Evidence of Lawsuits Involving, and the Receivership of, the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association During the 1870s and 1880s
The Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association was founded in 1873 shortly before the Panic of 1873 that led to the so-called "Long Depression" that lasted from 1873 to 1878. The purpose of the Association was to develop Pelham Manor lands as an exclusive and affluent railroad suburb of New York City. Various of the founders of the Association including Silas H. Witherbee transferred land to the Association in exchange for mortgages and other consideration. The Association, in turn, borrowed money for improvements such as the surveying of the properties, the laying out and grading of new roads, and the like.
As the Long Depression pummeled the nation and our region, sales of lots in the new development plummeted. Additionally, some who bought lots -- occasionally as speculators themselves who bought multiple lots with the intent to resell them -- could not meet their financial obligations and saw their properties foreclosed and auctioned at public sales.
Finally, the Association was forced into receivership. The records of that receivership, however, have not been located. Nor can the records of other related lawsuits brought against defaulting home buyers and even against various founders of the Association be found. Thus, we are left with indirect evidence of such legal proceedings in the form of legal notices published in local newspapers. Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog assembles some of that indirect evidence.
"Map Showing Location of Lands OF THE PELHAM MANOR
AND HUGUENOT HEIGHTS ASSOCIATION" From the 1874
Prospectus of the Association. NOTE: Click on Image to
Enlarge (Large File).
Legal Notices Suggesting Early Difficulties
Legal Notices published in 1877 and 1878 suggest that the Long Depression (1873 - 1878) took its toll on the region and caused financial difficulties that had an impact on the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association. For example, a series of three Legal Notices issued in connection with a lawsuit against the Association by Charles A. Morss in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of Westchester suggests that Morss was unable to meet his financial obligations to the Association to pay for three parcels of land including one near Prospect Avenue with a residence on it, another with a residence on it along the Esplanade, and a third with a residence on it along Pelhamdale Avenue. The series of notices does not detail the claims in the underlying lawsuit, noting only that the notices were issued "In pursuance and by virtue of a judgment or decree" of the court issued on April 14, 1877.
It is not even clear from the notices if the judgment was in favor of Plaintiff Morss or the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association. It seems quite likely, however, based on the substance of the notices, that Morss brought his lawsuit to avoid foreclosure on his properties and that a judgment of foreclosure nevertheless was entered in favor of the Association in the lawsuit. In any event, the notices indicated that the three Morss properties were to be sold at auction pursuant to the judgment on Saturday, June 30, 1877, often a circumstance that does not lead to full repayment of the lender, likely the Association in this instance.
An example of one of the three related Morss legal notices is quoted immediately below.
"Legal Notices.
-----
SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- Charles A. Morss against The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association et al. -- [No. 1.]
In pursuance and by virtue of a judgment or decree of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, made in the above entitled action at a Special Term of said Court, held at the Court-House in White Plains, in the county of Westchester, on the fourteenth day of April, 1877, I, the undersigned, the Referee for that purpose duly appointed, will sell at public auction, at the dwelling house on the premises hereinafter described, in the town of Pelham, county of Westchester, N.Y., on Saturday, the 30th day of June, 1877, at twelve o'clock at noon of that day, the lands and premises in said decree bounded and described as follows:
All that certain parcel of land situated in said Pelham, and comprising two adjoining plots numbered respectively twenty-one and twenty-two, and fronting upon the southerly side of Prospect avenue (so-called), as shown upon a map or plan of the Chestnut Grove division of lands belonging to said Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, made by Horace Crosby, of New Rochelle, surveyor, and dated 1874 -- a copy whereof is to be immediately filed by said Association in the office of the Register of Deeds in and for said Westchester County -- bounded and described as follows: Northerly by said Prospect avenue, and there measuring one hundred feet; westerly by plot numbered twenty-three, and there measuring one hundred and fifty feet; southerly by land now or late of ------, and there measuring one hundred feet; easterly by plot numbered twenty, and there measuring one hundred and fifty feet -- altogether comprising, by estimate of said surveyor, fifteen thousand square feet; said plan being hereby referred to for a more particular description, and made a part hereof: -- together with the dwelling-house thereon, the appurtenances thereof, and all the estate, right, title, and interest of the said party of the first part therein.
This conveyance is made subject, nevertheless, to the following restrictions and covenant, subject to which this conveyance is made and accepted by the party of the second part, that is to say, that neither he, the party of the second part, nor his heirs or assigns, shall or will at any time before the first day of June, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred, erect, permit, or carry on upon the said premises, or any part thereof, any nuisance in the shape of any dangerous, noxious, unwholesome, or offensive establishment, trade, calling, or business whatsoever; or any store or place for the sale of beer or liquors; or any store whatever, or any manufactury [sic], or erect upon the premises, or any part thereof, any building except substantial dwellings, and the usual outbuildings belonging to dwellings; or edifices for Protestant, religious, educational, or municipal uses; or erect any dwelling upon the said premises, or any part thereof, which shall cost less than fifteen hundred dollars; or erect any dwelling, or other building, upon the said premises within thirty feet of the front or street line of the plot herein granted; or any stable, or other outbuilding, within seventy-five feet of that line; it being understood that this covenant shall be deemed a part of the consideration for this conveyance, and that the party of the first part, or any subsequent grantor of said premises whose deed shall restrain the violation thereof, or to prosecute and recover, in any Court of law or equity, for any violation of said covenant, such damage as they or any of them shall sustain by reason thereof. -- Dated May 16, 1877.
JAMES H. MORAN, Referee.
WRIGHT BANKS, Plaintiff's Attorney,
White Plains, N. Y. 5w7"
Source: Legal Notices -- SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY -- Charles A. Morss against The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association et al. -- [No. 1.], Eastern State Journal, June 29, 1877, p. 4, col. 1.
NOTE: Two additional legal notices appeared on the same newspaper page as the one quoted in full immediately above. Both additional notices were issued in Charles A. Morss against The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association et al. One is denoted "[No. 2.]" and the other is denoted "[No. 3.]." Legal Notice No. 2 involved lot nos. 210 and 211 and a dwelling on the premises along the Esplanade on the same Crosby map of Chestnut Grove Division. Legal Notice No. 3 involved lot nos. 185 and 186 and a dwelling on the premises along Pelhamdale Avenue on the same Crosby Map of Chestnut Grove Division.
Other similar Legal Notices reflecting lawsuits against others involved with the Association including Charles J. Stephens appeared in local newspapers at about the same time. (See Legal Notice quoted at the end of today's article indicating that Charles J. Stephens, one of the founders of the Association, entered receivership as well, likely in connection with his involvement with the Association.)
In any event, it is clear that the lands of the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association were heavily mortgaged. There also is strong evidence that Association founder Silas H. Witherbee, father of Mary Witherbee Black, held a substantial mortgage (or substantial mortgages) on the property. One legal notice published in 1878 serves as an example showing Witherbee held mortgages on tracts being developed by the Association. According to the legal notice, quoted immediately below, Witherbee obtained a judgment of foreclosure against the Association, forcing the sale at public auction of the Association lands.
"Legal Notices.
-----
N. Y. SUPREME COURT -- COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER -- Silas H. Witherbee, plaintiff, against The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association and others, defendants.
In pursuance of a judgment of foreclosure and sale, made and entered in the above entitled action on the 18th day of May, 1878, I, James H. Moran, the Referee therein named, will sell at public auction, at the Court-House in White Plains, in the county of Westchester, on Wednesday, the 10th day of July, 1878, at eleven o'clock in the forenoon of that day, by James E. Campbell, Esq., auctioneer, the following described premises, viz.:
All that certain farm, tract, or parcel of land situate lying or being in the town of Pelham, in the county of Westchester, and State of New York, and bounded and described as follows, to wit: Beginning at a point on the southerly side of the turnpike road at the lands now or formerly of Kilas Guion; thence a southerly course by and along the lands now or formerly of said Kilas Guion, to lands now or formerly of James Pell; thence a westerly course along said land, till it comes to the corner of land formerly of Philip Pell; thence a northerly course, along the said Philip Pell's land, to the aforesaid turnpike road; thence an easterly course, by and along the said turnpike road, as the fence stands, to the post station, or corner of lands formerly of Kilas Guion, as it was surveyed by Christopher Collis, by plot of survey, containing thirteen and three-quarters acres and five poles, more or less; being the same lands conveyed to Frederick William Spreen by John Hilliker and wife, by deed bearing date March 1st, 1860, and recorded in the office of the Register of the county of Westchester in Liber 702 of Deeds, page 457, and the same premises conveyed on the 31st day of March, 1873, by the said Spreen and wife to the said Charles J. Stephens, or howsoever otherwise the above premises may be measured, bounded, or described. -- Dated White Plains, May 18, 1878.
JAMES H. MORAN, Referee.
F. & H. L. Morris, Plaintiff's Attorneys,
25 Pine street, New York. Gw7"
Source: Legal Notices -- N. Y. SUPREME COURT -- COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER -- Silas H. Witherbee, plaintiff, against The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association and others, defendants, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jul. 5, 1878, Vol. XXXIV, No. 12, p. 4, col. 1.
Legal Notice and News Article Reflecting Receivership of the Association
The financial difficulties suffered by the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association led to receivership for the organization. A news article reprinted in the May 8, 1885 issue of The Chronicle in Mount Vernon attributed the difficulties to a combination of mosquito infestations and an onslaught of begging "tramps" that gave the new development a "reputation" that chased away buyers. The reprinted article, from a White Plains newspaper, further said "The company could not pay its debts. Judgments were obtained and all of the property belonging to the corporation must be sold. Pelham Manor at best resembles the collapse of a wild cat land scheme."
In reprinting the article, the editors of The Chronicle took issue with it. They noted that most of Pelham Manor is on high ground and mosquitoes were no more prevalent there than anywhere else in the region. They further noted that the settlement, through bounties for the capture or arrest of tramps, had effectively solved its "tramp" problem. Instead, according to the editors of The Chronicle, "What swamped the association, was the fact that they acquired more territory than they could carry."
Though the records of the receivership as well as those of earlier judgments obtained against the Association have not yet been located, news articles and legal notices related to the receivership confirm its existence. Immediately below is the text of a Legal Notice published in 1889 reflecting an amended summons and complaint in an action brought by The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States against those involved with the Association as well as "George R. Reynolds, as Receiver of The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, its stocks bonds, property, purchases, contracts, things in action and effects of every kind and description."
It is fascinating that George R. Reynolds served as Receiver of the Association. Reynolds lived on the Esplanade in Pelham Manor and was a neighbor and close friend, at the time, of Mary Witherbee Black, a daughter of Silas H. Witherbee (founder of the Association). Through her father, Mary Witherbee Black was able to secure most of the Chestnut Grove Division lands of the Association as its affairs were wound down.
Below is the text of the 1889 legal notice referencing George R. Reynolds as receiver of the Association. It is followed by a citation and link to its source.
"SUPREME COURT. -- COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. -- The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, plaintiffs, against Charles J. Stephens, Henry C. Stephens, Walter Crafts and Phoebe Crafts, wife of the said Walter Crafts; Silas H. Witherbee and Sophia C. Witherbee, wife of the said Silas H. Witherbee; The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, George R. Reynolds, as Receiver of The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, its stocks, bonds, property, purchases, contracts, things in action and effects of every kind and description; Walter Crafts, as administrator of the goods, chattels, and effects of Relief W. Crafts, deceased; James H. Moran, defendants. -- [Amended Summons.]
To the above-named defendants: You are hereby summoned to answer the amended complaint in this action, and to serve a copy of your answer on the plaintiffs' attorney within twenty days after the service of this summons, exclusive of the day of service, and in case of your failure to appear, or answer, judgment will be taken against you by default, for the relief demanded in the amended complaint.
-- Dated February 5th, 1889.
HENRY DAY,
Plaintiffs' Attorney.
Office and Post-Office address --
120 Broadway,
New York City.
-----
To the defendants -- Walter Crafts, Phoebe Crafts, wife of the said Walter Crafts: The foregoing amended summons is served upon you, by publications, pursuant to an order of the Honorable Jackson O. Dykman, one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, dated the 16th day of February, 1889, and filed with the amended complaint in the office of the Clerk of the County of Westchester, at the County Court House, in the town of White Plains, and State of New York, on the same day. -- Dated February 16th, 1889.
HENRY DAY,
Plaintiffs' Attorney.
Office and Post-Office address --
120 Broadway.
New York City. 47w7
[On the same page is an identical notice directed "To The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, George H. Reynolds, as Receiver of The Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association," etc.]
Source: SUPREME COURT. -- COUNTY OF WESTCHESTER. -- The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, plaintiffs, against Charles J. Stephens [Etc.] [Legal Notice], The Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Mar. 30, 1889, Vol. XLIV, No. 52, p. 4, col. 7.
"TROUBLE FOR PELHAM MANOR.
The White Plains Standard publishes the following relating to the financial difficulty of the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association:
'Pelham Manor is in trouble. It has gone into the hands of a receiver, and the affairs of the corporation that owned it are to be wound up. A man named Silas H. Witherbee, and several associates, bought the land where Pelham Manor now stands about twelve years ago, and organized themselves into a corporation bearing the high sounding name of 'Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association.' Then they elected Witherbee president, and began the erection of handsome villa cottages which were rented and sold to uninvestigating city people looking for summer dwellings. The houses were surrounded by forest trees, mosquitoes and malaria, but that made no difference to the man who went out on a fine day to look after country property. He saw only the beautiful home in the country among the green trees. But when he moved up there and heard the bullfrog warble from the birth place of the mosquito and the hiding place of malaria, and felt the sharp sting of the aforesaid pestilential insect, discovered malaria stealing into his system, and met the dirty tramp face to face in his front yard, morning, noon and night, looking for something to steal, he said to himself 'I'll get out of here.' He went. Others came and went, and finally, Pelham Manor got up a reputation. It has it yet. The company could not pay its debts. Judgments were obtained and all of the property belonging to the corporation must be sold. Pelham Manor at best resembles the collapse of a wild cat land scheme.'
While a portion of the above statement contains some truth the most of it is an unwarranted stretch of imagination.
Now this is not only unjust but unfair. The manor consists almost entirely of high ground where the bullfrog has no desire to linger, but being surrounded by forest trees is the chosen abode of the tree toad, the warble of which the editor of the Standard doubtless mistook for the bullfrog. As for mosquitoes and malaria, we have yet to learn that they are any more prevelent [sic] than in other country areas, and as to the ever-present tramp, in justice to the Manor we shall have to meet the assertion with a flat denial. While they may have cautiously lingered on the outskirts, they never dared show their dirty faces within the borders, for there is a reward of $50 placed upon the head of every one, alive or dead. As a place of residence it is one of the pleasantest in the county, and nearly all the inhabitants are there to stay. What swamped the association, was the fact that they acquired more territory than they could carry."
Source: Trouble for Pelham Manor, The Chronicle [Mount Vernon, NY], Vol. XVI, No. 816, May 8, 1885, p. 1, col. 3 (the text of this newspaper article was the subject of the following posting: Fri., May 14, 2010: 1885 Article on Alleged Failure to Develop Pelham Manor Said the Development "At Best Resembles the Collapse of a Wild Cat Land Scheme).
* * * * *
I have written on numerous occasions about the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association, as well as the development of the suburb that came to be known as Pelham Manor. For examples, see:
Bell, Blake A., The Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association: A "Failed" Effort to Develop a New York City Railroad Suburb During the 1870s (Jun. 3, 2006) (research paper presented to the Conference on New York State History on Jun. 3, 2006).
Bell, Blake A., The Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association, The Pelham Weekly, Vol. XV, Issue 1, Jan. 6, 2006.
Mon., Jun. 13, 2016: Rare Map Published in 1874 on Behalf of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Wed., Jan. 14, 2015: 1874 Handbill Advertising Homes, Lots, and Securities for Sale by the Pelham Manor And Huguenot Heights Association.
Tue., Jun. 17, 2014: 1875 Real Estate Sales Brochure for New Suburb of Pelham Manor Being Marketed by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Fri., Feb. 21, 2014: More About Edmund Gybbon Spilsbury Who Served as Engineer for the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Tue., Jul. 19, 2011: 1876 Newspaper Advertisement Touting Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association Real Estate.
Wed., May 19, 2010: Obituary of Charles J. Stephens of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Tue., May 18, 2010: 1874 Newspaper Advertisement Touting Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association Real Estate.
Mon., May 17, 2010: Jessup Family Members Tried in 1909 to Take Back Some of the Lands Conveyed to Form the Lands Developed by the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association.
Fri., May 14, 2010: 1885 Article on Alleged Failure to Develop Pelham Manor Said the Development "At Best Resembles the Collapse of a Wild Cat Land Scheme."
Wed., Nov. 11, 2009: 1874 Evening Telegram Advertisement for Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Development.
Thu., Apr. 09, 2009: The Death of Charles J. Stephens in City of Mexico in 1891.
Mon., Mar. 2, 2009: 1884 Advertisement Placed by Charles J. Stephens of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association Offering Home for Rent.
Tue., Jun. 20, 2006: Mystery - A Lawsuit Filed Against the Dissolved Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association in 1915.
Mon., Jun. 12, 2006: Early Deed of Land to the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Fri., May 26, 2006: The 27th Conference on New York State History Will Include Presentation of Paper on Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Wed., May 10, 2006: Horace Crosby, the Civil Engineer Who Laid Out the Chestnut Grove Division for the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association in the 1870s.
Mon., May 8, 2006: Edmund Gybbon Spilsbury Who Served as Engineer for the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Tue., Apr. 18, 2006: Prospectus Issued by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association in 1874.
Mon., Mar. 27, 2006: 1057 Esplanade: One of the Original Homes Built by the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Mon., Mar. 20, 2006: Charles J. Stephens and Henry C. Stephens of the Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association.
Tue., Feb. 21, 2006: Silas H. Witherbee and His Influence on the Village of Pelham Manor.
Thu., Dec. 22, 2005: Area Planned for Development by The Pelham Manor & Huguenot Heights Association in 1873.
* * * * *
Below is the text of a legal notice published in 1878 indicating that one of the founders of the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, Charles J. Stephens, had himself entered receivership, likely due to his involvement with the Association.
"Legal Notices.
-----
SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- Oliver Bronson, Willett Bronson, and Robert D. Bronson, plaintiffs, against Charles J. Stephens, Beulah V. Stephens his wife, Henry Hilton, William Libby, George W. Brown, George Haven Putnam, J. Bishop Putnam, Theodore Strofer, George Kirchuer, William H. Appleton, John A. Appleton, George S. Appleton, Daniel S. Appleton, William W. Appleton, Henry Schneider, Jacob Crawford, Thomas Penfield, Robert C. Falconer, John Burton, Robert J. Dean, Stewart F. Randolph, as Receiver of Charles J. Stephens, James H. Loyd, defendants.
In pursuance and by virtue of a judgment or decree of the Supreme Court of the State of New York, made in the above entitled action at a Special Term thereof, held at the Court-House in the city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, on the 20th day of June, 1878, will be sold at public auction, by or under the direction of the undersigned, Sheriff of the county of Westchester, at the Court-House in White Plains, in the county of Westchester, and State of New York, on Wednesday, the 7th day of August, 1878, at 11 o'clock in the forenoon of that day, the lands and premises in said judgment or decree mentioned and described as follows, to wit:
All that certain parcel of land situated partly in each of the towns of Pelham and New Rochelle, in the county of Westchester, and State of New York, and is bounded and described on a map made by B. Hufnagle, civil engineer, of Mount Vernon, N. Y., October, 1870, 'Property of Charles H. Roosevelt, Esq., Pelham, Westchester County, N. Y.,' as follows: Beginning at a point on the easterly side of Pelhamdale avenue, adjoining the land now owned by the Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, and thence running north, 48 deg. 45 min. east, 463 2-10 feet [four hundred and sixty-three two-tenths feet] along the land of said association; thence north, 46 deg. 5 min. east, 350 feet [three hundred and fifty feet], along the land of said association; thence north, 74 deg. 35 min. west, 198 feet [one hundred and ninety-eight feet], along the land of said association; thence north, 48 deg. 51 min. east, 450 feet, [four hundred and fifty feet], along the land of said association; thence north, 58 deg. east, 446 feet [four hundred and forty-six feet] along the land of said association, to the land of Frederick Prime; thence along the land of Frederic Prime south, 22 deg. 5 min. east, 103 feet [one hundred and three feet], as the wall now stands; thence, still along said Prime's land, south, 21 degrees 40 minutes east, 119 feet [one hundred and nineteen feet], as the stone wall now stands; thence still along said Prime's land south, 76 deg. 50 min. west, 250 feet [two hundred and fifty feet], as the wall stands; thence still along the land of said Prime south, 180 deg. 40 min. east, 535 feet, [five hundred and thirty-five feet], to the centre of a proposed road laid down on said map; thence south, along the centre line of said proposed road, as laid down on said map, south, 45 deg. 10 min. west, 823 7-10 feet [eight hundred and twenty-three and seven-tenths feet]; thence south, 42 deg. west, 50 feet [fifty feet]; thence south, 40 deg. 50 min. west, 149 5-10 feet, [one hundred and forty nine and five-tenths feet], to the easterly side of Pelhamdale avenue; thence northerly, along the easterly side of said avenue, to the place of beginning -- containing about seventeen acres of land, be the same more or less. -- Dated June 21, 1878.
ROBERT F. BRUNDAGE, Sheriff.
WILLETT BRONSON, Plaintiffs' Attorney,
20 Exchange Place, New York. 10w7"
Source: Legal Notices -- SUPREME COURT -- WESTCHESTER COUNTY. -- Oliver Bronson, Willett Bronson, and Robert D. Bronson, plaintiffs, against Charles J. Stephens, Beulah V. Stephens his wife, Henry Hilton, William Libby, George W. Brown, George Haven Putnam, J. Bishop Putnam, Theodore Strofer, George Kirchuer, William H. Appleton, John A. Appleton, George S. Appleton, Daniel S. Appleton, William W. Appleton, Henry Schneider, Jacob Crawford, Thomas Penfield, Robert C. Falconer, John Burton, Robert J. Dean, Stewart F. Randolph, as Receiver of Charles J. Stephens, James H. Loyd, defendants, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jul. 26, 1878, Vol. XXXIV, No. 12, p. 4, col. 2.
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Labels: 1873, 1877, 1878, 1885, 1889, bankruptcy, Lawsuit, Mary Grace Witherbee Black, Pelham Manor and Huguenot Heights Association, Silas H. Witherbee
posted by Blake A. Bell @ 4:45 AM
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