Tully

Supposing a certain piece of land to belong to the United States government, and wishing to pre-empt it, John Tully bought the possessory right thereto from, and paid the price therefor to, one Murphy. He procured the deed to be made to himself and his brother Owen without Owen’s knowledge. John let Owen into possession of the land as his tenant, but not as a claimant to any part thereof. A few years after, upon demand, Owen yielded possession of the land to John, the latter claiming to be the sole owner thereof. After this, John finding that he could not pre-empt the land, either in his own or Owen’s name, bought from the *646 vendees of Chaboya, the Mexican grantee, and patentee of the United States government, and paid for it the purchase price, and continued the possession adverse to Owen he had obtained under Murphy. After the lapse of about twenty years from this last purchase Owen instituted the present action, to be let into possession by John as his cotenant of half the land, without having ever contributed a cent to purchase it, or asserted any claim thereto until about one year before the commencement of his suit. The defendant set up the plea of the statute of…