This chapter, including the Epilog, is the final submission for this story. I sincerely hope you liked the story.
Once again I thank my editor, Erik Thread, for his tireless efforts to help me give you an enjoyable read.
"All right, gentleman," Atwood nodded at Gail and smiled, "and lady. Let's get a little curious. We are going to play a game of
'What If and If, Then What'
and the more participants we have in the discussion, the better.
Atwood put his right hand on the large paper on the right side. "For the remainder of our discussion, we will deal with only this land. The other side is Blaze and I have no information or knowledge of any disputes there.
"I believe our main contention is that about four generations ago, a younger son, who was perhaps a bastard, was disappointed he didn't inherit from his father's estate. With the river at his back, he went around to all the homes near his own and ran everyone off, diligently working farther inland. If you recall the Pleas family was not very careful about creating a paper to evidence what land a certain individual should be using. There was so much land, that with primitive farming and open grazing their 'gentlemen's agreements' or patronage assignments of specific portions of the land, seemed to work well for them.
"How violent those confrontations were, we don't know. Okay, so if that method worked, let's do it again. He went a little further inland and ran off some more residents. He continued to do this until he controlled most of the land along the river that had been the original
porciones
or about one third the size of the original Pleas grant, somewhere in the range of eight thousand acres. Basically, that is the story Martin Pleas told his sons, Howard and Frank. In conversations with Frank, he can only recall a few snippets of what his father told him, he was so young it seemed more like a nursery rhyme than family history.
"Martin Pleas was an only child, as was his father before him and, as far as we know, the father before him. Three generations of only one child, or only one surviving child, all of whom were sons. All of whom died without writing a Last Will. These men were solemn, often silent men, who did not discuss weighty issues, nor did they share much of their family's oral history. With the life expectancy of those days, and the continued reduction in number of family members, the property was being consolidated into one man's ownership, the father of Howard and Frank Pleas, Martin. Howard's recollection of his father's few comments were the basis of our contention. I believe they were something to the effect that, 'He took land which did not belong to him.' Moreover, the documents provided bear out this scenario."
Atwood paused for a moment then answered a few questions posed by Alex who indicated his knowledge of the few documents available which allowed the land to pass from one generation to the next.
After a general discussion, Atwood continued, "In essence the original Pleas grants were increased by the purchase of some
porciones.
Then they were reduced by a few sales and a gift to a favorite son who married a Blaze woman. That man died and his son received a small portion of the Pleas land. A short while later that land was claimed by Aguirre, the son of his
novia
, which can be interpreted as bride, fiancée, lover or girlfriend. That undocumented heir proceeded to enlarge his property by taking other land simply because he could—or because no one stopped him from doing so."
Atwood looked around the room, waiting for anyone who cared to make a comment. "At no time has Senor Santos Aguirre, or any of his representatives, provided a legal document to prove that ancestor's legal ownership of the land in question, the large boot heel on the Pleas side of the center strip. It is true, however, that the county taxing authority assesses taxes in his name. It remains unclear if an Aguirre, or any ancestor, informed the Catholic Church that he owned the property. The church was sometimes used as the official tax collector, and at other times soldiers collected taxes which could account for the taxes being collected from an Aguirre or an Aguirre ancestor, information which in turn was passed along to the county taxing authority. Yet, the fact remains that there is no document to establish that legal ownership."
Alex and Jimmy began to shake their heads. Atwood held up his hand for a moment. "There is, however, a document. I call your attention to it now and am providing additional copies for you to review, in the event you did not realize the significance of the document. The writer of the document is not known. It was probably a clerk paid by the man who signed the document, and it is signed with a name, not with an 'X' to which his names would have been added. It is a signature. The date of that document is about the same date as the church record of collecting taxes from the son of the man's novia. His name was Heriberto Pleas, the then current
patron
. He wrote that he wanted his entire estate to pass to his oldest son, Jaime Pleas, specifically stating Aguirre Pleas, was not permitted to have ownership of any land. The term used is
non-permisso
and restated using the words
sin consentimento
