Neustadt v. Hall

• Decision Date: 31 January 1871
• Parties: ANTON NEUSTADTv.CYRUS HALL.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

58 Ill. 172

1871 WL 7894 (Ill.)

ANTON NEUSTADT

v.CYRUS HALL.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

January Term, 1871.

APPEAL from the Circuit Court of Madison county; the Hon. JOSEPH GILLESPIE, Judge, presiding.

Mr. D. GILLESPIE, for the appellant.

Messrs. L. & L. DAVIS, for the appellee.

Mr. JUSTICE SHELDON delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was an action of assumpsit, brought by the appellant against the appellee, to recover the sum of $800. Verdict and judgment in favor of the appellee.

The only question is, whether, upon the evidence, the plaintiff was entitled to recover, the evidence being that of the parties alone.

Anton Neustadt, the plaintiff, testified: “On or about____ day of____, A. D. 1865, I met the defendant, Cyrus Hall, in the street in Alton, Illinois, between my office and his headquarters, stopped him, and handed him $1,000 in United States treasury notes, asking him at the same time to keep it for me until Col. Kuhn came back; he said he would do it, and take it to the bank for me; a day or two after I handed the money to Col. Hall, Mr. Ferguson, from Monticello, came to my office and demanded $200 of that money back; I went to Col. Hall, who went to the bank to fetch $200, and gave the same to me, which I took and paid to Mr. Ferguson; this left $800 of my money in the hands of Hall. Soon after Col. Hall was ordered South. Mr. Ferguson gave me the $1,000 to do some services for the Monticello precinct, and to pay expenses out of it. The reason why I gave the money to Col. Hall was, because I had no account in the bank, and I wanted Hall to know I had the money and I also wanted Hall to keep it safe for Col. Kuhn, who was about buying a brewery, and asked me for money before he left. Mr. Ferguson told me that Hall had advised him to go to me. All the services had been performed by myself; I had exclusive control of that business; I was at that time detached from the regiment and on the staff of the commanding general of the post. When Col. Hall wanted to recruit two men, he came to my office and asked of me permission to do so, as a personal favor. Col. Hall was not entitled to five cents of that money; the money was paid to me for services in getting recruits into the 144th regiment of Illinois volunteers, to be credited to Monticello precinct, and I expended one hundred and eighty dollars of my own money by getting the men and having them mustered into the service at St. Louis, Missouri; the $180, nor any part of it has ever been paid to me by any one.”

The defendant testified as follows: “That at the time referred to by the plaintiff, I was colonel in command of the 144th regiment Illinois infantry, stationed at Alton, Illinois, and about that time Mr. Ferguson, of Monticello precinct, came to me and said he wanted to get the privilege of enlisting ten men in my regiment for said Monticello precinct, and that they would pay for that privilege the sum of $1,000; and I being in command of the regiment, supposed I had the lawful right to say how many men should be added to the regiment, and I told Mr....