprietors of this road are now busily engaged in having it covered with iron, which will be completed in the course of a week or ten days, when it will be in complete train for the hauling of coal in abundance to the landings at Port Carbon.

A lateral rail road, one mile and a quarter in length, has been lain by several individuals, which intersects the Mill Creek Rail Road about one mile above Port Carbon, and extends to that portion of coal land denominated the "Ravensdale Tract," which brings into use a large district of coal country.

The iron used in covering the Mill Creek Rail Road was imported from England,and delivered at this place, at a much cheaper rate than it could have been manufactured for in this part of the country.

Experiments have also been made on these different rail roads, which fully authorise us in asserting that one horse can draw a train of six cars, each containing one ton of coal, with perfect ease.

-

Little Schuylkill Rail Road.—It is with great pleasure that we notice the different avenues opening for the ccal of our region to find its way to market; and among the number, this rail road may be considered as a valuable improvement-it will bring into use a large district of coal country, which, heretofore, has been of very little value to the holders thereof and it will also contribute in supplying the market with this species of fuel, the consumption of which is yearly increasing in a much greater ratio than the means requisite for conveying a necessary supply to market.-Miner's Journal.

Lewistown (Penn.) September 24. The Canal.-On Tuesday morning last the water was let into the first level of the Juniata Canal at this town. It passed from the feeder to the lock at the Gate-House in the Narrows, during the evening and night, the level is now full-and parties of ladies and gentlemen yesterday made excursions to and from the lock, on the canal. The news of the letting in of the water was received with great demonstrations of joy. In the evening the town was generally illuminated-and every body who was not a member of the Temperance Society (and some few of them too) drank success to the canal. So far as the water has been let in, the canal appears to hold- DIED-On Monday, 28th inst. Mr. Francis Wrigley, but one leak has yet been discovered, and that so incon- Printer, in the 86th year of his age. Mr. Wrigley was siderable that it was repaired in a short time. The pros- one of the oldest printers in the United States, and pect is now flattering that we will have a canal naviga-printed for the old Congress while sitting in Philadel phia, and accompanied them from this city to Annapolis, where he printed the "Old Continental Money," which was at that time in circulation.

tion this fall.

We congratulate our fellow citizens on the auspicious commencement of the Juniata Canal. To see the canal

THE

REGISTER OF PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVOTED TO THE PRESERVATION OF EVERY KIND OF USEFUL INFORMATION RESPECTING THE STATE.

VOL. IV.-NO. 15.

EDITED BY SAMUEL HAZARD.

PHILADELPHIA, OCTOBER 10, 1829. NO. 93.

PITTSBURG LAW CASE.

Lessee of R. H. Howell, Barclay, Florence & Cotter.

VS.

Circuit Court of U. States,
for 3d Circuit,
April Sessions, 1829.

This was an ejectment to recover a messuage, lot, piece or parcel of land, lying between Water street and the Monongahela river, in the city of Pittsburg.

The title of the lessor was regularly deduced from Alexander Wilson, to whom the late proprietaries (the acknowledged owners of the manor of Pittsburg, of which the city of Pittsburg and the ground in question, made a part), on the 26th of September, 1814, conveyed all the ground in the above city, lying between Water street and the Monongahela river.

It appeared in evidence that, on the 22d April, 1784, Mr. Francis, the agent and attorney in fact of the Penns, employed George Woods, a deputy surveyor, to lay off the town of Pittsburg. This duty he performed on the 31st of May, 1784, and returned to Mr. Francis a plan of the town, which he approved of and confirmed on the 30th September, in the same year. On the diagram representing the survey or plan of this town, was written by Mr. Woods, the words "Water street" on a space extending along the south front of the row of lots facing the Monongahela from Grant street to the junction of that river with the Allegheny river. This space was of different widths, from about 219 feet at Grant street to about 108 feet at West street, its breadth further west not being shewn; and it extended from the row of lots before mentioned, to the Monongahela river, embracing a space of table land from 70 to 80 feet wide in the broadest part, to a few feet in the narrowest, and also embracing a steep bank of the river, and the river beach, which in time of freshes was nearly or quite covered

with water.

This

Amongst other evidence offered by the defendant's counsel, was the deposition of Samuel Ewalt, for the purpose of proving various declarations of George Woods, at the time he was engaged in laying off the town of Pittsburg in relation to Water street. was objected to, as hear say evidence of parole declarations to explain, or to contradict a written instrument, by an agent acting under a limited authority to lay off the town, and nothing else. Cases cited-1 Sergeant & Rawle, 526; 4 do. 298; 4 Yeates, 100; 1 do. 284; 2 Smith's laws, 256, note; 3 Binney, 175; 3 Munford, Mayo vs. Murchy. On the other side were cited: 1 Peters, C. C. R. 205; 5 Wheaton, 336; 8 Johnson, 508; 16 Sergeant & Rawle, 396.

WASHINGTON, (J.) The evidence offered is altogether inadmissible. The authority of Woods was con. fined to the laying off this town, which of course included the acts of surveying and plotting the lots & streets, so as to exhibit a plan of the town. His work when completed, was binding upon no person until it received the confirmation of the owner of the ground, either expressly or to be presumed from his subsequent acts. Woods so understood his authority, for he returned the survey soon after it was made, to Mr. Francis, who by his letter to Woods in Sept.1784, approved&confirmed the same. He might have rejected it altogether, had he chosen to do 50, and directed another survey to be made upon a different plan. But having confirmed it, it afterwards became a muniment of title to which the purchasers of lots, and all persons connected with this town, including the grantors, had a right to look, as evidence of title and by which they were bound. To permit now the parole declarations of Woods to alter, or in any way to affect this delineation of the town, and this muniment of so many titles of which it is the evidence, would be to violate one of the best established rules of evidence, and

The town, now city, of Pittsburg, was incorporated as a borough by an act of Assembly, passed in the year 1804, with the usual powers and privileges, and by various ordinances of the corporation, commencing in the year 1816, that body exercised acts of ownership over this slip of land bounding on the river,by authorising the erection of wharfs, exacting tolls, from all persons land-upon it, could have no notice. ing goods on the beach, &c.

to let in the most extensive mischief. It is one thing to prove acts tending to explain and to point out the true boundaries of a survey, and quite another, to give evidence of the parole declarations of the officer who made it, which might be misunderstood, and of which purcha sers as well as vendors looking at the plan, and relying Woods was the agent of

the Penns: but he had no authority to bind thein, even by his acts until they were confirmed; how then could he bind them by his declarations, which forming no part of his report, accompanying the plan, could not be, and therefore were not, approved and confirmed?

Both sides referred to

The plaintiff gave in evidence a written agreement between the agent of the Penns and Craig & Bayard, by which the former agreed to sell and convey a certain parcel of the ground, afterwards embraced in Wood's plan of the town, lying in a point formed by the junction of the rivers Allegheny and Monongahela, bounded on two sides by the said rivers, and on the third by the fosse of Fort Pitt. On the 31st December, 1784, a deed was executed by this agent to the said Craig & Bayard, for 32 lots, as marked and numbered in Wood's plan, bounded southerly by the Monongahela river; and on the 2d October, 1784, another deed was made to John Ormsby for two lots bounded by Front street on the north, and on the south by the Monongahela. A number of deeds from the Penns to different persons were given in evidence, bearing different dates, subsequent to the year 1784, for lots fronting the rivers Monongahela and Al. legheny, the former bounding southerly on Water street, 3 do. 1216-19; 7 Wheat. 109. and the latter, on the river, no street having been mark CHARGE. WASHINGTON, (J.) Whether the sured between the lots fronting on that river and the river.veys of the plaintiff's or of the defendants in this controVOL. IV.

29

The great question in the cause, was, whether Water street extended from the range of lots fronting on that street along the entire range of them from Grant street to the river Monongahela, or whether the width of the street was unascertained and was left to be afterwards laid out of a convenient width? the case of Mayo vs. Murchy; 3 Munford, 358; and the defendant's counsel relied much upon M'Donald's case, 16 Sergeant & Rawle, 396; they also cited 1 Sand. 323, no. 6, to shew that the corporation, or the inhabitants of the town, were entitled to this slip of land as an easement. They also cited 1 Conn, Rep. 103; 3 Massa. Rep. 284, 6 do. 332; 15 Johns. 447; 2 Stark Evid. 655-6,

versy, will most subserve the interests and the prosperi. and for the same reason, if a grant be made of a close ty of the inhabitants of Pittsburg, is a question which surrounded by the lands of the grantor, the grantee bas neither the court or the jury can very well answer.- a right to a way or passage over the lands of the grantor. This however is manifest to both, that it is not a ques- But this right is confined strictly to the necessity uption involved in that issue, which, and which alone you on which it is founded, and cannot exceed its just de: are sworn and affirmed to try and to decide. That issue mands. The grantee therefore cannot claim a right to is whether the plaintiff has shown to your satisfaction, as many roads as may suit his whim or convenience, such a right to the property in dispute, as ought to en- nor can be exercise any privilege, but that of a right of title him to recover the possession of it? Considerations way; if he go unnecessarily out of such way upon other such as have been pressed upon your attention by coun: parts of the grantor's land he is a trespasser. . Now to sel can never tend to promote the ends of justice, and apply these principles to the present case. never will be regarded by a conscientious court or jury. A street or streets, it is insisted, leading to the river

The case which you have now to pass upon is by no Monongahela, are necessary to the enjoyment by the means a complicated one. There is, in truth, but one inhabitants of their property in the town, derived from question upon which the controversy mainly turns, and the persons under whom the plaintiff claims. If this be whatever difficulty may attend the decision of it, is to be so, they are entitled to have them laid off over the land solved by the Jury, since it rests altogether upon the in dispute; if it be private property (which is the great evidence which has been laid before them. The object question in the cause) of right, and not of favor; and the of the court will be to clear away those matters which law points out a mode by which this right may be en: do not seem materially to affect the case, in order that forced. But the right of soil, is not, as I conceive, thereby that question may be the more distinctly perceived. To divested out of the owner of the other parts of the ground, do this, the claims set up by the defendants to the pro- which beyond all question remain in him, as it was be. perty in dispute, will be first examined.

fore the street shall have been laid out. The only difThe defendants are merely officers of the corporation ference in this respect, between the city of Philadelphia of Pittsburg, and of course, assert no title in themselves and Pittsburg is that Wm.Penn granted expressly to the to this property. But they set up a title in the corpo- former this privilege of streets leading from Front st. to ration, and in case that cannot be maintained, still they the River, which the law would have implied as an inciinsist that the plaintiff cannot recover in this action, up- dent and which may be implied in relation to the latter. on the ground, that the entire space between the south-city. But the ground lying to the east of Front st. &.beern row of lots fronting the Monongabela and that riyer, tween the streets running to the Delaware remained the was dedicated by the owners of this manor in the year indisputed property of the proprietary, and as such, 1784, to the public, as a street, or highway.

was used, or granted away by him. If the ground in As to the title of the corporation, it is proper to pre-controversy then was not dedicated to the public as a mise, that this must, in all cases, be maintained by the street, it remained in the Penns, subject to the incidensame muniment of transfer as would be necessary in the tal right which has been spoken of; and the only right case of an individual

. In the year 1784, and down to of the corporation would be to regulate and to preserve the period of the conveyance to Alexander Wilson, this such streets as should be laid out running over it to the slip of land, if it was not wholly given to the public as a river. street, or so much of it as was not so given, was vested This brings us to the great question in the cause ; was in the Penns, as the undisputed owners of it

. It has not the whole of the ground lying between the lots fronting been shown in evidence, that a grant or transfer of it on the Monongahela, and that river, dedicated by the was at any time made by them to the corporation, or the Penns for a street, or only so much thereof as might be the town before it was incorporated, or to any person necessary for such an easement, and this leads to an examfor the use of that body, or the inhabitants thereof. No ination of the plaintiff's title. right of possession in the corporation has been proved, The only direct evidence of such dedication is the or even asserted, arising from length of time.

survey and plan of George Woods returned to and conBut it is claimed as áppurtenant, or incident to the firmed by the authorized agent of the Penns. The sur. right of the inhabitants and lots-owners, who cannot en- vey was made on the 31st of May 1784 and received the joy, it is contended, the property granted to them with approbation of that agent on the 30th September in the out the use of this slip of ground, whereby they may same year. The deed to Alexander Wilson bears date have free access to the river. Were this species of title the 26th December 1814, and it conveys to him all the to be admitted to exist in the lot owners and inhabitants land lying between the soutb line of Water street, and of the city, it would nevertheless be difficult to discern, the low water mark of the Monongahela river from how this admission would maintain the claim of the cor. Grant st. to the confluence of the Allegheny and Monporation to beld and enjoy this property for their use and ongahela rivers. benefit in exclusion of the enjoyment ihereof by the in- That a street runring South of the line of lots on that habitants. For if it belongs to the corporation, they may river was granted by the name of Water street, is satisuse it in any way most beneficial to the body corporate factorily proved, not only by the plan referred to, but by and most injurious to the individual corporators or in the subsequent grants of those lois, all of which call for habitants of the town. But I cannot understand how Water street as their South western boundary. The one piece of land can be incident to another piece of question which this plan gives rise to is whether the whole Jand; and if it could, still it has not appeared in evidence of this slip of land to the river was dedicated to the pubthat the corporate body is entitled to a foot of land with- lic as a street or whether a street of undefined width, in the limits of the city, or to any other right but that of but such as convenience might require, was intended to governing the city. if the claim in behalf of the inhab- be appropriated. itants be merely of right of way, or reasonable access to The defendant's counsel insist that the plan itself furthe river, that presents quite a different subject of in- nishes direct proof that the whole space was laid out and quiry, which will be attended to, after I have stated for intended as a street, the South line of it being distinctly your information the rule of law which applies to the marked, running along the margin of the river. This is subject. That is, that where any thing is granted, the denied on the other side, who insist that the line referlaw implies a grant of those things, without which, the red to, merely marks the margin of the river, and not principal subject cannot be enjoyed, as incident there the line of a street and in confirmation of this assertion, to; as if a lease be made of land with all the mines they refer to the Allegheny river as it is laid down on therein, and there be no' mine opened upon the land, the plan, where the same line is discoverable, and yet the lessee has an incidental right to excavate the earth it is agreed by both sides, that no street was laid off or for the purpose of obtaining the mineral, without which intended to be along that river, all the subsequent grants the grant in respect to them would be of no value. So, or lots facing it running across the racant space bordeş

1829.]

PITTSBURGH LAW CASE.

227

easement over it which they had previously granted to the public. These observations apply to the deed to Ormsby. But they apply with increased force to that to Craig and Bayard, who were equitably entitled to the

ing on the river, to the river. They further rely on the testimony of Vickroy who made the survey under the direction of Woods, who states that no line was, in fact, run on the river Monongahela south of the lots facing the same. It will be for you to say, whether the appear-ground granted to them in December 1784, in virtue of ance of this line on the river in connection with the oth er lot lines was intended to indicate or does indicate the southern boundary of this street or not?

- The other evidence in the cause relied upon to strengthen and confirm that which is termed direct is of a presumptive character. The defendants insist that this evidence establishes a long and uninterrupted use and enjoyment of this slip of ground by the inhabitants of Pittsburg, not short of 45 years. They rely further upon the long acquiesence in the enjoyment and in various acts of ownership exercised by the corporation in authorizing the construction of wharfs into the river, imposing tolls, and the like; upon the evidence of Mr. Coates the agent of the Penns, since the year 1800 who was authorized by them to sell and survey all their lands in this state, that he had no knowledge that this slip of land belonged to the Penns; and lastly that although all the lots in the plan of this town were sold by the agents of the Penns, yet the ground in dispute was never laid off into lots or offered for sale by those agent.

There is no doubt, in point of law, that the uninterrupted use by the public of a way over the ground of an individual for public convenience, for a length of time, affords a presumption of a grant of it by the owner for that purpose; and that a much shorter time will suffice to raise this presumption than would affect the title of an individual in ordinary cases.

their written agreement with the Penns in the January preceding, by which, the latter were bound to convey the same to them, bounded on one side by the Allegha ney river and on the other by the Monongahela. After that agreement,it was not competent to the Penns to encumber that ground with a road or in any other way; without the consent of Craig and Bayard. By accepting the conveyance without objection and with the knowledge that Water street had, in the mean time, been granted, (as may for the present be presumed) they consented to take the ground so encumbered, not by force of some new contract, of which not the slightest evidence has been given, save the grant itself, but as a fulfilment and execution of the old one.

As to the long use of this disputed piece of ground by the public, it will be for you to say, whether, in point of fact, such use has been proved. In point of law you must be satisfied, not merely that it was used by the in. habitants of Pittsburgh, or others; but that it was used, as a highway or street; and in weighing the evidence on this point, you will naturally inquire, whether, from the nature of the ground, it was capable of being so used.

As to acts of ownership, exercised, by the corporation in the way which has been stated, it is manifest, that they are altogether inconsistent with the right asserted in behalf of the public, since, if the whole of this ground to low water mark on the river, was dedicated for a But the presumption in these cases, as in all others, street, it was vested as much in the public subject may be repelled by evidence tending to show an asser- to be regulated and improved by the corporation, tion of right by the owner, and a denial of the use as- and could not legally be treated or used as private propsumed by the public. In answer to the acquiescence erty by that body. If upon the whole you shall decide insisted upon by the plaintiffs, two grants have been giv- that this ground was granted or dedicated as a street, en in evidence by the plaintiffs, both dated in the year the plaintiff cannot recover in this suit. If otherwise, 1784, the one from the Penns to Ormsby for two lots in and that the spot in dispute in this suit constituted no October and the other to Craig and Bayard for 32 lots part of the street, it passed to Wilson under the deed to in December of that year, both of which call for the riv-him, and consequently to the plaintiff who has deduced ér Monongahela for their Southern boundaries. The defendants counsel endeavor to remove the weight of this evidence by insisting that although such are the calls of those grants, still as they refer in express terms, to the lots as numbered in Wood's plan, they were in reality bounded and were intended to be bounded by Water street, and not by the river. That the survey having been made, the plan completed and confirmed, and Water street marked on it,as dedicated to the public, the Penns had no right nor did they intend to exercise any to extend these grants beyond the north line of Water street.

his title to the same regularly from him.
Verdict for plaintiff.

Binney, Baldwin and Sergeant for plaiutiff. Charles'
Smith and Jos. R. Ingersoll for defendant.

Lessee of Howell,

vs.

Circuit Court of the U States,' for 3d Circuit, Barclay, et. al. April Sessions, 1829. Rule to shew cause why a new trial should not be granted; 2d why judgment should not be arrested. The following reasons were assigned for both rules1. Because the verdict is uncertain and insufficient, in not ascertaining a locus in quo, that being left uncertain by the declaration also;

Whatever weight the jury may give to these grants as evidence to refute the alleged acquiescence by the Penns, will be for them to decide; but the court cannot yield to the arguments of the defendant's counsel as to their legal effect. To do so, would in my apprehension be to subvert two of the best established rules for the Construction of deeds. The one is, that they are always to be construed most strongly against the grantor where there is an ambiguity in their language; and the other is, that a meaning is to be given to every expression in them, if it can reasonably be done. Now the lots conveyed by these deeds are those marked on Woods plan, but then they are to run to the river. If they are to be bounded by Water street, the intention, of the parties, as shown by the expression of the deeds, will be frustrated. By extending the two lines of those lots pointing to the river, to the river,a meaning is given to every expression in those deeds-and what is to prevent this extension? It is said, that by doing so, they must run across a public highway, or street which would split each lot into two lots. But this would by no means be the case. The land on both sides of the street (if you should say the street does not cover the whole of the ground) belonged to the Penns, and they had a right to grant each of these lots as entire parcels to the river, subject only to the

2. Because, by the declaration and verdict the whole question at issue between the parties is left uncertain, and the controversy remains undetermined;

3. Because there was no evidence to shew possession in the defendants in the land described in the declaration, if the description be at all applicable to any ground;

4. Because the declaration claims "one messuage, a lot, piece or parcel of land, lying between Water street and the river Monongahela, with the appurtenances, situate and being in the city of Pittsburg;" and the verdict is general, for the plaintiffs, without describing position, extent, boundaries or situation of the land claimed; 5. Because if the finding of the jury were intended to embrace part of the premises stated in the declaration, it should have designated particularly such part.

In support of these rules the following cases were relied upon: 1 L.Ray 191,277; Cowp.rep. 346, 11, Co.rep. 55; Yelv. 118, 119; Poph. 197; 4 Mod. 97; 1 T. rep. 11; 1 East. 442; 5 Burr 2672; 2 Stra. 1063; 2 Johns. rep. 371; 3 do 481; 2 Bur. 668; 2 Dall. 156; 11 Wheat. 280; Tidd. appdx. 479.

On the other side were cited the following cases-6 Sergt.&R. 189; 9 Vin. tit. eject. K Runn 470; 1 Bur.

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