(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.