Polack v. Mansfield

By the Court, Wallace, C. J.:

This is an action brought to recover the possession of a tract of land in the City and County of San Francisco, called Yerba Buena, or Goat Island. To the complaint, which is in the usual form, and not verified, the defendant pleaded the general issue. He also set up as a defense that the premises sued for are “the soil and freehold of the United States of America, and by the said United States of America owned in fee simple, and possessed through themselves and their agents, and that the said defendant, S. M. Mansfield, is, and during all times in said amended…