The following testimony of Laban Hines was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the fourth 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
Also the deposition of Laban Hines, taken at the same time and place, and
for the purpose stated in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn and
examined by Otto C. Martin,
testified, as follows:
Q. 1 State your name please sir?
A. Laban Hines.
Q. 2 Your age?
A. 68.
Q. 3 Where do you
live?
A. I live about 1 ½ miles
this side of Cromwell, there at Lige Jackson's.
Q. 4 Are you a farmer?
A. Yes sir, farmed most all my life.
Q. 5 Did you ever
reside in what is known as the Rob Roy section of Ohio County?
A. Yes Sir, I owned
land there.
Q. 6 What farm did
you own in that section?
A. The Cicero Taylor
place.
Q. 7 When did you buy
the Cicero Taylor place?
A. It has been about 41 or 42 years ago.
Q. 8 How do you fix the date?
A. I don' t remember.
Q. 9 Where did you
move from to that section?
A. From Gran
Christian's place in the Rosine section.
Q. 10 Do you have a boy who was born about the time
you moved to that Cicero Taylor place?
A. He was about 8
months old when we moved down there.
Q. 11 How old is he
now?
A. He is either 40
or 41.
Q. 12 Was S. W.
Leach living when you moved down there?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 13 You knew him?
A. Yes sir. I knew
him a number of years.
Q. 14 Were you
living on the Cicero Taylor place when he died?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 15 How near was the Cicero Taylor place to the S.
W. Leach place?
A. It joined his
farm.
Q. 16 How many acres
in the Cicero Taylor place?
A. 95 acres.
Q. 17 What sort of
buildings on that farm when you bought it?
A. A house which
cost $500.00 to put it up, a four room weather-boarded frame house, ceiled
inside.
Q. 18 How old was this house?
A. It had not been built
but just a short time.
Q. 19 What about the
other buildings?
A. There was a barn.
Q. 20 How old was that barn?
A. It was an aged
building.
Q. 21 What kind of soil on this Cicero Taylor place?
A. Clay like and
rocky.
Q. 22 Hilly?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 23 How did it
compare with the Leach farm?
A. It lays better, some places on that place
pretty level and some hills. It 1ays better than the Leach place.
Q. 24 How much of the Taylor farm was suitable to grow
crops on?
A. Some of it done
very well, no big sight.
Q. 25 How did it compare for farm purposes with the
Leach farm? That portion or part you cultivated, back in 1918?
A. It as in better shape to tend than the Leach place.
Q. 26 How much did you pay for it?
A. I paid $600.00 for
it.
Q. 27 Now then, do
you know bout how much of the Leach land was cleared and suitable for
cultivation?
A. A lot of it was
no account at all.
Q. 28 How much of it was no account?
A. Most of it was
thin land.
Q. 29 Was the Leach land cleared up or not?
A. When I moved down
there it was cleared up but it was worn out.
Q. 30 Any timber on it?
A. Some small
timber.
Q. 31 How much timber on it, about how much?
A. I reckon about 25 or 30 acres of small timber.
Q. 32 Was there any fencing on the land when Mr. Leach
died?
A. There had been
some fence, but it was down rotted down and gone.
Q. 33 What buildings
were on the land when you moved there?
A. There was an old
barn over there, the house was old too.
Q. 34 Did you know Mrs. Leach the widow of S. W.
Leach?
A. Yes air, my wife stayed
with her several nights after uncle Sam died.
Q. 35 About how old was she when he died?
A. I guess 65 or
maybe older.
Q. 36 What was the
condition of her health at that time?
A. It was bad. That was the reason my wife stayed with her.
Q. 37 You knew these boys of Mr. Leach's?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 38. Chester lived there close to his father's farm?
A. Yes, but I never saw him over there.
Q. 39 How close to his father 's farm?
A. I expect a half mile,
something like that.
Q. 40 Where were the other boys living when their
father died?
A. One lived at
Beaver Dam.
Q. 41 Leslie lived at Beaver Dam, but he died before
his father did. Where did Clyde live?
A. I don't know so
much about these boys. I know one of them lived at Beaver Dam and Chester lived
over there on the road.
Q. 42 Mr. Hines, state what in your opinion the S.
W. Leach farm was worth in 19l9? About 28 years ago? The surface, improvements,
timber and all, what was its fair, reasonable market value in 1919?
A. Uncle Sam wanted to sell the p1ace to me, he wanted to go
to Beaver Dam and buy a place and wanted to sell his place to me and I asked
him what he wanted for it, and he said $2,000.00; I told him I cou1d not give
that much for it and I offered him $1,500.00 .
Q. 43 Did you think $1,500.0 was a fair price for it
at that time
A. Yes sir.
Q. 44 What in your
opinion would Mrs. Leach's life estate have been worth in that farm,
considering her age when she died, and the condition of her health?
A. Not very much - not
worth very much.
Q. 45 How much, in your opinion, considering her age
and health?
A. In her health she
could not live long - I think $500.00 would been a big price.
Q. 46 What, in your
opinion, would that farm have been worth with the timber off of it?
A. It is like that
place of mine. I gave $600.00 for it, taking the land, timber and all.
Q. 47 My question was - what is it worth without the
timber, what would the surface and the improvements be worth?
A. If I wanted the
land I would not have given more than $ 600.
Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, Attorney for
Plaintiffs.
Q. 1 What is that place worth now with the timber
off, and the house and barn gone?
A. The land, of course,
might be worth.....
Q. 2 The question is, what is that place worth now?
A. I expect $600.00.
Q. 3 So, it is worth
as much with the timber gone, the dwelling house and other improvements gone, as
it was when Mr. Leach died, outside of the timber?
A. That would hardly be right, would it. As to the barn and
house they were not much when he died - the barn and house were not much count when
he died. Just the land had value, not much to the homestead.
Q. 4 Now, considering the timber was sold for $2,000.00
shortly after Jasper Leach bought this farm from Mrs. Finis Leach, would that
effect its value any when S. W. Leach died?
Attorney for defendant objects, and states that the timber
was sold for $1,000.00. Discussion.
Q. 4 (continued). Now considering that the timber that was
on the land when Jasper Leach bought it
from Mrs. Leach, sold for $2,000.00, would that affect your estimate as to the
value of the farm when sold to Jasper Leach?
A. The barn and house
was in bad condition when he died.
Q. 5 Do you think that answers my question?
A. I offered uncle
Sam $1,500.00 for the house, land and all, and he was offering it to me for $2,000.
Q. 6 When was that?
A. Just a little
while before he died. He wanted to buy a place at Beaver Dam and after he died
she went to Beaver Dam and bought a house there.
Q. 7 Did Mr. Leach
raise any crops on this land while he lived there?
A. He never raised
much.
Q. 8 You moved into
t hat neighborhood some forty years ago, that would have been about 1908?
A. My boy was 8
months old and I believe he is 41 now.
Q. 9 You gave $600.00
tor 95 acres adjoining this Leach farm?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 10 Did that l and
have any merchantable timber on it?
A. Enough was cut off of it to build a barn and two houses.
Q. 11 What kind of
timber was this?
A. White Oak, black
oak and walnut.
Q. 12 How much
timber did you cut, how many thousand feet did you cut?
A. It takes lot to
build two houses and a barn.
Q. 13 Well, how many
hundred or thousand feet of lumber?
A. I didn't count the
number of feet, but there was enough for two houses and a barn.
Q. 14 You don’t know
how many hundred or thousand feet went into that barn or those houses? You
don't know that?
A. We will say it
this way, if it all belonged to one man, and he wanted to use it, it didn't
make any difference how many feet there was.
Q. 15 You don't know
how many feet of lumber went into that barn or either of those houses?
A. I did not care. I wanted my house built.
Q. 16 What I am
asking you is, do you know?
A. I built the barn
and two houses and that was all there was to it.
Q. 17 Was the
dwelling house on the S.W. Leach farm rotted down when he died?
A. It was an old
house, the barn was about rotted down. It was all shattered up.
Q. 18 I want to know
definitely whether that S. W. Leach house was practically rotted down before he
died?
A. It was in bad shape, the barn and house both were.
Q. 19 What is your
farm worth now, Mr. Hines?
A. I never said
anything about it being for sale. I gave $600.00 for it and my house burned
down.
Q. 20 Do you have
any idea what is the fair cash value of your farm - the condition it is now in?
A. I never said I wanted to sell it.
Q. 2l You have no
idea of its value - answer my question it you will?
A. It ought to be
worth the money I gave for it.
Q. 22 Will you sell it for $600.00?
A. Yes. I will. Enough
timber on it to build a house and barn.
Q. 23 Are you cultivating that farm now?
A. Have some Korean
on it at this time.
Q. 24 You don't live
on it?
A. No sir.
Q. 26 How long since you lived on it?
A. I lived adjoining
it ten or twelve years. I went to Louisville and stayed eight years .
Q. 27 When did you come back?
A. Some time ago.
Q. 28 Have any idea of when you lived in Louisville?
A. I have been back
about six years.
END
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