(After the Mexican defeat in 1848, Stillman acquired a massive property on the Garza grant north and northwest of Matamoros from the first wife family of Jose Narciso Cavazos but because Narciso remarried he had the heirs to his eldest son Juan N, Cortina whom inherited after his father's death.
From: Stillman vs. C. B. Combe, Independent Executor of the Estate of Stephen Powers, deceased, C.B. Combe, et al
Stillman knew that he was going to do serious business by buying this property. The purchase of this property lead to a lot of controversial legal fights over the ownership of the land.) From "The Life of Charles Stillman"
From: Stillman vs. C. B. Combe, Independent Executor of the Estate of Stephen Powers, deceased, C.B. Combe, et al
...the Congress of the United States, on March 3, 1885, made an appropriation in the words following, to-wit : "To enable the Secretary of War to acquire a good and valid title for the United States to the Fort Brown reservation, Texas, and to pay and extinguish all claims for the use and occupancy of said reservation by the United States, the sum of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars; provided, that no part of this sum shall be paid until a complete title is vested in the United States; and the full price, including rent shall be paid directly to the owners of the property."
Plaintiff (Combes) avers that, on or about April 26, 1895, defendants James Stillman and Thomas Carson, delivered to the Secretary of War of the United States their deed and release, which they had executed in due form of law, vesting in the United States of America a good and valid title to Fort Brown reservation, and releasing them from all claims for use and occupation thereof since May 1, 1846, pursuant to the agreement of July 13, 1887, and the judgment of July 14, 1887......entered into a written agreement to the following effect:
(1) That in the trial of said suit the issues made by the pleadings therein should not be litigated nor adjudicated, but that a verdict and judgment should be rendered and entered therein, vesting the complete title to said Fort Brown reservation and all money owing by the United States, in said defendants, James Stillman and Thomas Carson, administrator with the will annexed of Maria Josefa Cavazos....
(2) That upon procuring such ver dict and judgment, the said Stillman and Carson should make the appropriate deed of conveyance, vesting a good and valid title in and to said land and the rents in the Government of the United States, and a warrant should be procured and obtained from the Secretary of War upon the Treasurer of the United States, for the said fund appropriated as aforesaid of $160,000.00, and $20,000.00 out of said fund should be immediately paid to certain agents at Washington, D. C., for services in procuring said appropriation,......and that the balance of said fund ($140,000.00) should without delay be deposited in the bank of Ball, Hutchings ACo., ofthe city of Galves ton, Texas, to the credit of Messrs. William P. Ballinger, T. N. Wall and David B. Culberson, arbitrators, selected in and by said agree ment for the purposes in said agreementand to the effect hereinafter set out.
(3) That the parties to said suit by said written agreement, submitted their several respective claims and rights, with certain exceptions therein stated,
...and in consideration of the execution and deliver of said deed and release and the agreement of July 13, 1887 (between Stillman and the other 30 claimants to the land), and the rendition and entry of the said judgment of July 14, 1887...
...on July 14, 1887, pursuant to the agreement set up...a formal trial...was had in this court...and...no evidence was offered upon the issues raised in...regard to the respective rights and claims of the said parties to the suit, and the same were not in said trial contested or litigated, but by the consent of parties, and in accordance with and in conformity to said agreement a verdict was rendered in said suit in the words and figures following, to wit:
"...We the jury find for the defendants in reconvention, James Stillman and Thomas Carson, administrator of Maria Josefa Cavazos, deceased, in the proportion of one undivided half each the property claimed by their pleas in reconvention herein..."And plaintiff avers that Stillman and Carson received said sum of $160,000.00 in trust, and as trustees for and on behalf of all the claimants to said Fort Brown reservation, and who were parties to said suit No. 248, and for the ultimate use and benefit of all such of said claimants as should thereafter be ascertained, decided, determined or adjudged to be the owners of said Fort Brown reservation prior to and at the time the entry of said judgment, and the owners of said fund as the proceeds, avails and representative of said land, and compensation for the use and occupation thereof since May 1, 1846.
But plaintiff avers that defendants Stillman and Carson fraudulently concealed from plaintiff and all the other claimants to said laud and fund the fact that they had collected the same, and fraudulently appropriated and converted the whole of said fund of $160,000.00 to their own use and benefit ; and they are now fraudulently using said judgment of July 14, 1887, by which the title of said land was vested in them in trust for the purpose of defrauding all the other claimants out of any benefit of said judgment, and for the purpose of defrauding them out of their interest in said fund and their claim and right to said land.
And defendants Stillman and Carson are conspiring with each other and with other persons for the purpose of fraudulently preventing and defeating a decision and settlement of the aforesaid conflicting claims to said land and funds, and a distribution thereof to the true owners, by arbitration as provided for by the agreement of the parties, or by this court or in any other manner; and to this end Stillman and Carson and their coadjutors and co-conspirators are fraudulently using the advantage obtained by them over the other claimants, by virtue of the fact that said judgment vested in them the title to said laud and the claim for its use and occupation;
...and they are fraudulently using said judgment to deprive the true owners of said property out of their just and lawful compensation therefor, contrary to equity, and the act of Congress making said appropriation, and the lawful agreement of the parties...
...Mr. Ballinger, one of the arbitrators named, has departed this life, and Mr. Culberson, another of the arbitrators, has declined to act, and defendants Stillman and Carson decline to proceed to supply their places and to proceed with the arbitration, as provided for in the agreement; and they refuse to account for said trust fund of $160,000.00 and refuse to recognize the rights of the other claimants in said fund, under said agreement, and the judgment pursuant thereto entered...
...and they decline and refuse to deposit said fund, or any part thereof in the bank of Ball, Hutchings & Co., Galveston, Texas, as by said agreement they are bound to do; but they, Stillman and Carson, have secreted said fund and refuse to give to this plaintiff and the other claimants any information what ever concerning the payment.
17 comments:
looks like the law firm of " Dowe, Cheatum & Howe" strikes again.
During and immediately after the Civil War, many northerners headed to the southern states, driven by hopes of economic gain, a desire to work on behalf of the newly emancipated slaves or a combination of both. These “carpetbaggers”–whom many in the South viewed as opportunists looking to exploit and profit from the region’s misfortunes–supported the Republican Party, and would play a central role in shaping new southern governments during Reconstruction. In addition to carpetbaggers and freed African Americans, the majority of Republican support in the South came from white southerners who for various reasons saw more of an advantage in backing the policies of Reconstruction than in opposing them. Critics referred derisively to these southerners as “scalawags.”
Republican Rule in the South
In the two years following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the end of the Civil War in April 1865, Lincoln’s successor Andrew Johnson angered many northerners and Republican members of Congress with his conciliatory policies towards the defeated South. Freed African Americans had no role in politics, and the new southern legislatures even passed “black codes” restricting their freedom and forcing them into repressive labor situations, a development they strongly resisted. In the congressional elections of 1866, northern voters rejected Johnson’s view of Reconstruction and handed a major victory to the so-called Radical Republicans, who now took control of Reconstruction.
Did you know? African Americans made up the overwhelming majority of southern Republican voters during Reconstruction. Beginning in 1867, they formed a coalition with carpetbaggers (one-sixth of the electorate) and scalawags (one-fifth) to gain control of southern state legislatures for the Republican Party.
Congress’ passage of the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 marked the beginning of the Radical Reconstruction period, which would last for the next decade. That legislation divided the South into five military districts and outlined how new state governments based on universal (male) suffrage–for both whites and blacks–were to be organized. The new state legislatures formed in 1867-69 reflected the revolutionary changes brought about by the Civil War and emancipation: For the first time, blacks and whites stood together in political life. In general, the southern state governments formed during this period of Reconstruction represented a coalition of African Americans, recently arrived northern whites (“carpetbaggers”) and southern white Republicans (“scalawags”).
Carpetbaggers
In general, the term “carpetbagger” refers to a traveler who arrives in a new region with only a satchel (or carpetbag) of possessions, and who attempts to profit from or gain control over his new surroundings, often against the will or consent of the original inhabitants. After 1865, a number of northerners moved to the South to purchase land, lease plantations or partner with down-and-out planters in the hopes of making money from cotton. At first they were welcomed, as southerners saw the need for northern capital and investment to get the devastated region back on its feet. They later became an object of much scorn, as many southerners saw them as low-class and opportunistic newcomers seeking to get rich on their misfortune.
Citation Information
Article Title
Carpetbaggers & Scalawags
In reality, most Reconstruction-era carpetbaggers were well-educated members of the middle class; they worked as teachers, merchants, journalists or other types of businessmen, or at the Freedman’s Bureau, an organization created by Congress to provide aid for newly liberated black Americans. Many were former Union soldiers. In addition to economic motives, a good number of carpetbaggers saw themselves as reformers and wanted to shape the postwar South in the image of the North, which they considered to be a more advanced society. Though some carpetbaggers undoubtedly lived up to their reputation as corrupt opportunists, many were motivated by a genuine desire for reform and concern for the civil and political rights of freed blacks.
Scalawags
White southern Republicans, known to their enemies as “scalawags,” made up the biggest group of delegates to the Radical Reconstruction-era legislatures. Some scalawags were established planters (mostly in the Deep South) who thought that whites should recognize blacks’ civil and political rights while still retaining control of political and economic life. Many were former Whigs (conservatives) who saw the Republicans as the successors to their old party. The majority of the scalawags were non-slaveholding small farmers as well as merchants, artisans and other professionals who had remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Many lived in the northern states of the region, and a number had either served in the Union Army or been imprisoned for Union sympathies. Though they differed in their views on race—many had strong anti-black attitudes—these men wanted to keep the hated “rebels” from regaining power in the postwar South; they also sought to develop the region’s economy and ensure the survival of its debt-ridden small farms.
The term scalawag was originally used as far back as the 1840s to describe a farm animal of little value; it later came to refer to a worthless person. For opponents of Reconstruction, scalawags were even lower on the scale of humanity than carpetbaggers, as they were viewed as traitors to the South. Scalawags had diverse backgrounds and motives, but all of them shared the belief that they could achieve greater advancement in a Republican South than they could by opposing Reconstruction. Taken together, scalawags made up roughly 20 percent of the white electorate and wielded a considerable influence. Many also had political experience from before the war, either as members of Congress or as judges or local officials.
Citation Information
Article Title
Carpetbaggers & Scalawags
Some of the citizens of Brownsville complain about a rock in Washington Park but don't say anything about the Stillman house whereas the City spent a lot of hard earned taxpayer money to recognize a man who stole land from a lot of people.
That's why we don't need another attorney wanna be white. That's what they do cater to the whites. Instead of fixing city needs they go out and purchase crap that glorifies the gringos. NO MORE ATTORNEYS. Specially wanna be whites
"In reality, most Reconstruction-era carpetbaggers were well-educated members of the middle class; they worked as teachers, merchants, journalists or other types of businessmen", Now I've heard it all. They were the scum of the earth murderers thieves and corrupt as big a where they came from EUROPE!!!
Now they're know as HOMELESS.
"Some of the citizens of Brownsville ... don't say anything about the Stillman house whereas the City spent a lot of hard earned taxpayer money to recognize a man who stole land from a lot of people." That house was donated by Stillman family as a museum in 1950s because cheap-ass Brownsville never built a museum for itself you brainwashed pug
KBRO rocks!
The Stillman house is not from Brownsville. It was in Petronilla where Stillman would hide.
Typical liberal bullshitter (KBRO) throwing your hate & know it all attitude. why don't you check your facts about the Stillman house on 7th St. Good Riddance
a whore house glorify your idols at city tax payers expense forget abt pot holes and flooding built more bike trails and look for some more whore houses from the rich and famous thieves and murderers
This so called blog piece, is a patchwork quilt of excerpts from various legal proceedings over 150 years ago. As such it lacked context and completeness and tells us nothing, except this is another exercise of Anglo bashing, a favorite hobby of this blog.
Read the books pendejo @11:10am
To the other pendejos on the page - Los Laureles Ranch home was also donated to city and restored by local philanthropist. I swear, a major official of your city stood in front of me complaining that the house move was paid for by tax dollars and city had to pay to fix it and I told him he was wrong and he thought I would react when he pulled a phone out of his tighty bicycle shorts and said he would call Rose Gowan and I said go ahead and walked away from him once I saw I was in front another one of you stupid city representatives. Fuck all you haters - eat a dik
At whose's expense idiota? you and your idol gringos pinche coco keep on kissing their ass
Folks, remember in this life, there are two kinds of people, los que chingan, y los chingados.
Tenia que salir un mamon at June 6, 2019 at 8:46 AM es un coco wanna be white or a pinche gringo
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