First Nat. Bank of Youngstown v. Hughes

• Decision Date: 01 January 1881
• Citation: 6 F. 737
• Parties: FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF Youngstown v. HUGHES and another.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio

6 F. 737

FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF Youngstown v. HUGHES and another.

United States Circuit Court, N.D. Ohio.

1881

Sidney Strong, A. W. Jones, and T. W. sanderson, of Youngstown Ohio, for complainant.

Monroe W. Johnson, of Youngstown, and W. C. McFarland, of Cleveland for defendants.

BAXTER C.J.

The complainant is a national bank, organized under the act of congress, and has its place of business in Youngstown Mahoning county, Ohio. It complains of James B. Hughes auditor, and Monroe W. Johnson, prosecuting attorney, of said county, and charges that previous to and on the second Monday of April, 1880, it was, and has ever since been, engaged in the business of banking, authorized by law, and that it then had and has continued to have not less than $400,000 of deposits, which it employed in its business, and from which it derived profit. Protesting that 'it is not subject to any visitorial powers other than such as are authorized by said act of congress or vested in the courts of the country,' it proceeds to complain 'that the said James B. Hughes, auditor of Mahoning county, pretending to act by authority of section 2782, Revised Statutes of Ohio, did, on or about the twenty- second day of June, 1880, issue and cause to be served upon William H. Baldwin, the cashier of your orator, a written order commanding the said Baldwin, as such cashier, to appear before said auditor on the second of June, 1880, and give testimony under said section 2782, and to bring with him the books of account of your orator showing the amount of deposits in your orator's bank on the day preceding the second Monday of April, 2880, and the names of its depositors, and the amounts deposited by each; that in obedience to said order Robert McCurdy, your orator's president, did appear before said auditor as commanded, and submitted himself as a witness to testify, but did not produce before said auditor said books of account, or any of them, and, under advice of counsel, refused to produce the same; that thereupon the said James B. Hughes, though not objecting, but assenting, to the appearance and offer to testify of said Robert McCurdy in place of said William H. Baldwin, cashier as aforesaid, advised and encouraged thereto, and aided by the said Monroe W. Johnson, prosecuting attorney for said Mahoning county, and pretending to act by authority of section 2783, Revised Statutes of Ohio, did, on the twenty-fifth day of June, 1880, apply to the probate judge of said Mahoning county to issue a subpoena for the appearance of the said William H. Baldwin, as cashier as aforesaid, before said probate judge, and to bring with him said books of account of your orator,' and 'that in compliance with the application of said auditor the said probate judge did, on said last-named day, issue and cause to be served upon said William H. Baldwin, as cashier of your orator, his subpoena, commanding said Baldwin to appear before him to testify, and to bring your orator's books of account showing the amount of deposits in your orator's bank on the day preceding the second Monday of April, 1880, and the names of its depositors, and the amount deposited by each; that the said William H. Baldwin is now, as such cashier, under said subpoena, commanded to appear before said probate judge, and there to produce said books of account of your orator, and the said James B. Hughes, auditor, and Monroe W. Johnson, prosecuting attorney, threaten that they will, and they are about to, insist before said probate judge that the said William H. Baldwin shall testify, under oath, as to the amount of deposits in said bank on said day, the names of depositors, and the amounts deposited by each, and shall produce your orator's said books of account for the inspection of said auditor and said probate judge, and also threaten that upon the failure of said William H. Baldwin so to testify and produce said books of account, they will apply to said probate judge to adjudge said William H. Baldwin in contempt of the probate court, and to punish him for the same, and, unless restrained, the said James B. Hughes, auditor, and Monroe W. Johnson, prosecuting attorney, will, by the order of said probate court, and under its penalties for contempt, compel the said William H. Baldwin to produce your orator's books of account for such inspection.'

Complainant avers that 'none of said acts done, or threatened to be done,' by defendants, 'and none of the proceedings had by said probate judge, are in anywise authorized by said act of congress, or by any act of congress, and that the production of your orator's books of account before either said auditor or said probate judge is not authorized by either of said sections of the Revised Statutes of Ohio, or any of the laws of said state; and that all of said acts are prohibited by section 5241 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, and that the necessary result of said acts so as aforesaid threatened and about to be done, will be, by unlawfully exposing your orator's business affairs, to lessen public confidence in it as a depository of money, and to diminish its deposits, and greatly impair the value of the franchise with which it is invested.'

Upon the allegations, duly verified by the oath of its president the complainant prayed for an injunction to restrain the defendants James B. Hughes, auditor, and Monroe W. Johnson, prosecuting attorney, 'from any further proceedings or attempts to inspect or have produced, before said auditor or said probate judge, any of the books of account or papers of your orator, and from any and all proceedings or attempts to...