88 Mo. App. 544 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1901
In the spring of 1900 the plaintiff in this case, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co., had an execution issued from the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Greene county, Missouri, on a judgment said firm had against H. M. Heekart and which judgment was obtained several years ago. Acting under the instructions of plaintiff’s attorney, the sheriff of Greene cqunty levied on certain watches, rings and other articles of jewelry, and also some showcases contained in the store claimed to be owned by Mrs. J. B. Heekart, wife of the defendant in the execution, H. M. Heekart. After the levy Mrs. Heekart filed her sworn claim to the property, properly verified by affidavit as approved by statute. She also gave a bond and the sheriff released the levy. After the property had been turned over to Mrs. Heekart by the sheriff, H. M. Heck-art, her husband, filed a petition to be adjudged a bankrupt and was so adjudged, and a trustee of his estate was appointed. At the October term of the Greene Circuit Court the plaintiffs, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. had the trustee in bankruptcy for H. M. Heekart also made a party plaintiff, and to Mrs. Heckart’s claim they filed answer denying her ownership of the goods levied on. A jury was impanelled and on this issue as to whether the property belonged to Mrs. Heekart or to her husband, H. M. Heekart, or as to whether it had been transferred to Mrs. Heekart by H. M. Heekart for the purpose of defrauding his creditors, the case went to trial. The court,
The evidence shows that for the past fifteen or twenty years Henry M. Heekart, the defendant in the execution, was a jeweler engaged in business at Springfield. During the year 1896 he became financially involved and was unable to meet his obligations and in December he executed a chattel mortgage or deed of trust to secure some two or three thousand dollars to the National Exchange Bank and placed the trustee in possession of his goods. A day or two after executing this deed of trust he also executed a deed of general assignment for the benefit of all his creditors and named John O’Day as assignee, and the assignee took possession of the goods assigned subject to the deed of trust that had been previously given. Mr. O’Day, the trustee, employed the defendant, Heekart, and also the clerks in the store who were familiar with the business, to sell the goods at retail for about thirty days as provided by the deed of trust, and during the time this retail sale was going on a part of the proceeds were used in purchasing such articles as were necessary to enable them more readily to sell the goods. Sometime in January, 3.89Y, after this- retail sale had been going on a few weeks, and when the debt of the National Exchange Bank had been reduced to seven or eight hundred dollars, Col. O’Day, the assignee filled a petition in the circuit court for an order to dispose of the entire stock of goods at public sale as assignee. The circuit court made order directing him to advertise the stock and sell it to the highest bidder for cash. He did advertise and at the public sale Mrs. J. B. Heekart, wife of the defendant, purchased the goods through one John Smith, a friend, and the purchase price of $2,250 was
Numerous exceptions were saved to the rulings of the court on the rejection of evidence offered by appellants. The rejected evidence had no tendency to impeach the validity of Mrs. Heckart’s title to the goods, and appellants were not prejudiced by its exclusion.
Discovering no error prejudicial to the appellants, the judgment is affirmed.