Willison

The defendant in error brought ejectment against the plaintiffs in error to recover possession of a placer mining claim described as No. 8 “A” above Discovery on Yankee Creek, in the territory of Alaska, alleging his right to the same by reason of a location which he made on April 26, 1908. The plaintiffs in error Willison and Dodds answered the complaint, denying the plaintiff’s location, and setting up as an affirmative defense that his location was of no force or effect, for the reason that one Arthur Berry had, on March IS, 1907, made a valid location of the same ground as a placer mining claim, and that he thereby acquired the exclusive right to the possession of the same during the year 1908, and further alleged that Berry never abandoned the claim, but that on January 1, 1909, the claim became open to entry by reason of his failure to perform the annual labor thereon, and that on the following day Willison made a valid location thereof, and that since that date he and Dodds have been the owners in possession .and entitled to the possession of the claim. The defendant in error replied, denying that Barry located the claim, or that he made a discovery, or marked the…