Alexander County National Bank v. Foster
Alexander County National Bank v. Foster
Opinion of the Court
The action is on two promissory notes, and to foreclose a mortgage on town lots, in the town of Harviell, county of Butler, Missouri, given to secure the payment of said notes.
Following are copies of the notes:
“ALEXANDER COUNTY NATIONAL BANK, Cairo, III.
December 17, 1895.
“One year after date, for value received, we promise to pay to the order of the Alexander County National Bank of Cairo, one hundred and forty-eight dollars and thirty-two cents ($148.32) at the Alexander County National Bank, Cairo, 111., with interest from date at the rate of seven per cent per annum until paid.
J.-B. Foster.
Mary Poster.
“ALEXANDER COUNTY NATIONAL BANK, Cairo, III.,
December 17, 1895.
“Eighteen months after date, for value received, we promise to pay to the order of Alexander County National Bank of Cairo, one hundred and forty-eight and thirty-two one hundredths dollars at the Alexander County National Bank of Cairo, 111., with interest from date at the rate of seven per cent per annum until paid. Due June 17,1897.
J. B. Poster. •
Mary Poster."
Two separate defenses were pleaded by the answer; first, a total failure of consideration and, second, a plea of res adjudícala. The issues were submitted to the court sitting as a jury.
1. No declarations of law were asked or given. After hearing the evidence, the court found for and rendered judgment in favor of defendants. No exception to the admissibility or rejection of testimony were saved on'the trial. No point is made as to the sufficiency of the pleadings, or to the regularity of the proceedings, therefore, there is nothing for this court to do but to ascertain whether or not either the one or the other, or both of the special defenses were made out by substantial evidence. It appears from the evidence that defendants are husband and wife and at the time the notes were executed, as partners in business, they were keeping a store at the town of Harviell, Butler county, Missouri. Their stock of goods had run low and they were in debt and without cash to buy new goods to replenish their stock. C. L. Keaton, Jr., was a traveling salesman for the New York Store Mercantile Company, a corporation
John B. Greeney, who testified by deposition, stated that he was secretary and treasurer of the mercantile company, and filed with his deposition, as an exhibit, an abstract of goods billed to defendants, showing the total amount of sales to defendants to be $654.60, and that the last shipment was made on October 3, 1894. The notes ■sued on are noted in the exhibit as covering the balance -of the account, and Greeney testified they were given to close the account. He also testified that no goods were shipped to defendants by the mercantile company after the notes and mortgage were received. This fact is also shown by the exhibit filed with his deposition, therefore, we think that if the notes were given for goods to be shipped, as testified to by both defendants and Keaton, and also by the justice of the peace, who took the acknowledgement of the mortgage, the consideration for which the notes were given failed.
2. Suit was brought in the Butler Circuit Court by John B. Foster and his wife against the New York Store Mercantile Company and C. L. Keaton, Jr., to cancel and set aside the notes and mortgage here sued on, on the ground that they were obtained by fraud and the consideration for which they were given had failed. The cause came on for hearing April 16, 1900, and the court rendered judgment in favor of plaintiffs and cancelled the notes and mortgage". In the judgment the lots are
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.