69 Fla. 277 | Fla. | 1915
A bill was filed by Hempel against various defendants to quiet title. Upon final hearing his bill was dismissed and he appeals from this decree.
The bill is uncertain in its allegation as to present ownership, and as to possession, but we may assume the sufficiency of these allegations, saying only that the evidence shows that the land was wild and unoccupied. The complainant’s title rests upon a tax deed, issued to him. in 1898, for the 1895 taxes. These lands were assessed to “Fla. So. R. R. C. H. D.,” and the proof is that they belonged to the Florida Southern Railroad Company, the
This notice was not mailed to the Florida Southern Railroad Company, nor to the Charlotte Harbor Division of that company, though either was easy of access to the clerk; but a copy of notice was mailed to L. N. Wilkie and George Fox. There is nothing to connect George Fox with the tax matters of this railroad company, and as to Wilkie, other than the fact that he was the sales agent for those lands, and that during years, not definitely fixed, he paid the taxes under the authority of his principal. There is nothing to show that he received this notice, or that it ever reached the owner of the land, or the one to whom the land was assessed. In fact, there is nothing to, show that the Florida Southern Railroad Company, .whose sales agent Wilkie was in 1898, then owned or claimed to own these lands. See Starks v. Sawyer, 56 Fla. 596, 47 South. Rep. 513; Clark-Ray-Johnson Co. v. Williford, 62 Fla. 453, 56 South. Rep. 938.
Decree affirmed.