This was a suit brought by the Northern Pacific Railway Company, successor to the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, in the superior court of the county of Spokane, state of Washington, against a large number of persons, to quiet title, remove clouds, and recover possession of certain parcels of real estate, alleged to be portions of its right of way in that county.
The complaint alleged that plaintiff was the owner and entitled to a strip of land, 400 feet wide, on which defendants had wrongfully entered. Some of the defendants were defaulted. Separate answers were interposed by others, separate trials had, separate verdicts rendered, and bill of exceptions granted. As to one defendant, the case was submitted to the court for trial, and findings of fact and conclusions of law were made and filed.
A single decree was rendered in favor of contesting defendants, from which the railway company appealed to the supreme court of the state, where the decree was affirmed. 25 Wash. 384, 54 L. R. A. 526, 87 Am. St. Rep. 766, 65 Pac. 555.
The opinion of that court was filed June 29, 1901, and judgment of affirmance entered July 30, 1901. On May 4, 1903, the case of Northern P. R. Co. v. Townsend, 190 U.S. 267, 47 L. ed. 1044, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 671, was decided. May 28, 1903, the railway company was allowed a writ of error from this court, the judgment of the state supreme court being described as entered June 29, 1901. The case was docketed July 23, 1903, and is now numbered 88. June 30 a second writ of error was taken out and filed below, the papers correctly describing the judgment as entered July 30, 1901, and was docketed here August 13, 1903, and is now numbered 102.
Plaintiff moved for leave to amend the record in No. 88 so that the date of the judgment might be correctly given, and that thereupon No. 102 be dismissed, or, in the alternative, that No. 88 be dismissed. We grant the latter application, and dismiss No. 88 without prejudice to proceeding in No. 102. Wheeler v. Harris, 13 Wall. 51, 20 L. ed. 531; Silsby v. Foote, 20 How. 290, 15 L. ed. 822.
The facts on which the state supreme court proceeded are thus stated: