147 Ky. 653 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1912
Opinion op the Court by
Affirming.
Charles S. Lyons, who did business under the name of the Lyons Lumber Company, shipped a consignment of lumber to New York City; the person to whom it was shipped refused to accept it, and Lyons went to New York to see about it, taking with him a letter of introduction from a mutual friend to H. S. Stewart, an attorney living in New York. He presented his letter of introduction to Stewart, and employed Stewart to assist him
We do not find in the record any substantial controversy as to these facts: Stewart did not know Silver-stein & Silver; he had no interest in the matter except as the attorney of Lyons; Lyons, after the note was taken told Stewart that money was very tight in Kentucky and asked his assistance in discounting the note. Stewart says that he signed the note as endorser simply for the accommodation of Lyons, and because he had been recommended to him by their mutual friend in Kentucky. The circumstances of the transaction all bear out Stewart’s version of it. It is insisted, however, that the court erred in allowing a letter which Stewart wrote to Lyons to be read in evidence,-also a telegram which Lyons sent Stewart. But Lyons when he came upon the stand practically admitted receiving the letter and sending the telegram. The copy of the letter was not admissible in evidence regularly until notice ,was given to Lyons to produce the original, and it was .shown that the original was lost. But in view of the testimony of Lyons on the trial and all the facts of .the case we can not see that he was. in any wise, prejudiced by the admission of the copy of the letter. Stewart had a right to give in evidence the telegram which he re
Besides all this, section 63 of the Negotiable Instrument Act, which is in force both in New York and Kentucky, is as follows:
“A person placing his signature upon an instrument otherwise than as maker, drawer or acceptor is deemed to he an endorser, unless he clearly indicates by appropriate words his intention to be bound in some other capacity.”
"We had before us in several recent cases, the construction of this statute, and there held that a defense such as Lyons here makes cannot he maintained. (Mechanics and Farmers Bank v. Katterjohn, 137 Ky., 427; Grayson Co. Bank v. Elbert, 143 Ky., 750; First National Bank v. Bickel, 143 Ky., 754.)
Judgment affirmed.