menage ran into legal trouble with the purchase of a large plot of land south of minneapolis known as "lyndale farm." owned by william s. king, the land had been placed in trust with new york financier philo remington in 1875 after king had fallen into financial trouble. remington (joined later by a partner, robert innes) advanced king a sum of money in exchange for managing the land and seeing that it was developed or sold for a fair price. when king declared bankruptcy in 1877, remington and innes purchased the lyndale farm land from king for a token sum but promised to honor their previous agreement.