Third Nat. Bank of Syracuse v. Clark

• Decision Date: 05 January 1877
• Citation: 23 Minn. 263
• Parties: THIRD NATIONAL BANK OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, <I>vs.</I> ASA H. CLARK and another.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

23 Minn. 263

THIRD NATIONAL BANK OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK, vs. ASA H. CLARK and another.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

January 5, 1877.

Action by plaintiff, as endorsee, against defendants, as makers of a promissory note payable at the First National Bank, Rochester, Minnesota, to the order of the Williams Mower and Reaper Company, Syracuse, New York. The plaintiff made title to the note through the following endorsement:

"Pay Third Nat. Bk., Syracuse, or order, for collection for the Williams Mower and Reaper Co., Syracuse, N. Y. O. Welch, Treas."

The defendants, in their answer, besides a general denial, pleaded that the note was given in payment for certain reapers, sold to them by the payee, with a warranty which had been broken; that by the breach they had been damaged in an amount greater than the amount of the note, and that the note, if transferred at all to plaintiff, was transferred after maturity, and without consideration.

At the trial in the district court for Olmsted county, before Mitchell, J., the plaintiff introduced in evidence the note and endorsement, and also certain depositions, tending to prove that, long before the maturity of the note, it was transferred, by the payee, to the Morris Run Coal Company, in payment of a debt, and was afterwards, and before maturity, transferred by that company to plaintiff, in payment of an overdraft; that, when the note was delivered by the payee to the coal company, and when it was received by plaintiff, no payee was named in the endorsement, all of which, except the signature of O. Welch, was printed from a stamp; that, when the note matured, it was sent west for collection, and the words "First Nat. Bk., Rochester, Minn.," were written by plaintiff's cashier in the endorsement; that, on the return of the note to plaintiff from the Rochester bank, plaintiff's cashier drew a pen through the words "First," "Rochester" and "Minn.," and wrote the words "Third" and "Syracuse;" that the plaintiff never had any dealings with the Williams Mower and Reaper Company, and never collected any notes for it. The

plaintiff then rested its case. The defendant offered evidence tending to prove the allegations of the answer as to the consideration of the note, the warranty, the breach thereof, and damages thereby occasioned to defendants to an amount exceeding the amount of the note. The plaintiff admitted that the evidence offered was sufficient to prove the allegations, but objected that it was irrelevant, and that the facts alleged would not constitute a defence against plainti...