Carpenter v. James S. Carpenter.

• Decision Date: 30 September 1873
• Citation: 1873 WL 8627,70 Ill. 457
• Parties: PALLIS CARPENTERv.JAMES S. CARPENTER.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

70 Ill. 457

1873 WL 8627 (Ill.)

PALLIS CARPENTER

v.JAMES S. CARPENTER.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1873.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Grundy county; the Hon. JOSIAH MCROBERTS, Judge, presiding.

Messrs. PILLSBURY & LAWRENCE, and Mr. D. L. MURDOCK, for the appellant.

Mr. E. SANFORD, for the appellee.

Mr. JUSTICE CRAIG delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was a bill in chancery, filed by James S. Carpenter against Elisha Carpenter, Pallis Carpenter and John L. Meier, in the circuit court of Grundy county, on the 2d day of November, 1870. The bill states that, in May, 1849, complainant entered a certain tract of land, in Grundy county, containing 240 acres, and received a patent therefor; that, on the 1st of March, 1852, complainant borrowed, of one Orson Felt, $250, and agreed to pay interest on the same at the rate of 25 per cent per annum, and, to secure the payment of the loan, he executed and delivered a deed of the land to Felt; that, after obtaining the loan, complainant removed to California, and left Elisha Carpenter, his father, in charge of the property; that, in January, 1853, while complainant was in California, Elisha Carpenter, and Gideon Lumbeck, who was a brother-in-law of complainant, paid the amount due Felt, $312.50, and Elisha Carpenter, to cheat and defraud complainant, induced Felt to make and deliver Carpenter a warranty deed for the land; that Carpenter received rents and profits of the land to the amount of $5000, and, to cheat and defraud complainant, conveyed 160 acres of the land to John L. Meier, for $5000; that Meier knew Carpenter had no title to the land; that Elisha Carpenter, to further cheat the complainant, took the money for which he sold the land, and purchased 160 acres of land in McLean county, which is now occupied by Elisha and Pallis Carpenter.

Complainant charges that the McLean county land belongs to him, and prays for an account, etc.

The answer of John L. Meier admits that he bought the 160-acre tract in Grundy county, but that he bought and paid for the same in good faith, believing that Elisha Carpenter was the owner thereof.

The defendants, Elisha and Pallis Carpenter, answer the bill, and admit that $312.50 was paid by Elisha Carpenter to Felt, and that he obtained a deed, but not for the purpose of cheating complainant; admit the use of the land until the sale to Meier, but that the rents did not pay for money and labor expended in improvements; allege sale to Meier in good faith; admit they reside on the land in McLean county, as their own; deny that it was bought with complainant's money; deny that complainant has any right to the land, or rents and profits, and allege that, soon after complainant conveyed to Felt, he left for parts unknown, in consequence of a difficulty with a girl in the neighborhood, and went to California, and on the road, he wrote to Elisha Carpenter to go to Felt and pay off the debt, and he should have the land as his own; that, upon receiving the letter, he went to Felt, paid the debt ($312.50), purchased the land and took a deed therefor; that, at this time, the land was wild and unimproved prairie, worth not to exceed $1.25 per acre; that, in 1857, he conveyed 80 acres of the land to his daughter, Artimesia Lumbeck; that the defendant acted in good faith on the proposition in the letter, and believed that, if he bought the premises, the complainant would never disaffirm the offer contained in the letter; that, after defendant acted in good faith in advancing his money to buy the land, and in improving and making the same valuable, relying on the offer of complainant in his letter, it is unjust and inequitable, after so long a time, for complainant to claim an interest therein, and, in equity, he is estopped; that, if complainant ever had any right to relief, he has forfeited the same by his own laches; that, even if the deed from complainant to Felt was for a loan, in the nature of a mortgage, the deed from Felt to defendant was a warranty deed, and was the closing up of the transaction between complainant and Felt, and defendant, Carpenter, received the deed in good faith, and that he and his grantee have had possession and paid all taxes for seven successive years, and complainant is barred by the Statute of Limitations.

The evidence in this case is somewhat voluminous, and, upon some questions, contradictory. The facts, however, upon which the decision of the case must rest, are, in the main, clearly proven, and not very contradictory.

In 1849, the complainant entered 240 acres of land in Grundy county. On the 1st of March, 1852, he borrowed, of one Orson Felt, $250, for one year, and agreed to pay 25 per cent interest thereon, and, to secure the payment of the money, he conveyed to Felt the 240 acres of land by general warranty deed of conveyance. In August, 1852, the complainant, having been unsuccessful in a love matter with a girl in the neighborhood, started for California, and, when he reached Chicago, on the road, he wrote a letter to Elisha Carpenter, and his brother-in-law, Gideon Lumbeck, the contents of which is very material, and disputed by the parties. Elisha Carpenter testifies that complainant wrote to them he had started for California, and for them to pay the demand that was against the land, and take it, and it is yours; that he would never return from California until he was able to set his heel upon the neck of the Gnil tribe (these were the relatives of the girl with whom he had not been successful). Gideon Lumbeck, who, by his testimony, does not seem to be in sympathy with the defense, on cross-examination, says, complainant wrote them, from Chicago, “Redeem the land, and it shall be yours.” These are the only witnesses, that saw the letter, who swear to its contents. It is true, complainant seeks to place a different construction on the meaning of the letter, but the weight of evidence clearly is, that complainant directed or requested the defendant, Carpenter, and Lumbeck, to discharge the land of the debt, and they should have it.

After receiving this letter, Elisha Carpenter entered upon the task to raise money to pay Felt. He sold 40 acres of land, with a house upon it, for $190, oxen for $50, corn for $17.50; Lumbeck and he cut and sold hay, and raised a part of the money, and, in the spring of 1853, Carpenter went to Felt, gave him this letter he had received, and paid the debt, then amounting to $312.50, and Felt conveyed the land to him. He subsequently conveyed 80 acres of the land to Lumbeck, or his wife. The other 160 acres he improved, and resided upon it until 1865, when he sold it to Meier, and bought a farm of 160 acres in McLean county, where he resided when the suit was commenced. As to the value of the land in the spring of 1853, the evidence does not agree. The defendant, Carpenter, and Meier, testify the land was not worth more than $1.25 per acre; that there was plenty of land, subject to entry, all around it. On the other hand, Lumbeck swears it was worth from $5 to $8 per acre. It is, however, very evident the land, at that time, was not valuable. Complainant had made no improvements upon it. It was wild, unimproved prairie, surrounded with government land subject to entry at $1.25 per acre.

Complainant left Grundy county in August, 1852; left no person in charge of his land, and no arrangement by which the debt upon it was to be discharged, and did not return until 1870. From 1856, he was not heard from by his relatives in Illinois. He paid no taxes on the land after his departure, and never returned the $312.50 which Elisha Carpenter paid Felt in the spring of 1853.

It is claimed by the counsel for complainant, that this land was held, by Elisha Carpenter, in trust for complainant, and that he had the right to recover the land, and call upon him, as trustee, for an...