John McLean

“ If the two surveys made by Mackay of 800 arpens each, 'for the proprietor,' were admitted to have been made at the instance of Tillier, it leaves the location of the concession uncertain. Both surveys were executed on the same day, and were recorded on the same page. Under Tillier's right, he could survey only 800 arpens; and if he surveyed two tracts each of that quantity it was a fraud upon the public. Under the acts of Congress no tract of land was reserved as a Spanish claim, which was not surveyed or so specifically designated as to show with reasonable certainty its boundaries. ”

“ The name of Tillier was written on one of the plats, but by whom, at what time, and under what circumstances, does not appear. From the loose manner in which the recorder's office and the papers connected with it seem to have been kept, and the ready access to them by all parties, it would be a dangerous principle of evidence, to consider the simple indorsement of a name on a plat as identifying the owner of the land. And especially where the surveyor nowhere states for whom the survey was made. ”

“ The deposition of Conway, one of the commissioners who confirmed this concession, was introduced to supply a defect in the record. He states that the original survey of Mackay, which Tillier claimed by, was before the commissioners, and no other plat, so far as he can remember. Now if this evidence was admissible, it was for the consideration of the jury. It was intended to correct the record, and show that the survey was acted upon by the commissioners, although no entry was made of it by the clerk in the tabular statement. ”