53 Iowa 288 | Iowa | 1880
Considerable evidence was taken, showing statements made
As a portion of the indebtedness claimed to have been assumed was not secured upon the fai’rn,- it is possible that the intention was to defeat or delay the holders of such indebtedness. To so find, however, it would be necessary for us to find against John’s express testimony, and in so finding, we should be obliged to conclude, not only that he was guilty' of fraud, but perjury. Now, he was introduced as a witness by the plaintiff. She has commended him to us as a person worthy of belief, so far as his general character is concerned, although, of course, she is not concluded by his testimony, if there is anything to contradict it. The circumstances relied upon by the plaintiff are, to our mind, of a very slight character, and all consistent with innocence.
It is true he was a very young man to make a purchase of a farm of three hundred and sixty acres, worth $9,000, but he had been the- manager of this farm when he was still youngér, haying been forced to become such, as the evidence tends to show, by the dissolute habits of his father. Besides, young as he was, he had become liable for his father’s indebtedness to the amount of about $6,000. We think that his circumstances are a sufficient explanation, if any is needed, of his entering into a transaction seemingly beyond his years.
It is said that he was without means. But in some way, during the time that elapsed between his 'purchase and the time he gave his testimony, he managed .to raise $2,000, and apply it upon the indebtedness which he had assumed to pay.
Now, if'the fact is, as we believe it to be, that in the purchase of the farm, he agreed, in good faith, to pay its full value, and to pay not one cent to his father, but the whole tp his father’s creditors, then the purchase was not fraudulent, whatever other indebtedness may have been left unprovided for. If he agreed, for a valuable consideration, to pay $9,000 of his father’s indebtedness, he thereby became liable to his father’s creditors for that amount, and he remains liable (except so far as the indebtedness has been discharged), notwithstanding, by the décree of the court below, the plaintiff was allowed to subject the consideration received by him tó the. payment of her debt.
In our opinion, the court below erred, and the judgment must be