Jewett v. State ex rel. Harrod

• Decision Date: 10 January 1884
• Docket Number: 10,566
• Citation: 94 Ind. 549
• Parties: Jewett et al. v. The State, ex rel. Harrod
• Court: Indiana Supreme Court

94 Ind. 549

Jewett et al. v. The State, ex rel. Harrod

No. 10,566

Supreme Court of Indiana

January 10, 1884

Petition for a Rehearing Overruled April 17, 1884.

From the Scott Circuit Court.

The judgment is affirmed with costs.

C. L Jewett and H. E. Jewett, for appellants.

C. B Harrod, for appellee.

OPINION

Niblack J.

At the general election held in October, 1876, Newton M. Wilson was elected clerk of the Scott Circuit Court, and, on the 17th day of November, in the same year, he executed an official bond and took the oath of office as such clerk. His official bond was signed by Matthias E. M. Hoagland, Dexter McClure, John H. McFadden, John W. Rice, William Wilson, John H. Sommerville, Benjamin Phillips and Charles L. Jewett as his sureties.

On the 19th day of March, 1877, the said Wilson entered upon his duties as such clerk, and served for the term of four years.

This was an action against him and his sureties on his official bond by William G. Harrod, the administrator of the estate, unadministered, of Henry M. Wilson, deceased, a former clerk of the Scott Circuit Court: First, for the conversion of certain fees and costs due to the decedent, alleged to have been collected by the said Newton M. Wilson while in office. Second. For the alleged conversion of certain notes, accounts, choses in action and a county order belonging to the estate of the decedent, which had been deposited with him, the said Newton M. Wilson during his term as clerk by order of the said Scott Circuit Court.

The sureties only appeared to the action, and issue being joined between them and the plaintiff, the court trying the cause made a finding for the plaintiff, and assessed the relator's damages at $ 159.28. A motion for a new trial, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence, having been first denied, judgment was rendered upon the finding.

It was satisfactorily established at the trial that while he was holding the office of clerk as above stated, the said Newton M. Wilson received fees due to his predecessor, Henry M Wilson, amounting to the sum of $ 61.28, which he converted to his own use; also, that during the said Newton M. Wilson's term as such clerk, one Samuel S. Crowe was the administrator of the estate of Henry M. Wilson, then deceased, acting within the jurisdiction of the Scott Circuit Court; that said Crowe, not having fully administered such estate, had remaining in his hands, as assets belonging to the same, certain notes, accounts, choses in action, and a warrant drawn by the auditor upon the treasurer of Scott county, commonly known as a "county order," for $ 98; that upon a report showing the condition of the estate, and at the request of said Crowe, the court ordered that he, as such administrator, should turn over said notes, accounts, choses in action and county order to the said Newton M. Wilson as clerk, and that he, the said Crowe, should thereupon be discharged from the administration of the estate; that said Crowe at once delivered over said notes, accounts, choses in action and county order to the said Wilson as such clerk, who executed a receipt for the same, and Crowe was accordingly discharged; that Harrod, the relator, had succeeded Crowe in the administration of the...