The following testimony of Charles Fulton was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the first of eleven. The background (explanation) for this testimony can be found in my post dated 23 July 2014.
OHIO CIRCUIT COURT (1948)
Chester F. Leach, Clyde F. Leach, Oscar Leach, Otis Leach,
Ersa Leach, and Samuel Leach, Plaintiffs.
vs.
S. D. Leach, Defendant.
DEPOSITIONS FOR
DEFENDANT
The deposition of Charles Fulton, taken at the law office of Otto C. Martin, in
the Hartford Deposit Bank Building , in Hartford, Kentucky, on Wednesday,
February 11, 1948, pursuant to agreement to be read as evidence on behalf of
the defendant on a trial of the above styled notion now pending in the Ohio
Circuit Court. Present for the plaintiffs, the plaintiffs, Oscar Leach and Ersa
Leach, and Claude E. Smith, attorney for the plaintiffs. Present for the
defendant, Otto C. Martin, his attorney. Witness being first duly sworn and
examined by Otto C. Martin, attorney for defendant, testified as follows.
Q. l State you name please sir.
A. Charles Fulton.
Q. 2 Your age?
A. 51.
Q. 3 Your residence?
A. Cromwell, Route 1
is my post office.
Q. 4 You live in the
Bald Knob section of the county?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 5 How long have
you lived in that section?
A. Since 1919, I have
been away awhile, but I moved there in June, 1919.
Q. 6 Did you know Samuel, S. W., Leach during his
life time ?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 7 Do you know the
farm he lived on when he died?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 8 How near is it to where you live?
A. Just a road
between them.
Q. 9 You have known
that farm for more than thirty years?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 10 Have you been
on this Leach farm a lot?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 11 Been over it?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 12 Know what
improvements there are on it?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 13 What
improvements were on that farm when you moved there in that community in 19l9?
A. A house and barn
was about all, nothing fenced on the place that you could turn out stock in.
Q. 14 No fencing?
A. No sir.
Q. 15 What sort of a
house was on this Leach farm?
A. Two room log house
with hall between, weatherboarded with a chimney at each end, with a kitchen.
Q. 16 How many rooms
in this house?
A. Three.
Q. 17 A frame
kitchen?
A. Yes sir, there was
an upstairs.
Q. 18 How many rooms
upstairs?
A. Two.
Q. 19 One over each
of these log rooms?
A. (Nod)
Q. 20 Could you give
any idea about how old the house was when you first knew it?
A. No sir, I don’t.
Q. 21 Was it old
then?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 22 What kind of a
barn did they have?
A. A frame barn, very poorly braced.
Q. 23 Was it old when you moved up there?
A. It had been covered the second time.
Q. 24 What other
outbui1dings (were) on this farm?
A. That is about all.
Q. 25 A meat house?
A. If so, I don’t recall it.
Q. 26 This tract of land Is supposed to contain 112
acres I believe?
A. I think that is right.
Q. 27 What kind of
soil was it when you first knew it?
A. Very thin, oak ridge land.
Q. 28 Level or hilly?
A. Medium land, rolling.
Q. 29 About how much of that land was round and
suitable for crops?
A. I don’t imagine over 10 or 12 acres.
Q. 30 What condition was the remainder in?
A. It was growed up.
Q. 31 Any ditches in it?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 32 How much timber would you say is on that land?
A. I couldn't say, a right smart little.
Q. 33 What kind of timber?
A. Just ordinary, not big timber.
Q. 35 This land where
the timber was growing, what sort of land was it?
A. It was gravelly
ridge land. There was a piece cleared up.
Q. 36 You have
cultivated that farm?
A. Some of it.
Q. 37 Since Mr. Leach
died?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 38 How many times
have you cultivated it?
A. A part of it
twice. Two acres in one piece and 1 ½ or 2 acres in another piece where Jake
had built it up for tobacco.
Q. 39 Where he had
his tobacco crop?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 4O You knew Mrs.
Leach, the widow of S. W. Leach?
A. Yes sir, when I saw her was about all.
Q. 41 When Mr. Leach died was any of his children
living there in the home?
A. None of them
living there, no sir.
Q. 42 You knew his
boys, didn't you?
A. I knew Chester and
Clyde. I have seen the other two.
Q. 43 Where did Chester live when his father died?
A. I can’t say
whether he lived on the Dave Taylor place, or Hartford.
Q. 44 Did he not live
on his farm?
A. If so it was close
- yes I guess he was out there on his farm then.
Q. 45 That was
adjoining his father's place?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 46 Now Mr. Fulton, did you buy the place you
moved to out there?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 47 When did you buy it?
A. In the fall of
1918.
Q. 48 How many acres in that farm?
A. 50 acres.
Q. 49 How much
suitable for cultivation?
A. I guess there was
30 acres.
Q. 50 What kind of improvements on it?
A. There was a house built in 1917, and a barn built
1n 1916 or 19.
Q. 51 What size
dwelling house?
A. Three rooms, about
14 foot square.
Q. 52 Frame house?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 53 What kind of a
barn?
A. Frame barn 24 by
32.
Q. 54 Any timber on
this place?
A. No sir.
Q. 55 What did you
pay for that farm?
A. $1,200.00.
Q. 56 How did that
land compare with the Leach land?
A. It was not growed
up so much.
Q. 57 More of it
suitable for cultivation?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 58 Do you know of
any other land selling in that community along in 19l8? or in 19l9?
A. I never paid much
attention to it.
Q. 59 You do know
what you bought?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 60 I will ask you
if there were many transfers or sales of hand in that community about that
time?
A. Norvel Leach
bought the Jackson Place, and Laban Hines bought the Cicero Taylor place.
Q. 61 Were there any
improved roads in that section of the county at that time?
A. No sir.
Q. 62 Any rock roads
close?
A. No, I guess 4 or 4
1/2 miles was the closest rock road. I don't know whether they had rocked the
road to Clates Hill then or not.
Q. 63 On the Beaver Dam and Cromwell road?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 64 That was the closest rock road?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 65 All the roads in that section were dirt roads?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 66 Impassable in the winter time?
A. Except in a wagon
or horse back.
Q. 67 Now, Mr. Fulton, I will ask you if you were
acquainted with the fair market value of farm land in that community such as
this Leach land and other lands judging from sales made of other lands in that
community in 1919, when this farm was sold by Mrs. Leach to Jasper Leach?
Basing your answer on what other farms in that community sold for?
A. I did not pay much
attention to such as that. I know what my father paid.
Q. 68 How did your land compare with the Leach land?
A. It was in better shape. There was some bottom
land on our place.
Q. 69 Any bottom
land on the Leach place?
A. 2 ½ acres, maybe.
Q. 70 Basing your answer on what this farm your
father bought, sold for, what in your opinion was the S. W. Leach farm,
including the building’s, surface and everything, worth and what was the fair
cash value of it in 1919, when Mrs. Leach sold it to Mr. Jasper Leach?
A. I would not give the farm at home, take the buildings off
of it, I would not give the 50 acres for the whole farm.
Q. 71 Taking into
consideration the timber on the Leach farm and everything was reasonably worth
in 1919, considering its location.
A. I would not have much idea. I started to say $1,500.00 or
$2,000.
Q. 72 I will ask you, if, in your opinion, that farm, with
the improvements, the kind of buildings, the timber and surface, was worth more
than $2,000.00, in 1919?
A. I did not say that did I?
Q. 73. In your opinion, was it worth more than $2,000?
A. I said round $1,500 or $2,000.
Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for
plaintiffs.
Q. 1 If, after Mrs.
Leach sold that farm to J. N. Leach, they sold the timber off of it for $2,000.00,
would you still think the whole thing farm, timber and all's not worth more than
$2,000.00?
A. If they sold the
timber for $2,000.00 it might be worth more. I would value the farm, without
the timber, and everything, at around $700 or $800.
Q. 2 You know that
timber was cut off since Mrs. Leach sold it?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 3 Do you know to whom
it was sold?
A. To Stimson, I
think. So far as knowing who got it, I don't.
Otto C. Martin: You mean Stimson at Owensboro?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 4 Don't you know
the tie timber was sold to Bond Bros.?
A. No sir.
Q. 5 You know the tie
timber was out off of it?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 6 The timber you think that may be was sold to
Stinson, was the timber that would make lumber was it not?
A. I don't know what
Stimson wanted with it. I think it was lumber timber.
Q. 7 He was in the
lumber business?
A. I think so.
Q. 8 He was not in the tie business?
A. I don't know what
he was in to.
Q. 9 There is no timber there now of any value is
there?
A. Some small timber
that has growed since then, what it would be worth I don't know.
Q. 10 There is none
there now at all, except what has grown up since it was cut over soon after
Mrs. Leach sold it?
A. No, not anything
else there now.
Q. 11 Had you been to
and inspected the dwelling house on the place, before Mrs. Leach sold it?
A. I have been through there a few times.
Q. 12 Had you
inspected the dwelling house to see and ascertain it qualities while she lived
there?
A. We did not live
there adjoining it, when she sold the place.
Q. 13 How soon after
she sold it and moved away where you there and inspected the house to ascertain
its worth and the value of it?
A. I think Jake Leach
moved there in the fall, and we were neighbors, and I was over there. Jake
moved there after Uncle Jasper bought it.
Q. 14 The dwelling
house was suitable for people to live in ?
A. They had to
re-cover it directly after they moved.
Q. 15 Other than that
was it suitable to 1ive in?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 16 What kind of a
barn was on the place?
A. A frame barn.
Q. 17 How large?
A. I guess about 30 by
40. That is my guess.
Q. 18 It was in pretty
good condition when Mrs. Leach sold to Jasper Leach?
A. It was a
reasonably fair barn.
Q. 19 That dwelling
house that was on the place at that time is now practically rotted down?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 20 The barn gone?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 21 All other outbuildings,
if there were any others at that time, are gone too ?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 22 You say Jake
moved on this place shortly after Mrs. Leach sold it, who else lived on the place,
if you know, after she sold it?
A. Kenneth Davis and Oka
Daugherty.
Q. 23 How long did
they live there?
A. They just rented
it for a year.
Q. 24 What year did they live there, if you know?
A. They lived there
the year the widow died.
Q. 25 She died April 21, 1937, do you think this is about
the time?
A. I know the hearse
hung up.
Q. 26 Do you remember
that being about the date of her death?
A. I couldn’t say
what date. I don't know the date.
Q. 27 Any way they lived there the year she died,
that right?
A. Yes, that is right.
Q. 28 When did you
cultivate some of this land?
A. Five years ago I cultivated
about six acres, I guess, on the place, and three years ago I cultivated about
three acres just in patchs.
Q. 29 What was the condition of the land then that
you testified about while ago, as to its quality and productiveness?
A. It was in better
shape than it was in 1919. Jake had built this up for tobacco. There was two or
three acres that was bottom branch land he had tilled out.
Q. 30 Who did you
rent from?
A. Clay Leach, he was
managing it for S. D. Leach.
Re-direct examination by Otto C. Martin.
Q. 1 I understood you
say that Jake Leach tilled about three acres of that land?
A. Yes, he dug a ditch and filled it in with logs, and the
water drained out through these logs.
END
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