Hill v. Alston
| Decision Date | 31 October 1873 |
| Citation | 59 Tenn. 569 |
| Parties | John B. Hill v. A. Alston, Ex-Clerk and Master. |
| Court | Tennessee Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
FROM SHELBY.
From the First Chancery Court of Shelby County, October Term, 1870. R. J. MORGAN, Ch.
T. W. BROWN, for Hill.
W. L. SCOTT, for Alston.
This is an appeal from the First Chancery Court of Memphis, from a judgment on motion, rendered in favor of complainant Hill, against A. Alston, formerly clerk and master of that court.
Hill filed his bill against Walker and others, seeking to enforce the redemption of a tract of land in Shelby County, as a creditor of William Walker, and paid into court, to the clerk and master, Alston, $1,500, in gold, on the 31st of July, 1866. Of this sum, $221.55 were subsequently returned to him, leaving a balance of $1,278.45 still in his hands.
The judgment on motion was rendered for $1,278.45 in gold, with interest from the 15th of February, 1870, less $88.38 in currency, due from Hill to Alston for a bill of costs.
The record shows that the $1,500 in gold was deposited by Alston in The Gayoso Savings Institution, as a special deposit, in the same bag in which it was when received by him, and that, upon the request of the cashier, Alston allowed the officers of the bank to change the deposit from a special to a general deposit.
At the time this gold was on deposit, Alston had on deposit in the same bank a large amount belonging to other parties in cases pending in the chancery court, and also some of his private, or individual means.
All these deposits were entered upon the bank's book and Alston's pass-book as deposits made by him, and to his credit. He had but the one account, and this showed funds deposited and checked out by him in his own name,--not in his official character.
While this gold was on deposit, Alston applied to the cashier to pay him interest on his deposits.
He states that they allowed him interest, and entered it on his pass-book; that he made no calculation of the interest, but took what they allowed him; but that on the gold deposit he never received any interest.
It is shown, however, that interest on gold was credited on his pass-book: but he states that he did not observe the entry until some time after it was made.
The deposits by Alston were large and numerous, running from August, 1865, to January, 1867.
In February, 1868, the bank failed. All the deposits made by Alston had been previously checked out, except...
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