William Camp v. Heelan

• Decision Date: 31 March 1869
• Citation: 43 Mo. 591
• Parties: WILLIAM CAMP, Adm'r of JOHN P. CAMP, Appellant, v. PATRICK D. HEELAN, Respondent.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

43 Mo. 591

WILLIAM CAMP, Adm'r of JOHN P. CAMP, Appellant,

v.PATRICK D. HEELAN, Respondent.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

March Term, 1869.

Appeal from St. Louis Circuit Court.

Isaac T. Wise, for appellant.

Slayback & Spencer, for respondent.

CURRIER, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

The plaintiff sues upon a negotiable promissory note drawn by the defendant, and payable to the order of the St. Louis, Cairo & Johnsonville Packet Company. The petition avers that the payees, for value, indorsed and delivered the note, while current, to John P. Camp, the original plaintiff, now deceased. The answer admits the execution of the note, but denies its transfer; denies that the party indorsing it was the treasurer or other agent of the packet company, having authority to indorse the note and pass the title; and then sets up, as an affirmative defense, that the note was obtained from the defendant through the fraudulent practices of the packet company's agents, and that Camp had notice of the fraud at the time the note was negotiated.

The trial was by jury, and resulted in a verdict and judgment for the defendant. The plaintiff brings the case here by appeal, and asks a reversal because of the admission of incompetent evidence offered by the defendant, and also upon the ground that the verdict was without evidence to sustain it.

The main contest had reference to the transfer of the note to Camp. It was indorsed “F. Knobel, Treas.,” and Knobel testified to the genuineness of his signature; that he was the treasurer of the packet company, and, as such, indorsed, transferred, and delivered the note to Camp for value, and before maturity, acting therein with the knowledge and approval of both the president and vice-president of the packet company. The president of the company also testified to the same general facts. There was no evidence in conflict with this. The note and indorsement were read in evidence.

It appeared that Camp loaned the packet company $55,000 (less the discount), taking the company's notes for that amount, and that the company's president and treasurer turned over to him, as collateral security for the loan, notes which had been received in settlement of subscriptions to its stock, called stock notes--the note in suit being one of them--amounting in the aggregate to some $60,000. The defendant proved by Knobel, the treasurer, that a discount of one and a half per cent. per month was taken from the face of the principal notes. This testimony...