Schlicher v. Keeler

• Decision Date: 14 July 1905
• Citation: 67 N.J.E. 635,61 A. 434
• Parties: SCHLICHER v. KEELER et al.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

61 A. 434

67 N.J.E. 635

SCHLICHER

v. KEELER et al.

Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey.

July 14, 1905.

(Syllabus by the Court.) Appeal from Court of Chancery. Bill by Mary E. Schlicher against Henry H. Keeler and others. Decree for defendants, and complainant appeals. Reversed.

George O. Vanderbilt and Alan H. Strong, for appellant. Robert S. Woodruff and Erwin E. Marshall, for respondents.

FORT, J. Charles Keeler in his lifetime executed a deed on October 18, 1900, conveying to Henry H. Keeler, one of his sons, a tract of land, constituting what he admits to be a valuable farm, in the township of Ewing, in the county of Mercer. The deed was drawn by Richard C. Chamberlain, a lawyer in Trenton. The description was furnished to Mr. Chamberlain some few months before the deed was executed. On the morning of the day of the execution of the deed, Mr. Chamberlain says, George W. Keeler, son of Charles Keeler, called upon him at his office, and informed him that his father was greatly exercised over the fact that he had not executed the deed, and wanted to know if Mr. Chamberlain would come up to execute it. The deed was drawn on the 18th from a description which Chamberlain says had been ready for a long time, except two courses which had only lately been furnished by the surveyor. It does not appear in the proof, other than by inference, who furnished the description to Chamberlain, or who employed him to draw the deed. After the deed was executed it was taken by Chamberlain under the circumstances hereinafter stated. On October 21, 1900, three days after the deed was executed, Charles Keeler died, and on that day Chamberlain recorded the deed, as, he says, of his own motion, without the direction of any one: On October 29, 1900, for a consideration of one dollar, Henry H. Keeler conveyed a one-half interest in this farm to George W. Keeler, and this deed was recorded October 30, 1900. Charles Keeler died intestate. The deceased left seven children; five being the complainants and two the defendants in this suit. The bill was filed November 2, 1900, and prayed for a decree that the deeds from Charles Keeler to Henry H. Keeler, and from Henry H. Keeler and wife to George W. Keeler, be declared fraudulent, and null and void, and that the complainants be each decreed to be seised and possessed of an undivided one-seventh interest in the lands mentioned in said deeds, and that said Henry H. Keeler and wife and George W. Keeler and wife be required to deliver up the said deeds, that the same may be canceled, or that they be required to reconvey to each of the complainants an undivided one-seventh interest in the lands in question. At the time said deed to Henry was executed by Charles, there were present, besides Mr. Chamberlain, George W. Keeler, one of the defendants, to whom a half interest in the farm was afterwards conveyed, and Louis Keeler, a brother of Charles. They have all testified and are the only witnesses. The decree of the Court of Chancery was that the bill be dismissed.

The proof in the cause is in a very narrow compass. Mr. Chamberlain testifies that the grantee was blank in the deed when he took it to the intestate's house, and that, after reading it, and receiving directions to insert the name of Henry H. Keeler, he went over to the window sill and wrote the name in, and that Mr. Keeler, who was sitting by the fireplace, walked across the room to the window sill and signed his name and acknowledged it, and then went back and sat in a chair by the fireplace. Then his testimony proceeds as follows: "I handed him the deed, and I told him I wanted him to make a delivery to me. Q. Just repeat the language you used to him. How did you address him? A. I handed the deed to him and said, 'Mr. Keeler, I want you to deliver this deed to me as the agent of Henry, the grantee.' And he had the deed and handed it to me, and he said, 'You will hold it or keep it until the last day?' And I said, 'I will.' Q. You said to him, 'Mr. Keeler, I want you to hand me this deed to hold or keep it as the agent of Henry'? A. No, sir; 'I want you to deliver this deed to me as the agent of Henry, the grantee.' Q. That is all right. Now what did he say? A. He handed it to me. He handed me the deed, and he said, 'Keep it until the last day.' Q. Did he say anything else? A. About that? Q. Yes. A. No. sir; I don't think he did. I don't remember anything else. Q. What did you say? A. I told him 'he could rest assured of that,' or something to that effect; 'he could rely on that; he need not think of that.'" George W. Keeler differs very little in his statement. This is what he says: "Q. Then what happened? A. Then Mr. Chamberlain he completed the writing to the paper, the acknowledgment, and my father seated himself again, and Mr. Chamberlain seated himself opposite him, and he filled up the paper and handed it to my father. Q. Yes; go on. A. So my father he then handed it back to Mr. Chamberlain, and he says, using his expression again, 'You hold that until the wind leaves me.' And Mr. Chamberlain says, 'Mr. Keeler, what do you mean by that?' 'Well,' he says, 'I want you to take it home with you and hold it.' Mr....