123 Mass. 480 (Mass. 1878), Tozier v. Crafts

• Citation: 123 Mass. 480
• Opinion Judge: Ames, J.
• Party Name: John B. Tozier & another v. Renney Crafts
• Attorney: E. W. Chapin, for the defendant. G. M. Stearns, for the plaintiffs.
• Judge Panel: Ames, J. Endicott & Lord, JJ., absent.
• Case Date: January 08, 1878
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

Page 480

123 Mass. 480 (Mass. 1878)

John B. Tozier & another

v.

Renney Crafts

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

January 8, 1878

Argued September 26, 1877

Page 481

Hampden. Contract for goods sold and delivered. Answer: 1. A general denial; 2. That the goods were sold to Howard Crafts and Judson Crafts, doing business under the firm name of Crafts Brothers; and that they paid for the same by their notes.

Trial in the Superior Court, before Rockwell, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions in substance as follows:

W. D. Vietts testified, for the plaintiffs, that he was their agent in selling liquors; that a few days before October 10, 1873, he saw the defendant at Holyoke, and the defendant told him that he had bought out a billiard-room, and was going to put his brothers in to run the place; that they would want some liquors, and he wished some might be sent; that he then ordered certain liquors, being the goods in question, and directed them to be sent to him; that the brothers did in fact run the place, and appeared to do all the business of the saloon; that on October 10, 1873, he saw one of the defendant's brothers at Hartford, who told him that the defendant had given his brothers authority to act as his agents in purchasing stock in the business, and asked him to hurry up the goods ordered previously by the defendant; that the brother also said he wished the witness would write to his principals in New York at once, for the goods; that the witness wrote at the brother's request. The letter was produced, and it contained an order for liquors, (which the witness testified were the same ordered by the defendant,) and named the defendant as the person to whom the liquors were to be sent. There was no evidence that the defendant or either of his brothers read the letter, or heard it read before it was sent, nor was there any evidence to show that the defendant or either of his brothers saw the letter after it was written, except that it was in the presence of the brother requesting it.

The defendant objected to the admission of the letter, and of the conversation with the defendant's brother, but the letter and the testimony in regard to the conversation were admitted.

Vietts also testified that on November 29, 1873, he visited the saloon in Holyoke, and saw the defendant's brothers, and asked for a settlement of the bill; that one of the brothers wrote a promissory note, for part of the amount due, payable in ten days, signed it "Crafts Brothers," and handed it to the witness. For the purpose of showing fraud in the giving of the note, and to show that this note and another subsequently given did not constitute payment of the bill, Vietts was asked to state what was said when the first note was given, and, against the defendant's objection, was allowed to state that, on receiving the note, he asked why it was signed in that way, and was told by one of the brothers that the defendant was one of the firm of Crafts Brothers. Vietts also testified that...