Powers v. Armstrong
| Decision Date | 11 April 1896 |
| Parties | POWERS, Sheriff, v. ARMSTRONG. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Appeal from circuit court, Johnson county; Jeremiah G. Wallace, Judge.
Action of replevin by J. S. Armstrong against J. H. Powers, as sheriff, for a stock of merchandise taken by defendant under certain writs of attachment. There was judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appealed. Affirmed.
In January, 1895, appellee brought an action of replevin against appellant for a stock of merchandise, which he alleged to be worth $1,685, situated in the storehouse of Joe Brown, in Coal Hill, Ark. Appellant answered, justifying under certain writs of attachment placed in his hands upon orders of the court in suits of B. Baer & Co. v. N. E. Armstrong & Co. The evidence at the trial of this cause showed that on the 3d day of January, 1894, J. S. Armstrong, who was the father of N. E. Armstrong, and who lived at Ozark, Ark., bought from his son, N. E. Armstrong, for 80 cents on the dollar, his stock of merchandise at Coal Hill, Ark which amounted to $1,384, and that he gave him $500 for $700 or $800 worth of book accounts; that he paid his son for the stock and book accounts by surrendering to him $1,848 of his son's notes which he held; and that, after giving his son credit for the $1,848, he still owed him $242.28. A good deal of evidence was introduced to show the bona fides of appellee's claim against his son, and as far as the record, as it now stands, shows, N. E. Armstrong did owe his father about $2,200 at the time he bought him out, in January, 1894. N. E. Armstrong was a very poor business man, and constantly lost money. J. S. Armstrong, however, was a thrifty, prosperous trader, and according to the testimony of J. B. Carter, cashier of the Ozark Bank, could always get from the bank any amount of money he needed, and frequently indorsed, and afterwards paid, the notes of his son, N. E. Armstrong. J. S. Armstrong testified that in December, 1893, he contemplated going into business with his son; but when, in January, 1894, he looked more fully into his son's condition, he found that he was going to fail, and so bought him out, to save what he was owing him. N. E. Armstrong testified that he had never made a statement of his financial condition to any commercial agency, but when shown the statement of August 23, 1893, made to R. G. Dun & Co., in which he claimed a total net worth of $1,450, and stated that he had no liabilities of any sort at that time, admitted that the statement was made in his own handwriting, and that at the time he made the statement he owed his father, J. S. Armstrong, $1,200, and about the same amount of commercial debts, and the total amount put into the business by him was about $150; and when asked how he reconciled this statement to Dun & Co., made in August, 1893, to the effect that his net worth was $1,450 and he owed nobody, with his sworn statement now, on the stand, that at the time he owed his father $1,200, and about the same amount to other parties, he said he could not reconcile the statements. R. M. White testified that he was present when N. E. Armstrong sold to appellee, and that appellee took possession of the property at once, and left him in charge to manage it. Eugene Adler testified that he was a member of the firm of B. Baer & Co. wholesale grocers of Ft. Smith, Ark., and that in December, 1893, he sold N. E. Armstrong $50 worth of groceries on the faith of his statement that appellee (his father) was going into business with him, and that afterwards, when he saw appellee, in Ft. Smith, he asked him if he was going into business at Coal Hill with his son, and he replied that it was so reported, but he had not done so yet, and he did not know what he would do. Appellee offered in rebuttal J. M. Moore. ...
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