Court Cases of Tensas Parish

Daniel Bondurant died seised of a large plantation in the Parish of Tensas, in the State of Louisiana. His estate descended to his three sons, Albert, Horace and John, and to Walter Bondurant, his infant grandson. In 1852, upon petition of the sons for a partition of the plantation, a decree of sale was made, under which it was sold, and struck off to them for the price of $150,000. Of this sum Walter Bondurant, the Grandson, was entitled to one fourth, namely: $37,500. The sheriff, on December 4, 1858, executed a deed to the sons, reserving therein a special mortgage and privilege on the lands in favor of Walter Bondurant, for his share of the purchase money. In the act of sale, which was executed both by the sheriff and the purchasers, the latter bound themselves not to alienate, deteriorate nor incumber the property to the prejudice of the mortgage, an agreement known in the local jurisprudence of Louisiana as the pact de nan alienando. The mortgage was recorded December 6, 1852. The law of Louisiana required it to be re-inscribed within ten years from that date. It was not reinscribed until September, 1865.

The three sons of Daniel Bondurant divided the plantation between them. The part which is in controversy in this suit was setoff to John Bondurant, who, in 1854, conveyed it to one Augustus C. Watson, Sr. On January 30, 1866, Walter Bondurant began an action against his uncles. Albert, Horace and John Bondurant, in the District Court for the Parish of Tensas, to recover judgment against them for his part of the purchase price of said plantation, and to enforce his mortgage and privilege thereon. The court rendered a judgment in his favor for the said sum of $37,500, with interest, and ordered, adjudged and decreed that the authentic act of mortgage, which was the basis of the action, should be and the same was thereby rendered executory and ordered to be executed, and that the land described therein should be seized and sold to satisfy said judgment. Upon this judgment a fieri facias was issued, directed to the sheriff of the parish. By virtue thereof he advertised for sale the said, the plantation described in the mortgage, and struck off and sold it to Walter Bondurant , and executed to him a deed there for. Walter Bondurant thereupon brought an action in the United States Circuit Court for the District of Louisiana against Augustus C. Watson, Sr., to recover possession of that part of the plantation which had been sold to him by John Bondurant. He recovered judgment for the land against Watson. That judgment was taken, by writ of error, to the Supreme Court of the United States, where it was reversed on the sole ground that there had been no actual seizure of the premises by the sheriff before the sale. In the meantime Walter Bondurant died.

The judgment in his favor in the District Court for the Parish of Tensas was revived in the name of his widow, Ella F. Bondurant, his testamentary executrix and the tutrix of his minor child, Walter E. Bondurant. At her instance another fieri facias was Issued on the judgment of the District Court for the Parish of Tensas, and placed in the hands of the sheriff of (hat parish. By virtue of the writ he seized that part of the plantation which had been sold to Augustus C. Watson, Sr., and advertised the same for sale. Thereupon Frank Watson, the appellee, on June 25, 1875, filed his petition in the District Court for the Parish of Tensas against the sheriff and Ella F. Bonduraut, executrix and tutrix. He averred that his "immediate author," Augustus C. Watson, Sr., acquired the land in question by a good and valid title translative of property from John Bondurant, on November 30, 1864; that said Augustus C. Watson, Sr., held said lands by notorious public and uninterrupted possession, in good faith as owner, from November 80, 1854, until August 5, 1872, when he transferred his title and possession, by deed of that date, to the petitioner, Frank Watson, and his brother, A. C. Watson, Jr., and that by deed dated February 6, 1875, A. C. Watson, Jr., conveyed all his estate in said land to the petitioner, Frank Watson. He further averred that the sheriff of Tensas Parish, acting under a writ of alias fi. fa. Issued on the said judgment recovered by Walter Bondurant against Albert, John and Horace Bondurant in the district court of said parish, had illegally seized the tract of hind which was held and claimed by the petitioner under the deeds of conveyance already mentioned, and would advertise and sell the same unless restrained by injunction. The petition further alleged that said Act of December 4, 1854, which reserved the mortgage and privilege on said plantation in favor of Walter Bondurant for $37,500 had not been re-inscribed within ten years from the date of its original registry in the mortgage records, and it had, therefore, ceased to have any force or effect as a mortgage and privilege on said tract of land; that at the time of the institution of the suit of Walter Bondurant and others, in which the judgment was recovered by virtue of which said fieri facias was issued, said Augustus C. Watson, Sr., was and for many years previous had been in public possession of said property as owner, yet he was not made a party to said suit, which was via ordinary, nor were any demands or notices given him as third possessor.

The petition, therefore, claimed that the seizure of the property by the sheriff was illegal, and prayed an Injunction against Ella P. Bondurant, "executrix and tutrix, and against the sheriff, restraining them from proceeding any further with the said writ of fieri facias, so far as it related to the lands claimed by the petitioner. The injunction prayed for was granted by the court in which the petition was Bled, after notice to the sheriff and Mrs. Bondurant. Thereupon, on October 18, 1875, Mrs. Bondurant filed her petition, verified by her oath, in which she prayed for a removal of the cause to the United States Circuit Court for the District of Louisiana. In her petition she averred that she was a citizen of the State of Mississippi, and was, in her capacity as tutrix and executrix, defendant in a civil suit pending in that court, in which the matter in dispute exceeded, exclusive of costs, the sum of $500, and in which Frank Watson, who was a citizen of Louisiana, was plaintiff. This petition was accompanied by a bond in the penal sum of $250, conditioned according to law and executed by the petitioner and two sun-ties. The petition for removal was denied by the state court. Nevertheless, Mrs. Bondurant, within the time required by law, filed in the United States Circuit Court a transcript of the proceedings of the state court, beginning with the issuing of the feri farias, which the petition of ' Watson was filed to enjoin. The circuit court took jurisdiction of the case and directed it to be placed on the equity side of the docket. Thereupon Mrs. Bondurant filed her answer and amended answer, to which the petitioner, Watson, filed his replication. Upon the issue thus made, voluminous proofs were taken, and upon final hearing the circuit court made perpetual the injunction which had been granted by the state court. That decree is now Here on appeal taken by the defendant, Mrs. Bondurant.

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