The following testimony of Martin Porter was taken 11 February 1948; this post is the tenth 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 Martin Porter, taken at the same time and place
and for the purpose stated in the caption. Witness being first duly sworn an
examined by Otto C. Martin, attorney for defendant, testified as follows:
Q. 1 State your name.
A. Martin Porter.
Q. 2 Your age?
A. 54.
Q. 3 Where do you
live?
A. At Hartford, Kentucky.
Q. 4 In what business are you engaged?
A. Hardware business.
Q. 5 You are a member of Porter-Leach Hardware Company?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 6 Where were you
born and reared?
A. I was born near
Cromwell, left there when I was 14 years old and went down to Rob Roy.
Q.7 In the Rob Roy section of Ohio County?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 8 How long did you live in the Rob Roy section
of this county?
A. I left there when
I was 35 years old.
Q. 9 I believe you married a daughter of J. N. Leach?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 10 A sister to S. D. Leach?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 11 Did you know S. W., Samuel, Leach?
A. Yes I did.
Q. 12 Know his wife?
A. I did.
Q. 13 Were you related to them?
A. Yes, I couldn't
tell you how much, but I was.
Q. 14 Your mother was
also a Leach?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 15 She a relative
of S. W. Leach?
A. She was.
Q. 16 How far did
you live from the S. W. Leach farm when you 1ived in the Rob Roy neighborhood?
A. About two miles.
Q. 17 How long have
you known that farm?
A. All my life, since
I was big enough to know anything.
Q. 18 Do you know
when Mr. S. W. Leach died?
A. Yes I remember
when he died.
Q. 19 When he died was
he living on this farm out there by Rob Roy?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 20 Who was in his
family at that time?
A. Living with him?
Q. 21 Yes sir.
A. His wife was all I
know of.
Q. 22 Had the boys
married and left home?
A. Yes, they had.
Chester 1ived across the creek from him, I think.
Q. 23 On his farm?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 24 How near to
his father?
A. Not over a half
mile I don’t guess.
Q. 25 Do you
remember when S. W. Leach’s widow sold this farm to your father-in-law, J. N.
Leach?
A. I remember him
buying it. I was at the sale that day.
Q. 26 When the
personal property was sold?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 27 That was sold
at public sale?
A. That is right.
Q. 28 Do you know
whether or not Chester advised his mother to sell that farm?
A. I don’t know. I know one of the boys, Leslie or Clyde, was
in a shoe shop at Beaver Dam.
Q. 29. To refresh your recollection Leslie died about a
month before his father's death.
A. Well, Clyde then.
I went to town, and whichever it was, I suppose it was Clyde, said to me, that
he wanted his mother to sell the farm and come to town; that she was too far
out in the country. If she needed a doctor she couldn't get one. I thought it
was Leslie, but they say it was Clyde.
Q. 30 The evidence shows that Leslie died a month before
his father’s death.
A. It was Clyde then, because it was after cousin
Sam died.
Q. 31 He told you he wanted his mother to sell the
farm and come to Beaver Dam?
A. He never said Beaver Dam, he said come to town.
Q. 32 For what reason?
A. She was too in
the country and if she got sick she couldn't get a doctor.
Q. 33 Was she in good health at that time?
A. I couldn't say, but
I don't think too good health then.
Q. 34 Do you own land in that same neighborhood, Mr.
Porter?
A. Yes sir, I still own
the same farm.
Q. 35 The one your father owned?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 36 How many acres in it?
A. 150.
Q. 37 Have you farmed it all along?
A. Yes, I have tried
to.
Q. 38 Did you know about the condition of the S.W.
Leach farm, building, timber, etc.?
A. I have been on the
farm. I don't know anything much about the timber. I am not a timber man, but the
buildings were old and pretty worn out when I can first remember them.
Q. 39 What about the
cleared land?
A. It was poor,
always was, even where it was not cultivated.
Cross-examination by Claude E. Smith, attorney for
plaintiff:
Q. 1 You own a farm adjoining this Leach farm?
A. No sir.
Q. 2 Is it the same character and qua1ity of land?
A. No sir, it is not
the same kind of land. My land is about two miles from the Leach farm.
Q. 3 Lower ground?
A. I don't know as it
is lower ground. It is just better soil the way I look at it.
Q. 4 Have you seen the S. W. Leach farm recently?
A. It has been two or three years. The last time
I saw it had gone down considerably.
Q. 5 You mean
the land, farm, improvements and everything?
A. The farm had not
gone down so much, it was already down. The buildings were almost completely
rotted down. My father-in-law and Jake Leach put a new roof on the house after
they got it, and done some work on it.
Q. 6 That had rotted off when you were up there?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 7 And the timber was gone?
A. I think there was some
timber sold off of it, but there was some small timber on it.
Q. 8 There was some
fairly good timber on this farm when Mr. Leach died , was there not?
A. I don’t imagine
any fine timber.
Q. 9 Was there not
some valuable timber on this land when S. W. Leach died?
A. I judge there was.
Q. 10 You just don't know about it?
A. No sir, I don’t.
Q. 11 Other than being
roofed, do you know of anything being done to keep this property up after February
15, 1919?
A. That when it was
sold?
Q. 12. Yes sir.
A. Well, yes, Jake Leach lived there and he was one of the
best farmers in the community, and he built up some of this land after he moved
there.
Q. 13 Jake lived
there a few years and then moved away?
A. Yes sir.
Q. 14 Since then has anything been done toward
keeping the place up or repairing it?
A. Nothing that I know
of.
END
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