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Show WHITE HOUSE CORNER TO BE SOLD AT ONCE Court Orders Sale on Petition Peti-tion of Owner of Half Interest. MURRAY BRINGS SUIT Bidders Allowed Thirty Days in Which to Present Pre-sent Proposals. The old White house corner, occupied by the National Bank of the Republic, at the southwest corner of Main and Second South streets, and one of the most valuable business properties in Salt Lake City, was ordered sold by Judge George G. Armstrong yesterday in a suit brought by James A. Murray of Butte, Mont., against his co-tenants, S. J. Hays and tho Phelan Fund, a corporation. The suit was commenced more than a year ago by Mr. Murray, and has been stubborn iy fought throughout by his co-owners, who did not want a partition par-tition and sale of the property to be made. Mr. Murray is represented in Salt Lake by Attorney Harry J. Robinson, Rob-inson, and was not personally present when the order of sale was made. ; The property to be sold has a front-1 front-1 age of forty-six and one-eighth feet on Main street by 115 feet on Second South street, and, according to the ap-1 ap-1 praisements given by witnesses upon the hearing of the suit, is worth more than $300,OOU. ; Three Are Owners. J. C. Lynch, former president of the National Bank of the - Republic, was appointed master of sale under bond : of $200,000, and agreed to serve with-, with-, out compensation. Before Mr. Lynch was accepted by Mr. Robinson he was 1 required to stato that he was no longer I connected with the National Bank of 1 the Republic, either as a stockholder or otherwise. Mr. Murray is the largest outside individual stockholder of the bank, and until recently was vice presi ; dent of the institution, j Mr. Murray has been the owner of a one-half undivided iuterest in the White I house corner for about sixteen years, 1 and the transfer records show that he : paid $75,000 for his holdings. The Phelan Fund is the owner of a one-fourth one-fourth interest which formerly be-1 be-1 longed to Patrick Phelan and was left in trust by him to the Catholic church for the benefit of the orphans. Stephen J. Hays owns the remaining one-quarter j interest. i Partition Is Desirable. ! The petition for partition presented : by Mr. Murray set forth that the co-i co-i owners could not fully enjoy their re- spective interests because of the manner man-ner of holding, and the contention of the defendants was that the property could be divided by. metes and bounds, : and the further claim was made that I Mr. Murray had made a verbal agree-1 agree-1 ment some years ago not to partition the property until 1919, when the lease to the National Bank of the Republic i expired. Upon the case being called for trial the defendants abandoned i both contentions and urged upon the court the sole question of terms of sale, insisting that the property should be 1 offered to bidders upon the basis of : 25 per cent cash, 25 per cent in one year and the balance in from, three to ! five vears. Attorney Robinaon, in behalf of Mr. 1 Murray, fought against these terms of sale, arguing that a cash payment of only 25 per cent would necessitate a first mortgage of 75 per cent remaining upon the property, which, he contended, was far greater than could be borrowed upon the property, and, moreover, would leave the co-owners in substantially the ; same position as they now are, as each would have an interest in the mort-. mort-. gage in the same proportion as they now hold the property, and that a partition par-tition under such conditions would not be effective. ; No Terms Arranged. W. .1. Halloran testified that 25 per cent cash down would be fair terms of sale, although he admitted that the holder of a mortgage representing 75 per cent of the purchase price would be unable to negotiate his security without a loss. Charles Johnson ot the Houston company gave similar testimony testi-mony for the defendants, while Fred W. Little of Little & Little testified that 50 per cent cash and the balance on mortgage would be i he more equitable equit-able method of selling. Mr. Little pointed out that the thirty-six-foot frontage recently bought by the Utah State National bank for $187,000, carried car-ried a mortgage of less than $60,000, the balance being paid in cash. The court ordered the sale without fixing an" terms of payment, and bidders bid-ders have thirty days in which to present pre-sent their offers. |
