[meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite: Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Jul 2011 00:21:25 -0500
Message-ID: <981B792D1D704041BD05CE8763D2816C_at_ATARIENGINE2>

Litigation was also a factor in Sylacauga:

http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1280
"Television, radio and newspaper excitement
lasted for weeks, highlighted by a very public
dispute between the Hodges and Birdie Guy,
who owned the home in which the Hodges
lived as renters. Facing repair expenses for
the damaged house, Guy was advised by her
attorney that legal precedent had established
that meteorites were the property of the
landowner, and she sued for possession of
the rock. The Hodges threatened to counter-
sue for Ann's injuries, and the outraged
public sided with her. Before it went to trial,
cooler heads prevailed and after a modest
private settlement, Guy gave up her claim
on the meteorite to the Hodges...
    Hewlett Hodges believed that the couple
stood to make a fortune from the incident.
He refused what he considered an inadequate
offer for the meteorite from the Smithsonian
Institution, claiming he had received other
offers as high as $5,500. In the end, Ann
Hodges, not knowing how to bargain with
the media, earned at most only a few hundred
dollars from the incident that had made her
famous. By 1956, the bad publicity surrounding
the lawsuit ended the monetary offers, and
she donated the meteorite to the Alabama
Museum of Natural History, where it remains.
    Probably the only major figure in the entire
Sylacauga meteorite story to claim a satisfactory
ending was Julius K. McKinney, a farmer who
lived near the Hodges. On December 1, 1954,
the day after Ann Hodges was struck, he
discovered a second fragment of the meteorite
in the middle of a dirt road. McKinney was
able to sell his rock to the Smithsonian for
enough to purchase a small farm and a used
car. This fragment is on display at the Smithsonian
Institution, but the label strangely does not
acknowledge its more famous Alabama sibling."


Sterling K. Webb
----------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "bill kies" <parkforestmet at hotmail.com>
To: <joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Friday, July 15, 2011 10:29 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite: Finders Keepers, Losers
Weepers


>
> They didn't find it, it found them. And, even though it was
> unprecedented in Virginia, Sylacauga comes to mind. The meteorite was
> returned to the Hodgeses. Does anyone know of a similar case or cases
> that went the other way? In favor of the landlord or a third party?
>
>
>
>
>
>> From: joshuatreemuseum at embarqmail.com
>> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
>> Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2011 22:41:46 -0400
>> Subject: [meteorite-list] Lorton Meteorite: Finders Keepers, Losers
>> Weepers
>>
>> You find it , it's yours!:
>>
>>
>> http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2011/william--mary-law-school-students-learn-about-property-law,-with-an-asteroid-twist-123.php
>>
>>
>> Phil Whitmer
>>
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Received on Sat 16 Jul 2011 01:21:25 AM PDT