Stark

delivered,the opinion of the Court.

The right of the respondent, Stark, to recover in the Court below, depends upon the construction to be given to the “Act Prescribing the Mode of Maintaining and Defending Possessory Actions on Lands belonging to the United States,” and the question arises, had he acquired such a possessory right to the land in controversy, at the time of the committing of the injury complained of, as would entitle him, under the provisions of that Act, to maintain his suit? The provisions of the statute, conferring a possessory right to lands belonging to the United States, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, required, 1st, that the land shall be unoccupied; 2d, that the claim to such land must be marked out, so that the boundaries thereof may be readily traced, and the extent of such claim easily known; 3d, that the person wishing to entitle himself to the benefit of this statute, must have occupied and actually settled upon the same, and made improvements thereon to the value of one hundred dollars; 4th, he shall not neglect to occupy or cultivate such claim for the period of three months.

It appears from the testimony, that one Perry Morrison had…