"4.
Upon the 7th day of December, 1884, said Benjamin Spitler was
(upon a trial duly and according to law, in the probate court
of Miami county, Kansas) duly and legally found and adjudged
to be insane, and a fit person to be sent to the state insane
asylum; and the said Benjamin Spitler was, pursuant to said
finding and adjudication, thereupon duly committed to the
state insane asylum at Osawatomie without delay. Of all of
which proceedings a proper record was made in said court,
according to law.
"5.
Upon the 11th day of September, 1885, John H. Ayers was by
the probate court of Miami county, Kansas, duly and legally
appointed the guardian of the person and estate of said
Benjamin Spitler; and the said John H. Ayers afterward
qualified and served as such guardian. Of all which
proceedings a proper record was made in said probate court,
according to law.
"6.
The said John H. Ayers, after he had qualified, and while
serving as guardian of the person and estate of said Benjamin
Spitler, departed this life; and after the death of the said
John H. Ayers, to wit, upon the 31st day of December, 1887,
the said Sarah J. Spitler was by said probate court duly
appointed the guardian of the person and estate of said
Benjamin Spitler, and afterward, upon the 31st day of
December, 1887, the said Sarah J. Spitler duly qualified as
such guardian. Of all which proceedings a proper record was
made in said probate court, according to law."
"8.
Upon the 5th day of June, 1884, that portion of the lands
mentioned in the petition of the plaintiff as the property of
the said Sarah J. Spitler was conveyed by the owners thereof
to John H. Ayers, his heirs and assigns, forever, by warranty
deed. Said warranty deed was on the 23d day of December
1884, filed for record in the office of the register of deeds
of Miami county, Kansas, and recorded in book 46, at page
334. . . . But the said John H. Ayers (who was the brother of
said Sarah J. Spitler) purchased and held said land in trust
for the use and benefit of the said Sarah J. Spitler, and to
secure himself for money advanced to pay for said land, the
purchase price paid for said land being $ 220, paid by said
J. H. Ayers.
"9.
After said 44 acres of land had been conveyed to said J. H.
Ayers, as stated in finding No. 8, to wit, upon the 14th day
of February, 1885, the said John H. Ayers, and Hannah E.
Ayers, his wife, executed and delivered to Florence M.
Chestnut a mortgage upon said tract of land to secure the
payment of a promissory note of even date therewith. Said
promissory note was executed by the said John H. Ayers for
money then loaned him by the said Florence M. Chestnut. Said
promissory note was for the principal sum of $ 300, and with
interest coupons thereto attached; and said mortgage was, on
the 14th day of February, 1885, filed for record in the
office of the register of deeds of Miami county, Kansas, and
recorded in book X of mortgages, at page 80.
"10.
On the 5th day of September, 1887, (after the death of said
John H. Ayers,) James Caton and James E. Caton,
administrators of the estate of said John H. Ayers, as such
administrators, executed and acknowledged, to said Sarah J.
Spitler, an administrator's deed for the 44 acres of land
mentioned and described in finding No. 8, conveying to her
all the interest in said land held by said John H. Ayers at
the time of his death. Said deed was executed pursuant to an
order of the probate court of Miami county, Kansas, and
approved by said court, and was left in the hands of the
probate judge, to be delivered to said Sarah J. Spitler or
her order, on receipt of the aggregate amount due to said J.
H. Ayers's estate to reimburse his expenditures for the
purchase of the land described in said deed, which said
amount consisted of said sum of $ 116.40, mentioned in the
nineteenth finding herein as being due to said Ayers's
estate, and the amount of the mortgage to Florence M.
Chestnut, mentioned in said nineteenth finding, as amounting
to $ 329.50, and the agent of the New England Loan and Trust
Company paid the whole thereof from the consideration of the
mortgages executed and delivered to it by said J. P.
McNaughton and his wife, and received and recorded said deed,
and said deed was filed for record in the office of the
register of deeds of Miami county, Kansas, on the 19th day of
March, 1888, and recorded in book 55, at page 1.
"11.
On the 12th day of September, 1885, Sarah J. Spitler and John
H. Ayers, guardian of Benjamin Spitler, executed and
acknowledged and delivered to Alice M. Risdon a mortgage upon
the lands of Benjamin Spitler mentioned and described in
finding No. 7. Said mortgage was filed for record in the
office of the register of deeds of Miami county, Kansas, on
the same day it was executed, and was recorded in book Z of
mortgages, at page 350. Said mortgage was given to secure the
sum of $ 500, and interest thereon at rate of 8 1/2 per cent.
per annum from date, due in five years from the date of said
mortgage.
"12.
On the 16th day of January, 1888, said Benjamin Spitler and
Sarah J. Spitler executed, acknowledged and delivered a deed
purporting to convey to the defendant J. P. McNaughton the
lands of Benjamin Spitler mentioned and described in finding
No. 7. Said deed was afterward, upon the 27th day of
February, 1888, filed for record in the office of the
register of deeds of Miami county, Kansas, and recorded in
book 52, at page 400; and at the same time the said deed was
executed, to wit, January 16, 1888, the said Benjamin Spitler
and Sarah J. Spitler executed and delivered their written
agreement to convey to said J. P. McNaughton the 44 acres of
land mentioned in the eighth finding of fact. The
consideration for said deed and the written agreement was the
assignment by defendant J. P. McNaughton to Sarah J. Spitler
of the contract from James Charley and Alforatia Charley to
J. P. McNaughton, recited in the petition, and the sum of $
400 to be paid in money to the said Sarah J. Spitler by said
J. P. McNaughton. Said sum of $ 400 was not paid at or before
the time of the execution and delivery of said deed, nor was
any part thereof; but afterward the defendant J. P.
McNaughton gave said Sarah J. Spitler two promissory notes
signed by himself and payable to Sarah J. Spitler or order,
one for $ 250, and the other for $ 150; and the said J. P.
McNaughton has, since executing said notes, paid to said
Sarah J. Spitler the sum of $ 190.20 and no more; and at the
time of the execution and delivery of the said deed, the said
Benjamin Spitler was insane, and incompetent to make a
contract, and he was at that time absent from the state
insane asylum on a temporary leave of absence, and he and his
wife, Sarah J. Spitler, and their children, were then
occupying as their homestead all the land mentioned in said
deed, together with the land of Sarah J. Spitler described in
the deed mentioned in finding No. 13.
"13.
Upon the 28th day of February, 1888, said Sarah J. Spitler
and Benjamin Spitler, her husband, pursuant to said written
agreement mentioned in the twelfth finding of fact, executed
and acknowledged and delivered to J. P. McNaughton a warranty
deed purporting to convey to said J. P. McNaughton the 44
acres of land mentioned and described in finding No. 8, and
at the time said deed was executed and delivered the said
Benjamin Spitler was insane, and incompetent to make a
contract, and was absent from the state insane asylum on a
temporary leave of absence, living with his family, and the
said land was a part of the homestead of the said Benjamin
Spitler and Sarah J. Spitler. Said deed was afterward, upon
the 6th day of March, 1888, filed for record in the office of
the register of deeds of Miami county, Kansas, and recorded
in book 52, at page 409.
"14.
The deeds to J. P. McNaughton mentioned in findings Nos. 12
and 13 were not executed pursuant to any order of the probate
court of Miami county, Kansas, neither was either of them,
and said deeds were not approved by said court, neither was
either of them.
"15.
After the execution and delivery of said deeds from Benjamin...
