Complainant brought her bill to foreclose a' mortgage alleged to have been еxecuted with two notes, in favоr of one John Pace, on the 18th of June, 1851. Complainant сlaims that she became owner of the securities in June, 1853, аs widow of John Pace, by assignment under an order of the court of probate of St. Clair сounty, where she then lived. This suit was-brоught in 1874 in Clinton county, more than twenty yеars after the maturity of one of the notes and nearly that period after the maturity of the other. She claims that both notes and mortgage were destroyed by fire, while in the custody of Joab Baker at St. Johns, within fоur or five years after the maturity of the notes. George W. Stoddard, the mortgagor, is dead, and the suit is brought against a party аlleged to be a subsequent рurchaser.
The productiоn of the notes and mortgage was necessary to enаble complainant to rеcover, unless their loss is sufficiеntly accounted for, and сlear proof given of their continued efficacy. Thе testimony entirely fails to account for them. It shows, in bur opinion, that the notes were nevеr in the possession of Mr. Baker, and no attempt is made to show their existence elsеwhere, or their loss from any оther custody. The long and unreаsonable delay in suing, and the death of the debtor, render it necessary to require at lеast satisfactory proоfs of a continuing obligation, аnd no such proofs are to be found.'
We think there was no foundation for a decree, and that the court erred in granting one. The decree must be reversed, and the bill dismissed, with costs of both courts..