Dorsey v. Wolcott

• Citation: 173 Ill. 539,50 N.E. 1015
• Parties: DORSEY v. WOLCOTT et al.
• Decision Date: 18 June 1898
• Court: Supreme Court of Illinois

173 Ill. 539

50 N.E. 1015

DORSEY

v.WOLCOTT et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 18, 1898.

Appeal from circuit court, Logan county; George W. Herdman, Judge.

Bill by Richard E. Dorsey, conservator of Jehu Walker, against Nelson Wolcott and others. From a judgment, plaintiff appeals. Reversed.

E. D. Blinn, for appellant.

T. T. Beach and A. G. Jones, for appellees.

This is a bill, filed at the September term, 1894, of the circuit court of Logan county, by the appellant, Richard E. Dorsey, as conservator of Jehu Walker, a distracted person, for the purpose of setting aside certain deeds and a contract made by said Walker in his lifetime, upon the alleged ground that said deeds were procured by fraud and undue influence, and that, at the time of their execution, the said Jehu Walker was mentally incapable of executing the same. The defendants to the bill were one George Walker, and the appellees Nelson Wolcott, William Howell, and Mary Best. Amendments were filed to the original bill, and subsequently a supplemental bill was filed. Answers were filed by the defendants to the original and amended bills and to the supplemental bill. Replications were filed to the answers. After the taking and introduction of testimony, a hearing was had. Upon the hearing, at the January term, 1896, the circuit court rendered a decree finding that Jehu Walker was not mentally incapable of making contracts; that the contract mentioned in the bill between Jehu Walker and the appellee Wolcott was valid and binding; that the deed made by Jehu Walker to the appellee Mary Best was valid and binding; that the deed made to William Howell on January 25, 1893, of the S. 1/2 of the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of section 15, township 18 N., range 1 W. of the third P. M., was void, and should be canceled; that as to the deed executed by Jehu Walker to the appellee Howell, on August 4, 1892, conveying the S. 1/2 of the E. 1/2 of the N. E. 1/4 of said section 15, which was sold by said Howell after it was deeded to him by said Walker, the said last-named deed was ratified subsequently by said Walker; and that said Howell was entitled to the proceeds of said sale as against the complainant. The decree affirms the deed to Mary Best and the contract to Nelson Wolcott, and orders the deed to Howell, made on January 25, 1893, to be canceled as being void, and decrees that the complainants had no rights in the proceeds of the land sold by said Howell, and invested in a residence in Macoupin county, Ill. The decree further orders that William Howell and George Walker should pay the costs of the proceeding, and that the bill be dismissed as to Nelson Wolcott and Mary Best. The present appeal is prosecuted from the decree so rendered by the circuit court.

MAGRUDER, J. (after stating the facts).

This record reveals a revolting story of imposition upon the infirmity of age and the helplessness of disease. In May, 1892, Jehu Walker was an old man, about 79 years of age, living in Logan county, where he had lived many years. At that time he owned, and had owned for many years, 160 acres of land, which he cultivated as a farm and occupied as a homestead. He was a bachelor, and lived alone. On May 17, 1892, he had a stroke of paralysis. On November 23, 1893, he had a second stroke of paralysis. On April 11, 1894, a petition was filed for the appointment of a conservator of Jehu Walker. On May 10, 1894, upon the petition for such appointment, the jury returneda verdict finding said Walker to be a distracted person, afflicted with softening of the brain, and incapable of caring for, and having charge of, his property. On August 1, 1895, Jehu Walker died. He was a man without education, and could neither read nor write. The stroke of paralysis which he had in May, 1892, affected the left side of his face and body, and deprived him of the use of his left arm and leg. After he was paralyzed, he talked but little, and, when he talked, it was with great difficulty. He was unable to dress or undress himself. He had to be dressed and undressed by others. Nor was he able to eat without help. He had to be fed by others. He was unable to walk without help. After he was paralyzed in 1892, he never went anywhere without an attendant, and never did anything, in the way of business or otherwise, without being attended by some other person. Before he was paralyzed, he was close and miserly in his habits, and strictly careful of his property interests. After he was paralyzed, he changed entirely in these respects, and was almost reckless in the manner in which he disposed of his property. As soon as he was paralyzed, a brother of his, named Samuel Walker, was sent for from Macoupin county, and came to Jehu Walker's farm, in Logan county, where he stayed one month, and then removed Jehu to Gillespie, in Macoupin county, Ill. At this time Jehu Walker was unable to walk. From the home of Samuel Walker he was taken to the house of the widow of a deceased brother, named Barbara Walker, the mother of George Walker, and the mother-in-law of William Howell, hereinafter named. George Walker was a nephew of Jehu Walker, and the wife of Howell was his niece. About July 27, 1892, George Walker took Jehu Walker back to his farm, in Logan county. The 160 acres constituting the farm are described as the E. 1/2 of the N. E. 1/4 of section 15, etc., and the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of said section 15. Almost immediatelyupon the return of Jehu Walker to his farm, in July, 1892, with his nephew George Walker, to wit, on July 30, 1892, the said George Walker obtained from his uncle, the said Jehu Walker, a deed conveying to him the south 40 acres of said farm, to wit, the S. 1/2 of the E. 1/2 of the S. E. 1/4 of said section 15. The consideration named in this deed was $500, and by its terms the grantor, Jehu Walker, reserved the use of the land during his lifetime. The land was then worth about $75 an acre. No consideration whatever was paid by George Walker for this conveyance, which was acknowledged by the grantor on July 30, 1892, and recorded on August 19, 1892. The testimony tends to show that Jehu Walker was induced to make the deed upon the promise of George Walker to support him and care for him during the remainder of his life. In violation of this promise, George Walker deserted his uncle soon after he obtained said deed, and on August 27, 1892, sold the 40 acres, so conveyed to him, to certain bankers, named Redmond & Lucas, at Latham, Ill., for $1,000. In October, 1892, Jehu Walker bought the land back from Redmond & Lucas, and gave them $2,200 for it. The decree of the court below sets aside the deed to George Walker, and orders the same to be canceled of record. No appeal is taken by George Walker from this part of the decree, and its correctness is not in dispute here. Redmond & Lucas were not parties defendant to the bill in the court below, which did not seek to reach any portion of the money paid to them by Jehu Walker.

After obtaining the deed from Jehu Walker, and before he finally abandoned him, George Walker took Jehu Walker back from Logan county to Gillespie, in Macoupin county, to the house of William Howell, whose wife, as before stated, was a sister of George Walker. Jehu Walker remained with William Howell about a week. During this time, and on August 4, 1892, William Howell induced the said Jehu Walker to execute to him a deed, conveyinganother 40 acres of said 160 acres, to wit, the S. 1/2 of the E. 1/2 of the N. E. 1/4 of said section 15. In this deed to Howell, Jehu Walker reserved the use of the land during his lifetime. One hundred dollars is named in the deed as the consideration thereof, but no money was actually paid for the land by William Howell. The testimony tends to show that Jehu Walker made this deed to Howell upon the promise of the latter to take care of him during the remainder of his life. After the execution of the deed to Howell, on August 4, 1892, Howell took Jehu Walker back to his farm in Logan county, arriving there on August 11, 1892. On September 5, 1892, Howell sold the 40 acres, so deeded to him, to Jacob A. Volle and John C. Volle, for the sum of $2,800. At the same time, Jehu Walker executed a deed, conveying to the same parties 80 acres of said 160 acres, to wit, the E. 1/2 of the N. E. 1/4 of said section, for a consideration, expressed in the deed, of $3,100. The latter deed included the 40 acres previously deeded by Jehu Walker to William Howell on August 4, 1892, and recites upon its face that, as to the S. 1/2 of the 80-acre tract, the deed was intended to be only a quitclaim deed, and was intended only to convey the life interest therein of the grantor, Jehu Walker. In other words, Jehu Walker sold the north 40 acres of his farm to the Volles, and at the same time quitclaimed to them his life estate in the south 40 acres, previously deeded to Howell. Jehu Walker received for such life estate only the sum of $150. The $2,800 which William Howell thus received from the sale of this 40 acres he invested in a residence in the city of Gillespie, in Macoupin county. William Howell states that when he came to Jehu Walker's farm, in August, 1892, Jehu Walker had $750 in money and a certificate of deposit for $5,900 in a bank called ‘Scroggin's Bank,’ making $6,650 in all. If to this amount be added the $3,100 realized from the sale to the Volles, he had early in September, 1892, the sum of $9,750. Of this amount, the sum of $2,200 appears to have been made use of to buy back from the bankers Redmond & Lucas the land deeded to George Walker, leaving a balance of $7,550. Of this sum of $7,550 Jehu Walker paid over, as a loan to the appellee Nelson Wolcott, $5,700. Wolcott was a farmer and neighbor of Jehu Walker, and had been a neighbor for a number of years. The payment of $5,700 to Wolcott was made about the 1st of September, 1892. At this time Jehu Walker had remaining the south 80 acres of his farm, including the 40...