Huston v. Harrison

• Decision Date: 13 May 1895
• Docket Number: 272
• Citation: 31 A. 987,168 Pa. 136
• Parties: Violet A. I. Huston, Appellant, v. Philippa Harrison, the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities, Philippa Harrison, Executrix of the Estate of Teresa L. C. Anderson, and the Fidelity Trust and Safe Deposit Company
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

31 A. 987

168 Pa. 136

Violet A. I. Huston, Appellant, v. Philippa Harrison, the Pennsylvania Company for Insurance on Lives and Granting Annuities, Philippa Harrison, Executrix of the Estate of Teresa L. C. Anderson, and the Fidelity Trust and Safe Deposit Company

No. 272

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

May 13, 1895

Argued April 12, 1895

Appeal, No. 272, Jan. T., 1895, by plaintiff, from decree of C.P. No. 4, Phila. Co., Dec. T., 1892, No. 610, dismissing bill in equity. Affirmed.

Bill in equity for an account.

The case was referred to John C. Grady, Esq., who reported as follows:

"FINDINGS OF FACT.

"1. The defendant, Philippa Harrison, was first married in England to a sea captain, named George Dani, who died Nov 28, 1856. Dani left several properties in Brunell street Liverpool, and some shares of stock in the Royal Insurance Company. Prior to his death Teresa L. C. Francis, (afterwards Teresa L. C. Anderson mentioned in the bill,) who was a niece of the defendant, Philippa Dani, lived with her in England. Dani having died, his widow married in England John Harrison in April, 1858, and shortly afterwards they, with Miss Francis, removed to Philadelphia. For a while the Harrisons conducted a saloon or tavern on Twentieth street, below Callowhill street, until about 1860, when they opened a cloak store at No. 20 South Eighth street. Afterwards, in 1863, the business being prosperous, the Harrisons established another store at No. 60 North Eighth street under the name of Francis & Co., in which Miss Francis was stationed with other girls as a saleswoman. The manufacturing, however, was done at the lower store, and it was clearly established by the testimony that Miss Francis was not interested in the business, except as an employee, her name being used merely as a device to keep the customers from suspecting that the two establishments were in reality but one.

"About three years afterwards, in 1866, Miss Francis married Oliver H. Anderson, a house painter by trade, who, for awhile followed his business as a journeyman, but shortly fell into dissolute habits which caused him to leave the home of the Harrisons with whom he and his wife had continued to reside. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson had two children, Clara, born Nov. 25, 1866, married Harry R. Stoops, April 30, 1890; and Violet, the complainant, born in 1870, and married W. M. Huston, in March, 1886. Mrs. Anderson continued to live with Mrs. Harrison until her death, in December, 1883, and her children continued to live with Mrs. Harrison, who assumed their education and care, until their respective marriages. Anderson himself died in 1888, but it appears had not supported his family for many years.

"About 1870 the health of John Harrison, the head of the entire establishment, began to fail. In 1871, the Harrisons disposed of the upper store, 60 North Eighth street, to Mrs. Bush, and in 1872 they disposed of the lower store, 20 South Eighth street, to Mr. Marter, and retired from business with a handsome competency. In the following year the entire family went to England and lived abroad until 1876, when they returned to Philadelphia and resided here until John Harrison's death, April 28, 1882. His will was dated in England as far back as 1862, apparently at the time of his visit to obtain funds with which to establish the store at 60 North Eighth street. In it he made his wife, Philippa Harrison, executrix and tenant for life of his personal estate, and at her death bequeathed it to Mrs. Anderson for her life, then to her children. His personal estate was inventoried at $134,014, and did not include any of the bonds or securities now in dispute. On the day following the probate of the will, Mrs. Harrison appointed The Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities her agent for the collection of the income.

"Mrs. Anderson was about twelve years younger than her aunt, Mrs. Harrison, who is now about sixty-seven years of age. In 1882 their respective ages were therefore about forty-three and fifty-five years. Mrs. Anderson was not only younger, but better educated and more accustomed to writing than Mrs. Harrison, and for some time had been in the habit of attending to the business matters of the whole family. John Harrison for a number of years had rented a box in the safe deposit vaults of the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities, in which were kept not only his own securities, but also those of his wife and those belonging to Mrs. Anderson; and also the $7,000 of City Loan and other registered securities in the name of himself and Mrs. Anderson as trustees for the latter's children.

"Toward the close of his life the active management of affairs was surrendered to Mrs. Anderson, who, together with Mrs. Harrison, had the right of access to the said deposit box. Of this right Mrs. Anderson did not avail herself until March 25, 1880, when she began collecting the coupons. Except in this way, Mrs. Anderson never had possession of the bonds.

"Shortly after Mr. Harrison's death, his widow, accompanied by Mrs. Anderson and the two children, sailed for Europe, having first arranged with the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities to collect and remit the income of nearly all the securities in the box. On a certain day it appears that Mrs. Anderson arranged the details with Mr. Jarvis Mason, trust officer of the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities, and gave him instructions for remittance in a written paper prepared by Mr. Mason, dated June 6, 1882.

"Mrs. Harrison expected to be absent four years, so four years' or four and one half years' coupons were cut from most of the securities belonging to Mrs. Harrison, and a power of attorney was given by Mrs. Anderson for the collection of the interest upon certain securities registered in her name, including those held in trust for her children. Mrs. Harrison also executed powers of attorney for the collection of interest upon the securities of John Harrison's estate, to which she was entitled for life.

"During her stay abroad Mrs. Harrison was in negotiation with the heirs at law of her husband, whose will disposed only of his personal estate. Considerable correspondence on the subject passed between Mrs. Harrison and her counsel, E. Cooper Shapley, Esq., in which Mrs. Anderson, as usual, acted as her amanuensis and assistant.

"Mrs. Harrison, Mrs. Anderson and the children remained abroad, however, but a little over a year, returning in September, 1883. Shortly afterwards Mrs. Anderson died, on Dec. 2, 1883, leaving a will dated June 9, 1882, drawn by Mr. Shapley, in which she devised a property in Asbury Park to Mrs. Harrison for life; bequeathed an annuity of $300 per annum to her husband, and the residue to the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities, as trustee for her children. She also directed that Mrs. Harrison should take care of her daughters during their unmarried minority. Mrs. Harrison was appointed executrix of the will, and letters were issued to her. The first visit she made to the safe deposit box after Mrs. Anderson's death was on Dec. 10, 1883, when she took with her the two grandnieces, who were then seventeen and thirteen years of age. Their care, education and maintenance devolved upon Mrs. Harrison, who, having no children of her own, looked upon them as fully supplying the place. They were liberally educated, clothed, and well provided for, until, and in a measure in the case of Clara, for some time after their marriage.

"In 1885 Mrs. Harrison filed her account upon the petition of Oliver H. Anderson, the husband of Mrs. Teresa L. C. Anderson, who had been separated for some years but was entitled to a small annuity of $300, under the will. The account was prepared by E. Cooper Shapley, Esq., and in it the accountant charged herself with $12,500, the amount of the inventory, but claimed no credits, adding in place of the usual credits the following 'memorandum. -- Inasmuch as any deductions for payments or charges would affect the amount eventually due the daughters of the decedent, the accountant has entered nothing on the debit side of the account.'

"The husband of the decedent, who was represented by counsel, endeavored to surcharge the accountant and the audit adjourned for the purpose of allowing the accountant to file a supplemental account, which took the form of an agreement between the parties to a surcharge of one registered bond of the city of Pittsburg, $1,000, and a deposit in the Philadelphia Savings Fund of $456.05. Mr. Anderson was paid the arrears of his annuity and the balance was paid over to the trustee.

"In reference to this surcharge the master, after an examination of the record of the orphans' court and the testimony taken at the audit, is not surprised that the accountant, either from a well grounded belief that the items of surcharge actually belonged to her, or from a bona fide lack of knowledge that they did not, failed to include them in her account.

"The record shows that the account was adjudicated by the orphans' court and in due time confirmed absolutely.

"The city loans held in the names of John Harrison and Teresa Anderson for Clara were duly transferred to the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities as substituted trustee shortly after Clara came of age, and the loan held in trust for Violet was also transferred to the Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities as trustee shortly after her marriage. The latter event, which took place in March, 1886, removed Violet from Mrs. Harrison's household. The marriage was a clandestine one without Mrs. Harrison's knowledge or...