Kirby v. Arnold

• Decision Date: 11 February 1915
• Docket Number: 650
• Citation: 191 Ala. 263,68 So. 17
• Parties: KIRBY v. ARNOLD.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

68 So. 17

191 Ala. 263

KIRBY v. ARNOLD.

No. 650

Supreme Court of Alabama

February 11, 1915

Appeal from Chancery Court, De Kalb County; W.H. Simpson Chancellor.

Bill by Lucy Arnold against A. Collins Kirby. From a decree for complainant, defendant appeals. Affirmed.

Hunt &amp Wolfes, of Ft. Payne, for appellant.

Davis &amp Pope, of Ft. Payne, for appellee.

THOMAS J.

The bill was filed by complainant to annul an absolute conveyance of an interest in certain lots in Collinsville, De Kalb county, Ala., upon the grounds that the conveyance was obtained by fraud and duress and that the consideration paid for the alleged purchase by the appellant was so grossly inadequate as to stamp the transaction as fraudulent.

The appellee was an ignorant negro woman, known by the name of Lucy Arnold or Lucy Walker, and at the time of the execution of the deed to the appellant, A. Collins Kirby, she was living in Birmingham, Ala. The appellant was an intelligent man of affairs, and was engaged in the general merchandise business at his home in Collinsville. Tony Collins, the grandfather of appellee, was a man of about 90 years of age, and, at the time of the execution of the deed by Lucy Arnold, resided on the lot in question at Collinsville. On or about the 16th day of March, 1883, Tony Collins and his wife conveyed the property to Harriet Johnson and Matilda Robinson, their daughters, one of whom (Harriet Johnson) subsequently died, leaving Lucy Arnold and another child as her only heirs at law and next of kin. After this conveyance, and the death of Harriet Johnson, Tony Collins and his wife conveyed a strip of seven feet in width along the side of these lots, to the city of Collinsville, for a sidewalk. The defect in his title being discovered, the mayor of Collinsville sought to perfect the title by procuring conveyances from the children and grandchildren of Tony Collins. In doing this, the mayor requested appellant to procure for the city a deed to this sidewalk from the appellee, Lucy Walker or Lucy Arnold as she was called. He states in his testimony that:

"We got the signatures of Matilda Robinson and Susie Johnson, and were informed that Collins Kirby could get the signature of Lucy Walker."

He prepared a deed to the seven-foot sidewalk, from appellee to the city, and sent the appellant to Birmingham to have the same executed by her. The appellant carried with him, to Birmingham, one Marvin Edwards, a cousin of appellee, who located her as living with Estella Broadnax, in that city. At the house of witness Broadnax, appellant, Kirby, in the presence of Estella Broadnax, told appellee he wanted her to sign a deed for seven feet of ground in Collinsville; that the rest of her relatives had signed and gotten their $12.50, and he would give her the same amount as soon as she signed the deed; that there was no harm in it; and that if she did not sign the deed they would put old man Tony Collins, her grandfather, in the mines. The conveyance of no other land was mentioned than that of the seven feet that had been previously sold by Tony Collins to the city as a sidewalk.

The testimony of the appellee showed that the only discussion by A. Collins Kirby with Lucy Walker or Arnold, at the Broadnax house, was of the alleged fact that:

"The city had got in behind Tony Collins about that seven feet he had sold the city years before, and they had sent him out to hunt up Lucy Arnold, and if I did not sign it they were going to penitentiary my grandfather. He said they had all signed it but me. He had my grandmother's name, Lizzie Collins, Tony Collins, Matilda Robinson, and Susie Johnson, and he had paid them all $12.50 around, and as soon as I signed he would pay me mine." That "Mr. Kirby did not say anything to me about buying my interest in lots 29 and 30 in the town of Collinsville. He did not say anything to me about making him a deed to these lots. I did not sign any deed to these lots with my knowledge."

Witness further stated that she was living, at the time of the signing of the deed, at the house of Estella Broadnax, that her husband was away, but that she was living with him at the time.

Appellee is corroborated by the witnesses Marvin Edwards and Estella Broadnax, as to the statement made to her by A. Collins Kirby, at the house of Estella Broadnax, and that it was a request to her to sign a deed for seven feet of ground with the statement that if she did not sign it they would put old man Tony in the mines; and that a conveyance of an interest in no other lands was mentioned. The witnesses Marvin Edwards and the notary taking the acknowledgment, J.W. Morrow, testified that no money was paid appellee by appellant, in the office of the notary; and witness Marvin Edwards corroborates the appellee to the effect that only $12.50 was given her "out on the courthouse steps," and that the same was a $10 bill, two $1 bills, and 50 cents in silver, and that he gave Marvin Edwards $12.50 and expenses, to go with him from Collinsville to Birmingham, to find appellee.

Witness Broadnax in her testimony shows that appellee was an ignorant negro woman; that she "has not got real good sense."

An examination of appellant's testimony shows that he admits the employment of Marvin Edwards to go with him to Birmingham and locate Lucy Walker (Arnold); and he alleges that "when Lucy Walker was found (at her home, which was at the Broadnax woman's house), and the proposition was explained to her, she agreed to sign the deed, and that at that time she made another proposition that I buy her undivided interest in that property, stating that her husband had deserted her and her four or five children, and offering to sell the undivided interest"; and that she got into the carriage with Marvin Edwards and appellant and drove to the Jefferson county courthouse, where both of the deeds were executed, one to the town of Collinsville, for the seven feet, that had already been signed by Tony Collins et al., and one conveying her undivided interest in the remaining two lots to appellant. Appellant's testimony also shows that the notary asked appellee if she could read and write, and that she answered, "No"; that he asked her if she knew what she was signing, and she said, "Yes"; that the notary read the deeds in full; and that appellant paid her $25 as the consideration for the undivided interest that she was deeding to appellant in Mr. Morrow's presence.

Appellant admitted, on cross-examination:

"That the deed that Lucy signed was prepared in Collinsville before I left Collinsville. I had no written agreement with Lucy as to when I would take possession. The deed that was given that day was all that was given in reference to it, and that deed was prepared by me before I went to Birmingham. I expected her to approach me about selling to me as she had before she had left home."

There was much testimony as to the value of the interest of Lucy in the lots. The witnesses examined by appellee, W.P. Ellis, Dr. H.T. Appleton, Dr. W.H. Marsh, and V.M. Brindley, testify that each of the lots was worth about $750 at the time the deed was executed.

Witnesses examined by the appellant as to the value of the property in question place a less value thereon, one J.L. Graves stating that in 1911 these lots were worth $200 if with...