Mathews v. Lecompte
Mathews v. Lecompte
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a suit in the nature of an action in ejectment for a lot of ground south of Mound street, in block No. 248 in the city of St. Louis. The plaintiff shows his title thus : Thomas J. White, being the owner as is alleged in fee, sold the lot in controversy with another lot or lots to John Arthur ; and White and his wife, Jane White, made a deed with general warranty to said Arthur for the lots, on the first of June, 1840, for and in consideration of the sum of six thousand dollars, eight hundred of which were paid down ; and Arthur executed his three several notes for the balance of the sum, of seventeen hundred and thirty-three dollars and thirty-three and one-third cents each, dated June 1st, 1840, and due in one, two and three years respectively from date. This deed was properly acknow-
The defendant then called Trusten Polk, who stated he was present at the sale on the 27th of May, 1854 ; he had Arthur’s note then in his possession; he was the attorney for Mrs. Sutton ; he directed the sale, wrote the advertisement, and had it published in the “ Pilot,” a weekly paper. Witness stated that several years ago this note, accompanying a debt on Dr. White, was put into his hands for collection by Catherine Sutton, through her brother, James C. Sutton. There was no assignment on the note. There was a separate paper accompanying the note purporting to transfer the note as collateral security for the debt of said White. This was dated September 30th, 1840. These papers lay in the witness’ hands a long time without doing any thing with them ; he says he was delayed, he thinks, on account of the application of Dr. White for the benefit of the bankrupt law ; a short time before the aforesaid sale he came across these papers and concluded there was nothing to prevent her from collecting her debt, and advised a sale under the deed of trust. The note spoken of was the same note referred to in the advertisement; there was a credit on it. The property was cried off by Mr. John Riggin, an auctioneer. Witness received the proceeds of sale and paid it to Mrs. Sutton. Witness said he represented Judge Bowlin at the sale. White left St. Louis for California about the spring of 1849.
Defendant proved her occupancy of the house and lot since the spring of 1841. Defendant proved that Dr. White was in possession and occupancy of the house- and lot in dispute in 1841, and delivered the possession of it to Mrs. Lecompte, the defendant, who has kept it ever since. The house and lot are situated on south side of Mound street, about the center between Broadway and Second streets, and eastwardly from the Big Mound. Arthur then occupied the house and lot next west
This is the substance of the evidence given and preserved in this case. The court gave the following instructions for the plaintiff: “1. If the jury believe from the evidence that Thos. J. White and wife executed the deed to John Arthur, given in evidence by plaintiff, and that said Arthur and wife executed the deed of trust to James B. Bowlin, also given in evidence by plaintiff, and that said James B. Bowlin executed the deed to plaintiff, also given in evidence by plaintiff, they will find for the plaintiff, and will in that event assess, as the damages sustained by plaintiff, the value of the use of said premises from five years before the commencement of the suit down to the present time, and will also find the present monthly value of said premises. 2. The above instruction is given without reference to the question of limitation as made in the defendant’s answer. In regard to limitation, if the jury find from the evidence that the defendant Cecile Lecompte has had the quiet possession of the land in question, holding the same as owner for twenty years next before the commencement of this suit, then they ought to find for the defendant.”
The defendant excepted to these instructions. The jury found in favor of plaintiff, and judgment was rendered for
In looking over the proceedings as preserved by the bill of exceptions, there can not arise a doubt as to the fact that the' defendant has showed no title to the land in dispute. She claims under White and so does the plaintiff. In 1840 White sold the lot to Arthur and conveyed it by general warranty deed ; at the same time, to secure the balance of the consideration unpaid, Arthur conveyed the lot to Bowlin. These deeds, duly acknowledged and recorded, were evidence to the world of the facts set forth therein. Now without ever showing any title afterwards in White, or ever showing a rescission of the contract between White and Arthur, and any release of the title from Bowlin, or reconveyance by Bowlin of the lot to White or Arthur, the defendant sets up a deed from White to Marie P. Leduc as her trustee, dated in 1841, (the previous sale still in full force,) for the very same land and premises which White had the year before sold to Arthur. The defendant may indeed have been the victim of a gross fraud practiced on her by White, but that can not help her out against White’s previous grantee, with his deed properly acknowledged and recorded. But suppose, for the sake of _ argument, we admit that by White’s deed to Leduc, as her trustee, and by her deed to Holmes as trustee for her children, and by the subsequent deed of Holmes and her children to her, she acquired title to the lot in controversy, how then stands the caso? She still shows, as regards this plaintiff, no title ; for, after Holmes, and her children’s deed to her, she again sold and conveyed, with covenants of warranty, all her estate in the lot to Charles Gr. Mauro, in trust to secure the payment of a debt to Yanvolzah, and Mauro afterwards, in pursuance of the said deed of trust, sold the lot to pay Vanvolzah’s debt, and the plaintiff Mathews became the purchaser. The defendant therefore, in no view of this case, as preserved by the bill of exceptions, has any right-or title to the lot. Indeed the first view taken settles the case beyond any
The plaintiff showed title from White down to himself. He showed that as defendant made no other source of title to herself but from White, and h.e having none at the time she purchased, she consequently could derive.none from him. Now what right had the defendant to show an outstanding title in a third party against a plaintiff who had and claimed to have title by deed of general warranty from defendant to her trustee, Mauro, and from Mauro to plaintiff, and both claiming under a common source? Was not their title thus derived to plaintiff from defendant sufficient to stop her from setting up an outstanding title ? The plaintiff shows that by his evidence he had all the right of defendant; that he held under Mauro, the trustee, to whom she' had conveyed by general warranty deed the premises in dispute. Now although it is in general competent for a defendant in ejectment to show title out of the plaintiff and in a third person, yet we think such will not be permitted to a defendant from whom plaintiff shows that he claims by a general warranty deed.
The objections taken to the sale and proceedings by Bowlin, the trustee, are unavailing in this action. The alleged fraud in the Yanvolzah debt can not affect the purchaser at the trustee’s sale.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Mathews, in Error v. Lecompte, in Error
- Status
- Published