Young v. Bradley

• Decision Date: 30 September 1873
• Citation: 1875 WL 8086,68 Ill. 553
• Parties: ALEXANDER M. YOUNG et al.v.TIMOTHY BRADLEY et al.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

68 Ill. 553

1875 WL 8086 (Ill.)

ALEXANDER M. YOUNG et al.

v.TIMOTHY BRADLEY et al.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

September Term, 1873.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Cook county; the Hon. WILLIAM A. PORTER, Judge, presiding.

This was an action of replevin, brought by Alexander M. Young, William Young and Ransom W. Dunham, partners, against Timothy Bradley, Alexander Thorne, John R. Thorne and Josiah L. Keck, to recover possession of a lot of mess pork which the plaintiffs claimed as their property.

The facts in regard to the sale, shipment and delivery of the pork by Keck to J. Brooks Johnson are fully stated in the opinion. Johnson received the pork from the railroad company and stored the same with Thorne & Co., taking negotiable warehouse receipts. While so stored, Keck replevied the pork from Thorne & Co. and Johnson, and while the same, was in the custody of the sheriff, Bradley, Young & Co., the appellants, who had purchased the pork and paid for the same, in the regular course of business, without any notice of any adverse claim thereto, and to whom were indorsed and delivered the warehouse receipts issued to Johnson, replevied this pork from the sheriff, making Thorne & Co. and Keck co-defendants in the suit.

The cause was tried before the court without a jury, and the issues found for the defendants below, and judgment entered accordingly. To reverse this judgment the plaintiffs bring the case to this court by appeal.

Messrs. MONROE, BISBEE & GIBBS, and Mr. M. W. FULLER, for the appellants.

Mr. E. WALKER, and Messrs. MATTHEWS, RAMSEY & MATTHEWS, for the appellees.

Mr. JUSTICE SHELDON delivered the opinion of the Court:

This was an action of replevin, brought against the defendants, to recover possession of a quantity of mess pork, claimed by the plaintiffs as their property. On July 26, 1872, J. L. Keck, of Cincinnati, entered into a contract with J. Brooks Johnson & Co., of Chicago, of which the following is a copy:

“Bought of J. L. Keck, of Cincinnati, Ohio, two thousand barrels of mess pork, to be either ‘McKean & Evans,’ ‘Samuel Davis, Jr.,’ ‘Joseph Ransom & Sons,’ or ““R. Beresford & Co.' brands of Cincinnati, date of packing and number of pieces to be branded on the head of each barrel with stencil or branding iron; pork to be delivered on cars at Cincinnati, Ohio, in good merchantable shipping order, for which we agree to pay (13 3/4) thirteen and three-quarter dollars per barrel at Cincinnati, Ohio.

J. BROOKS JOHNSON & Co.

J. L. KECK.”

“CHICAGO, July 26, 1872.”

“The above contract guaranteed by us on behalf of J. Brooks Johnson & Co.

E. L. & T. S. JOHNSON.”

Keck subsequently caused the pork to be hauled to the depot of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Co., at Cincinnati, and delivered to the railroad company. The railroad company issued its receipts for the pork as delivered, in the ordinary form known as “dray tickets.” The first deliveries were made to the railroad company August 8th, 1872, and the last on Saturday, August 10th, 1872, the receipts being in the following form:

“Received of McKean & Evans, at the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton railroad depot, the following articles, in good order, to be forwarded, via Richmond, to Chicago. Articles: 31 barrels mess pork; 32 barrels mess pork. Marks: R. Beresford & Co., packers.”

On that day, Saturday, an account of the purchase money of the pork at the contract price was presented to J. Brooks Johnson, in Cincinnati, and payment demanded, the railroad receipts being at the same time tendered. Payment was refused, Johnson claiming that the number of pieces was not correctly branded on the barrels, and requiring a guaranty that the numbers would count out right in Chicago, which was refused.

On Monday, August 12, at noon, the dray tickets were presented to the agent of the railroad company by the agents of Keck, and the name of B. F. Murphy & Co. was inserted as consignees, in the dray tickets, the tickets surrendered to the railroad agent, and bills of lading were issued to Keck, with B. F. Murphy & Co. designated as consignees. Meantime, the pork had been going forward to Chicago. A portion of it arrived there on Saturday, the 10th of August, and the remainder of it between Saturday night and Monday morning, August 12, and it all came consigned or way-billed to J. Brooks Johnson. The freight agent at Chicago sent word to the place of business of J. Brooks Johnson & Co. of the arrival of the pork, and inquiring what should be done with it, and in accordance with their instructions, given on Monday morning, August 12, the pork was on that day delivered at the warehouse of Thorne & Co., in Chicago, and the latter issued their warehouse receipts therefor to J. Brooks Johnson & Co., which were subsequently indorsed by them, and were received in the regular course of business by Young & Co., the plaintiffs, upon purchases made by them of several lots of the pork in question of several different parties. No question is made that, upon the evidence, the plaintiffs were bona fide and innocent purchasers of the pork for a fair consideration, in the ordinary course of business, without notice of any adverse claim.

Johnson procured Thorne & Co. to repack the pork and rebrand the number of pieces in each barrel upon it. This had been done, and regular inspection certificates accompanied the warehouse receipts, when plaintiffs bought the pork. After the purchase by the plaintiffs, and while the pork was so stored in the warehouse of Thorne & Co., Keck replevied the pork from Thorne & Co. and Johnson, and the plaintiffs brought this action of replevin for the pork against the sheriff, making Thorne & Co. and Keck co-defendants. Judgment was rendered for the defendants in the court below, and the plaintiffs bring this appeal to reverse the judgment.

The question made upon the record is, whether a right of property was shown in the...