Vermont Marble Co. v. Achuff
Vermont Marble Co. v. Achuff
Opinion of the Court
On November 20, 1895, E. R. Achuff, made, executed and delivered to J. E. Ragsdale a chattel mortgage transferring to said Ragsdale forty finished marble monuments, fifteen unfinished mái’ble monuments, “all tools and designs and all supplies then used and situated in the shop located in Paris, Mo.,” to secure the payment of a promissory note given by Achuff to Ragsdale for $1,600, dated November 5, 1895, due one year after date and bearing interest at the rate of eight per cent per annum from date. On the back of the mortgage was the following indorsement: “Filed this 20th day of November, 1895, at 2 o’clock, Charles A. Oreigh, Recorder.” On December 12,1895, the Vermont Marble Company, respondent, commenced a suit in the Monroe circuit court’against Achuff by attachment. On the same day a writ of attachment was issued and served by the sheriff, by attaching the marble monuments and some other articles described and embraced in the Ragsdale mortgage as -the property of Achuff. On December 14 the defendant gave a delivery bond under the statute, and the attached property was delivered to and retained by him. At the October term, 1896, of the Monroe circuit court J. E. .Ragsdale filed his interplea in the attachment suit, claiming right of possession of the attached property under his mortgage-. A general denial was filed to the interplea. The issues thus made up were submitted to- a jury. After the close of the evidence for the interpleader the court, on motion of the Vermont Marble Company, instructed the
When the case was here on a former appeal (74 Mo. App. 43),we held that there was not sufficient evidence in the record to show that the mortgage was recorded, or, if recorded, that it was recorded in Monroe county. To- supply this defect in the proof the appellant introduced, Charles A. Oreigh as a witness, who testified that he was recorder of Monroe county; that the mortgage was deposited with him on November 20, 1895, under the provisions of the act of 1895, and that he made the indorsement of the date of the deposit of the mortgage at the hour it was left with him, and that the mortgage had remained in his office from the time of its deposit down to the trial. This evidence clearly proved that the instrument was where it should be, and open to inspection of all persons, and that it was recorded in accordance with one of the provisions of the act of 1895 (Session Acts 1895, page 179). The mortgage recites that the mortgagor Achuff was a resident of Randolph county. Evidence was offered by plaintiff tending to prove that this was a misrecital, and that Achuff was at the time a resident of Monroe county. Under this state of facts the circuit court properly admitted the mortgage in evidence, and being fair on its face, and the evidence being that it was given to secure an honest and bona fide debt, entitled Ragsdale to a recovery, unless it was shown by extraneous evidence that by an arrangement between the mortgagor and mortgagee, the mortgage was made for the benefit of the mortgagee, or that he was permitted to dispose of the mortgaged property for his own use. Ragsdale was the only witness who testified as to the arrangement between himself and Achuff as to the disposition Achuff was authorized to make of the marble monuments. The substance of his testimony on this matter is, that orders for the monuments were first procured; that after an order was taken, the monument selected, if a finished one, had to be smoothed off and lettered;
The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.