39 Mo. App. 303 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1890
This action was begun May 16, 1887, and is on a promissory note dated February 5, 1870, due six months after date, for one hundred and fifty dollars, with ten per cent, interest from date. The note is endorsed with credits or payments as follows : February 3, 1871, fifteen dollars; February 3, 1872, fifteen dollars; July 1, 1877, five dollars. It does not appear who made, the'endorsements, the only evidence of payment was the endorsements themselves. Judgment was rendered for plaintiff and defendant appeals.
But is the endorsement alone evidence that the payment was made at the time stated in the endorsment \ We think not. There should be other evidence showing that the endorsement was entered on the note at the time it purports to have been. Alston v. Bank, 4 Ark. 415; Beatty v. Clement, 12 La. Ann. 82; Maskel v. Pooley, 12 La. Ann. 661; Brown v. Hutchings, 14 Ark. 83; Ruddell v. Folsom, 14 Ark. 213; Wood v. Wilds, 6 Ark. 754; McGee v. Green, 6 Port. 537; Smith v. Sims, 9 Ga. 418; Adams v. Seitzinger, 1 Watts & Serg. 243; Clapp v. Ingersoll, 2 Maine, 83; Roseboon v. Billington, 17 John. 182.
The paper is in the hands of the holder and it is in his power to antedate the endorsement so as to restore a cause of action which lapse of time has defeated. Gfreenleaf in his work on evidence, section 121, states that the date of the endorsement will be inferred from its face in the absence of opposing circumstances. He cites an English case in support of his statement, but by reference to Alston v. State Bank, supra, it will be seen that such is not the rule as now
The judgment will, therefore, be reversed and the cause remanded.