[meteorite-list] NPA 03-24-1877: Homestead Meteorite Lawsuit Judgement

From: MARK BOSTICK <thebigcollector_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Oct 29 21:46:02 2004
Message-ID: <BAY4-F17cNjOuk8cobC00033263_at_hotmail.com>

Paper: Helena Independent
City: Helena, Montana
Date: March 24, 1877
Page: 1

A LAWSUIT over a meteor is an event undoubtedly without a parallel in the
history of jurisprudence. Two years ago this month a large meteor went
splurging around over Iowa, and finally burst to pieces in Iowa county. A
man named Maas found one of the pieces, weighing some seventy-five pounds,
in a round that he was traveling over, and took it home, only to be soon
notified that it didn't belong to him, but to a society who owned the lands
through which the road ran. He refused to give it up and the society brought
suit. Maas claimed it was his by right of discovery, but the society
insisted that it had fallen on their land and belonged to the realty by
accretion from natural causes, and the court sustained this view. The
society will present this chunk to the Iowa State University, and it will go
into history as the meteor that there was a lawsuit over.

(end)

Homestead Meteorite Article.
Received on Fri 29 Oct 2004 09:45:20 PM PDT