Moody v. First Nat. Bank

• Decision Date: 22 June 1898
• Parties: MOODY et al. v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF WACO.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

46 S.W. 660

MOODY et al. v. FIRST NAT. BANK OF WACO.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas.

June 22, 1898.

Appeal from district court, McLennan county; Samuel R. Scott, Judge.

Action by W. L. Moody & Co. against the First National Bank of Waco. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

Eugene Williams, for appellants. Alexander & Atkinson, for appellee.

FISHER, C. J.

This is a suit by the appellants to recover from the appellee $1,000 paid by mistake on a draft payable to one C. W. Calhoun, purporting to be signed by Reed Bros., and drawn on W. L. Moody & Co. of Galveston. Judgment below went against the appellants, from which an appeal is taken to this court.

The facts which support the judgment below, briefly stated, are as follows: The draft in question was a forgery, in that it was not signed or executed by Reed Bros. It appeared to be regular on its face, and was made payable to C. W. Calhoun, and drawn upon W. L. Moody & Co. The draft was sold by the person purporting to be C. W. Calhoun, but whose real name was afterwards found to be W. L. Smith, to the appellee, the First National Bank of Waco, which, after cashing the draft, indorsed it as follows, "For collection for account of First National Bank of Waco," signed by the cashier, and forwarded to Ball, Hutchings & Co., of Galveston, for presentment to, and payment by, appellants, which they promptly paid to Ball, Hutchings & Co. Reed Bros. at the time were the regular customers of the appellants, and had on deposit with them about $13,000. The appellants, after paying the draft, charged the amount to Reed Bros., and did not discover that the signature of Reed Bros. was a forgery until several days after they had paid the amount of the draft to Ball, Hutchings & Co. Ball, Hutchings & Co., when the amount was received, forwarded the same to the First National Bank of Waco.

The appellee, when it purchased the draft from Calhoun, supposed that it was genuine, and there was nothing upon its face, or nothing said or done at that time, to excite its suspicion to the contrary. The cashier of the appellee bank was not personally acquainted with C. W. Calhoun, but he was introduced to the cashier of the bank by Mr. Arnold, a resident citizen of the city of Waco, who, the testimony shows, was a reputable and reliable party. Arnold at the time was personally acquainted with the cashier and the officials of the appellee bank. Arnold, it seems, had met the party claiming to be Calhoun, several days previous to the time he was introduced to the cashier of the appellee bank. He knew nothing personally about Calhoun, except what information he obtained from Calhoun himself. Calhoun professed to be a merchant who was seeking a business location in Waco, for the purpose of engaging in the mercantile business, and was pretending to purchase property located in Waco, and was then seemingly engaged in the negotiation of trades looking towards the purchase of property. He stated to Arnold that he had sold his stock of goods where he had previously been engaged as a merchant, and had quite a lot of money, and wanted to make a deposit in some good reliable bank; that he expected to come to Waco, and engage in the grocery business which he had purchased, and asked Arnold if he could introduce him to some bank in the city of Waco in which he could make deposits. Arnold introduced him to Cashier Brown and President Watt of the Provident National Bank, and subsequently to Cashier John Rose of the First National Bank, at the bank, over the counter of appellee bank. Arnold then stated to the cashier that Calhoun intended to engage in business in Waco, and had bought some lots and purchased a grocery business, or was about...