Hopewell Mills v. Taunton Sav. Bank

• Decision Date: 03 January 1890
• Citation: 150 Mass. 519,23 N.E. 327
• Parties: HOPEWELL MILLS v. TAUNTON SAV. BANK et al.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

150 Mass. 519

23 N.E. 327

HOPEWELL MILLS v. TAUNTON SAV. BANK et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

January 3, 1890

This case was submitted on the following agreed statement of facts:

"This is an action of tort, to recover for the alleged conversion of certain cotton machinery. All claims on account of items and matters declared on by the plaintiff, but not herein mentioned, are waived.

"On the 31st day of August, 1876, Charles Albro, of Taunton being the owner of a tract of land in said Taunton, at Hopewell, with factories, dwellings, and other buildings with water privilege, comprising what is known as the 'Hopewell Cotton-Mills Estate,' conveyed the same together with 'all the rights of flowage appurtenant thereto, with all machinery, tools, and fixtures, and furniture therewith appertaining,' in mortgage, to said Taunton Savings Bank. The property conveyed by said mortgage deed was described therein in the language above quoted, the lands being also described by metes and bounds. The Hopewell Cotton-Mills Estate consisted of a large factory, with cotton machinery therein, which factory was built for, and always used for, the purpose of manufacturing cotton cloth, being at the time of said mortgage in operation as a cotton-mill; of mill-houses, for the accommodation of persons working in the mill, with land, and a water privilege, which, in connection with a steam-engine, furnished the motive power of the factory. Until some time after the mortgage, said factory was used only as a 'white mill,' which means, in the language of the trade, a mill that is making only sateens, jeans, and print cloths, or other uncolored or white goods. After making said mortgage, said Albro operated said mill till May 31, 1882, on which date he conveyed the said estate, subject to said mortgage, to Joshua D. Holland, who on the same date conveyed the same to Charles Albro and Porte W. Hewins, copartners. Said copartners operated said mill till December 16, 1884, when they conveyed said estate, subject to said mortgage, to said Hopewell Mills, a corporation established under the laws of this commonwealth. Said corporation operated said mill till October 1, 1887, and then ran out the stock, and closed said mill, and ceased to pay interest on said mortgage, whereupon the said mortgagee proceeded to foreclose said mortgage for breach of condition, and duly sold said estate on the ------ day of January, 1888, being the purchaser of the same, and entered into possession thereof, but never used or moved any of the machinery hereinafter mentioned. On the 10th day of July, 1888, the Taunton Savings Bank sold and conveyed to the defendants Cyrus G. Beebe and Frederick Beebe the said premises, and, in the language of the deed of conveyance, 'machinery, tools, and furniture thereto appertaining and belonging,' and defendants Beebe entered into possession thereof, as hereinafter stated. In 1882, while Albro & Hewins, copartners, were operating said cotton-mill, they purchased and placed in said factory one Fales & Jenks ring frame, one hundred and seventy-six spindles, adapted, and since used in said mill, for the spinning of cotton yarn to be woven into cloth in said mill. The machine was about thirty feet long, four feet wide, five feet high, and about fifteen hundred pounds weight, screwed down to the floor of the room in which it was situated, in order to steady it when in use, and connected by pulleys, belts, and shafting with the power operating the factory. It was not specially built for use in this particular mill, and could equally well be used for the same purposes in any other cotton-mill, with the ordinary room to hold it, and power to operate it. It did not replace a machine like it. In 1884, said Hewins & Albro, copartners, placed in said mill two Mason mules, of one thousand five hundred and sixty spindles, adapted and since used for spinning cotton yarn to be woven into cloth manufactured in said mill. These machines were about eighty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, six feet high, and about one thousand five hundred pounds weight, screwed to the floor of the room in which they were situated, in order to steady them when in use, and connected by pulleys, belts, and shafting with the power operating the factory. They were not specially built for use in this particular mill, and could equally well be used for the same purpose in any other cotton-mill with the ordinary room to hold them, and power to operate them. They did not replace machines like them.

"After the premises became the property of Hopewell Mills Corporation, said corporation built an addition to said mill designed and used for a weaving-room, and placed therein twenty-seven looms previously purchased by said corporation, and in use elsewhere in said mill, adapted, and ever since used, for weaving cloth manufactured in said mill. Said looms were not specially built for use in this particular mill. They were put in to manufacture a different kind of white cotton goods than had theretofore been manufactured in said mill, namely, a lighter and wider cloth, known as 'shoe linings.' Prior to this time, the only kinds of goods made in said mill were white goods, consisting of print cloths, jeans, and sateens. The looms used to make the last-mentioned goods were not adapted to make shoe lining, because they were not of sufficient width. But the said twenty-seven looms were adapted, and could equally well be used, to manufacture print cloths, jeans of all kinds, and sateens, up to their width. They were not specially built for use in this particular mill, and could equally well be used for the same purpose in any other cotton mill, with the ordinary room to hold them, and power to operate them. Said looms were each about seven feet long, three feet wide, two and one-half feet high, and of six hundred pounds weight, screwed down to the flooring of said weaving-room in order to steady them when in use, and connected by pulleys, belts, and shafting with the power operating the factory. They did not replace machines like them. Said corporation further purchased and placed in said factory one sixty spindle skein-winder, one sixty spindle reel, and one fifty-two spindle cop-spooler, adapted, and since used, for the purpose of winding the yarn to be woven into cloth manufactured in said mill. The reel and skein-winder were put in to wind the colored yarn required to make colored cotton goods, namely, colored seersuckers, which had not before this been manufactured in said mill, and which could not be so made without said reel and skein-winder. The cop-spooler was put in to wind the yarn spun by the two Mason mules before referred to. Said machines were each about twenty feet long, six feet high, three feet broad, and of the weight of about three hundred pounds each, and were screwed down to the flooring, in order to keep them steady when in use, and connected by pulleys, belts, and shafting with the power operating the factory. They were not specially constructed for use in this particular mill and could equally well be used for the same 'purpose in any other mill, with the ordinary room to hold them, and power to operate them. They did not replace machines like them. In 1886, said corporation built an addition to said mills, designed and used for a cloth-room, that is, a room in which the cloth, as it comes from the looms, is finished and packed, and purchased and placed therein one cloth brush and shear, adapted, and ever since used there, for brushing and shearing the cloth manufactured in said mills. Said machine is eight feet log, four and one-half feet wide, four feet high, and of more than one thousand pounds weight. It is bolted to the floor, in order to keep it steady when in use, and connected by pulleys, belts, and shafting with the power operating the factory. It was put into the mill to replace a cloth brush which was laid aside because not constructed to shear the cloth, which was required by a customer with whom a contract was at this time made. It was not especially built for use in this particular mill, and could equally well be used for the same purpose in any other cotton-mill having the ordinary room to hold it, and power to operate it. Said corporation, in 1887, purchased and placed in said factory one Whitehill dresser, adapted, and ever since used, for starching and ironing yarn manufactured in said mill, which yarn was used in said mill for making cloth. It was put in to facilitate the manufacture of cotton cloth known as 'seersuckers,' colored and white, which before this had not been made in said mill; but it was equally well adapted to prepare yarn for use in weaving any kind of cotton goods. This machine is about twenty feet long, five feet high, and weighs about eighteen hundred pounds. It has within it a system of steam-pipes, by which it is heated for use, connected by couplings with, and receiving steam from, the general steam-heating fixtures of the factory. It is screwed down to the floor of the room in which it is situated, in order to steady it when in use, and is connected by pulleys, belts, and shafting with the power operating the rest of the factory. It was not specially built for use in this particular mill, and could equally well be used for the same purposes in any other mill of the ordinary room to hold it, and power to operate it. It did not replace a machine like it. Said corporation purchased, in 1886, and placed in said mill, four dobby heads, bolted onto oak arches, which arches were bolted onto four Mason looms, which looms were included in said mortgage, and were so attached, and were used to adapt said loom to the weaving of white cotton velvet, which had not before been made in said mill, but were adapted for use in...