The United States, on the 6th day of March, 1893, filed this bill in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Minnesota, for the purpose of setting aside the certification, under the land grant of Congress (14 Stat. at L. 87, chap. 168), made by the Secretary of the Interior, of the land described in the bill, to the state of Minnesota, for the benefit of the railroad company, and also to set aside the conveyance thereof by the state to the railroad company, and by the company to one of the individual defendants. A supplemental bill was filed, by leave, March 4, 1901, bringing in by service of the subpoena other individual defendants.
The suit was brought under and pursuant to the act of Congress of March 3, 1887 (24 Stat. at L. 556, chap. 376, U.S.C.omp. Stat. 1901, p. 1595), entitled 'An Act to Provide for the Adjustment of Land Grants made by Congress to Aid in the Construction of Railroads, and for the Forfeiture of Unearned Lands, and for Other Purposes.'
Upon trial in the circuit court the bill was dismissed, and the decree of dismissal was affirmed by the United States circuit court of appeals for the eighth circuit (54 C. C. A. 545, 116 Fed. 969), and from that decree of affirmance the government has appealed here.
The facts upon which the controversy arose are, in substance, as follows: On the 4th day of July, 1866, Congress passed an act making an additional grant of lands to the state of Minnesota (14 Stat. at L. 87, chap. 168), to aid in the construction of railroads in that state. The Southern Minnesota Railroad Company was, at the time of the passage of the act of Congress, a corporation organized under the laws of Minnesota, with the power to construct a line of railroad, as mentioned in that act. The legislature of Minnesota, on the 25th day of February, 1867, transferred the land granted to it by the act of Congress to the railroad company, subject to the provisions of that act and also of the state statute.
Among the lands thus transferred was a lot 80 acres in extent, in Faribault county, Minnesota, being the property in dispute in this suit. The land was within the indemnity limits of the grant by Congress to the state, as determined by the map of definite location of the railroad, which became effective February 25, 1867. The deficiency in what are termed the 'place' lands was largely in excess of 80 acres. On the 29th day of November, 1870, the Southern Minnesota Railroad Company selected this tract, in section 35, in lieu of part of the land lost in the granted limits; and the land was certified to the state of Minnesota by the Secretary of the Interior, March 25, 1871, for the benefit of the railroad company; and on the 8th day of August, 1871, the state of Minnesota conveyed it by deed to the railroad company. In March, 1868, the company had mortgaged all of its property, including the land granted under the act of Congress and all subsequently acquired property, to secure the payment of its bonds. This mortgage was foreclosed, and the property sold and conveyed to a new corporation by the name of the Southern Minnesota Railway Company, and the land was conveyed to that company. On the 5th day of January, 1885, the railway company, by contract in writing, agreed to sell the land in dispute to one A. Boyeson, for the sum named in that contract. Boyeson assigned his interest in the contract, on the 6th of January, to Fredericksen, who, on the 1st day of April, 1885, assigned it to the defendant, Thomas S. Thompson, and, in turn, on the 3d day of February, 1888, the latter assigned it to Ericksrud, who paid the balance due upon the contract, and received the warranty deed for the land from the railway company on the 20th day of March, 1888.
Ericksrud died intestate on March 27, 1888, and on November 6, 1888, the land was decreed by the probate court to be the property of the widow and heirs at law of Ericksrud, and they remained in possession, and, on the 24th of May, 1899, these heirs at law, still being in possession, conveyed the same to the defendant Woodwick for the sum of $2,000 cash. This is the title of record coming from the United States to the state, thence to the railroad company, and, by mesne conveyances, to the defendant Woodwick; and there was nothing of record showing that any other person was entitled to the land at the time when Woodwick paid the $2,000 to the heirs of Ericksrud, and took the deed therefor. The defendant Donovan, however, lays claim to the land in question pursuant to the facts now to be stated.