Williams v. Ketcham
| Decision Date | 16 March 1906 |
| Docket Number | 5,598 |
| Citation | 77 N.E. 285,37 Ind.App. 506 |
| Parties | WILLIAMS ET AL. v. KETCHAM |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
From Daviess Circuit Court; H. Q. Houghton, Judge.
Suit by Silas M. Ketcham against Aramittie Williams and another. From a decree for plaintiff, defendants appeal.
Affirmed.
W. R Gardiner, C. G. Gardiner and T. D. Slimp, for appellants.
Ogden & Inman and C. K. Tharp, for appellee.
This suit was instituted by the appellee against appellant Aramittie Williams and her co-appellant Cramer, to quiet title to real estate. The issues were joined and the cause tried upon the first paragraph of the complaint, which was an ordinary short form to quiet title, and the answer of Williams thereto by general denial. The law stated thereon, and decree entered in behalf of appellant Williams special findings were made, conclusions of law stated thereon, and decree entered in behalf of appellee against appellant Williams and co-appellant Cramer, quieting the title to the real estate in question and setting aside the mortgage alleged to have been executed by Cramer to Williams.
The errors relied upon for a reversal are that the court erred in its conclusions of law one and two and each of them separately and severally.
The special findings show that the defendant Aramittie Williams is a widow, and for many years has been a resident of the city of Washington, Daviess county, Indiana; that Milton S Hastings is and has been for eighteen years an attorney at law in good standing and that his law office during all of said time has been situated in the city of Washington, in said county and State; that said Aramittie was appointed administratrix of her husband's estate, and she retained said Hastings as her attorney in the settlement of said estate, and he was also her personal attorney and legal advisor; that the plaintiff and the defendant George Cramer are and ever were strangers to the defendant Aramittie Williams, and that said Aramittie Williams, at the time of the occurrences that are hereafter found to have taken place, had no personal knowledge of the location or value of said real estate, and that the plaintiff and the location of said real estate were, at the time of the occurrences hereinafter found, well known to her attorney, and that said defendant Cramer was a stranger to the plaintiff and to said attorney, except as shown by the facts hereinafter found; that the defendant George Cramer was a man apparently about forty-five years of age and of respectable appearance, and whose demeanor and appearance were those of a business man and a prosperous farmer; that on October 22, 1903, Stanley B. Johnson was a regularly appointed and acting notary public within and for said county and State, whose office as such was situated at the town of Elnora, in said county and State, and about three miles from said real estate, and that said real estate was of the value of $ 8,500; that a few days prior to October 20, 1903, the defendant George Cramer visited the plaintiff at his farm, described in the first paragraph of the complaint, and that was the first time that he and the plaintiff ever met; that said Cramer again visited the plaintiff at his farm, and as a result of negotiations between them, they entered into a parol agreement by which it was agreed between them that said Cramer was to pay him $ 9,000 in cash for his said farm; that said Cramer on October 17, 1903, visited said city of Washington, and was there introduced to said Hastings by William Beck as the purchaser of plaintiff's farm, and said attorney was then informed by said Beck that said Cramer wanted to borrow $ 2,500, and give a mortgage on said farm to secure the payment of said loan, whereupon said attorney informed them that he had a client who might make such a loan, and that he would let them know on the following Monday, all of which took place without plaintiff's knowledge; that on the following Tuesday, October 20, 1903, the plaintiff and said Cramer went to the office of said attorney together, when and where the plaintiff said to said attorney, referring to said Cramer: that the attorney informed the plaintiff and the defendant Cramer that his client would loan $ 2,500 on the farm, but that she would require an abstract of the title thereof showing the same to be good; that the plaintiff then produced an abstract of title to said farm, bringing the same down to the time of the plaintiff's purchase thereof, and employed said attorney to complete the same, and the attorney informed them that the abstract would be completed on Thursday, October 22; that on October 22, 1903, said Cramer, by himself, went to the office of said attorney, when he was informed by him that the title to said real estate was good, and that his client was ready to close up the loan; that said Cramer then requested said attorney to write a deed for the plaintiff and his wife to execute to him for said real estate, saying that he would take the same out to the plaintiff and procure its execution, and return the following day and close up the loan, whereupon said Hastings wrote said deed and gave the same to said Cramer, who went away with the same; that on said October 22, said Cramer wrote a letter to the plaintiff informing him that he would call at the farm on the following Monday, October 26, and close up the deal, which letter was received by the plaintiff at Elnora on October 22, but said Cramer never went to the plaintiff's home after writing said letter, and that the writing of said letter by said Cramer and the receipt thereof were unknown to the appellant and her attorney until November 5, 1903; that on October 23, 1903, said Cramer returned to the office of appellant's attorney with the deed that had been written as aforesaid, bearing the forged names of the plaintiff and his wife thereto, and a forged certificate of acknowledgement by them before said Stanley B. Johnson as notary public, whose name and seal were attached thereto, with a correct statement of the time when the commission of said notary public would expire; that there was nothing in the appearance of the deed calculated to excite suspicion with respect to its genuineness in the mind of a cautious lawyer or person; that it was immediately thereafter duly recorded in the proper record of said county, whereupon said Cramer executed a mortgage on said real estate to the defendant Aramittie Williams to secure the payment of a note in her favor then executed by him to her for $ 2,500, said note and mortgage having been drawn up by said attorney at the request of said Cramer, which mortgage was duly recorded in the mortgage records of Daviess county, and said Aramittie Williams at the same time gave to said Cramer her check for $ 2,500 on the People's National Bank of the city of Washington, and which, upon presentation of said check, said bank paid to him and charged the same to her account; that immediately upon the receipt of said money said Cramer left said city and county for parts unknown to said attorney and to the parties to this action, and his whereabouts is still unknown to them; that the plaintiff did not inform or notify said attorney nor said Aramittie Williams that he had not sold his farm to said Cramer, after having informed said attorney on October 20 that he had done so, nor communicate with them, or either of them, until November 5; that said Cramer has no property or means in said county or State; that said attorney, before the consummation of said loan, communicated to said Aramittie Williams all of said facts relating to the sale of said real estate by the plaintiff to said Cramer; that said attorney and said Aramittie Williams in all that they each did in relation to and in effectuating said loan acted in good faith and in the belief that said deed was the genuine deed of plaintiff and his wife; that said sum of $ 2,500 has not, nor has any part thereof, been repaid to the defendant Aramittie Williams; that said Aramittie Williams at the time of said transaction was unused to business transactions; that all through the month of October, 1903, and for a long time theretofore and ever since, there was and is a line of railroad, telegraph and telephone between said city of Washington and the town of Elnora, and that on said railroad there has run during all of said time two passenger-trains each way each day between said city of Washington and the town of Elnora, all of which trains carry United States mail, and at each of which city and town there was a station on said railroad and public telegraph and telephone offices; that when the plaintiff employed said Hastings to complete said abstract he agreed to pay him therefor a sum not to exceed $ 4 when the same should be completed, and that when the defendant Cramer went to the office of said Hastings on October 22, 1903, he paid to said Hastings said sum of $ 4, and informed him at the same time that Ketcham had sent the money...
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