Commercial Bank of Essex v. Paddick,

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Iowa
• Writing for the Court: ROTHROCK
• Citation: 90 Iowa 63,57 N.W. 687
• Parties: COMMERCIAL BANK OF ESSEX v. PADDICK ET AL.
• Decision Date: 30 January 1894

90 Iowa 63
57 N.W. 687

COMMERCIAL BANK OF ESSEX
v.
PADDICK ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

Jan. 30, 1894.

Appeal from district court, Dallas county; J. H. Applegate, Judge.

Action upon a promissory note. Trial by jury, and verdict and judgment for the defendants. Plaintiff appeals.

[57 N.W. 687]

Cardell & Nichols, for appellant.

Shortley & Harpel, for appellees.

ROTHROCK, J.

The note upon which the suit was brought is dated February 16, 1891, and is for the sum of $100, due in six months, with 8 per cent. interest, and payable to the order of A. H. Warren. It is signed by the defendants. Warren, the payee of the note, indorsed it to the plaintiff before it became due. The defendants admitted their signatures to the note, but alleged that the same were obtained by fraud, and were wholly without consideration. It appears from the evidence that the defendants are husband and wife, and that they

[57 N.W. 688]

reside in Dallas county, in this state. Warren, the payee of the note, was, at the time he obtained the same, a resident of Page county. He was a mountebank, or traveling quack doctor, of whom it has been said: “Nothing is so impossible in nature but mountebanks will undertake.” The following is the testimony of the defendant William Paddick: “He examined me for piles, and made a great ado, and said I was terrible bad. That two large tumors were forming inside of me, and, unless something was done immediately, I would die. I would have to have something done. That kind of roused me up. He said he thought he could do something for me, provided I had it done immediately. He showed my wife a picture he had in a book, and showed what kind of a tumor it was. Said that was the kind of a tumor that was forming in me. My wife was scared about it, and said, if anything could be done, better have it done immediately. He said it would have to be done immediately, or I would lose my life. He said he could cure me provided I would have it operated on right away. He did not operate on it that day. He examined me. He did not state the date he would operate on me. He was to notify me soon. In two or three weeks he notified me to meet him in Des Moines, at the Aborn House. I was unwell, and could not get out of the house. I sent my wife. She could not find him. He did not write any word for something like a month after that, when he again told me to meet him at the Aborn House. I went down. He was not there. I saw him on the platform at the depot. I told him that I thought he knew well enough he misrepresented my case. I know he did misrepresent my case. I have had nothing done since, and there is nothing of the kind wrong with me. There were no tumors there. He did not offer to examine me. He never done anything for me except the examination. I believed his statements about the tumors, and that they would have to be removed, were true, or I would not have given the note. Gave the note solely upon...