112 F. 404 | M.D. Penn. | 1902
On September 16, 1901, H. R. Phillips and nine others, all of Selins Grove, Pa., filed a creditors’ petition against W. A. Dreher and Floyd A. Wetherby, trading as the Dreher Shoe Company, of the same place, to have them declared bankrupts on the ground that they were insolvent, and had made an assignment for the benefit of creditors. In the petition they set forth that they were creditors of the said company having provable claims amounting in the aggregate to $1,000, each of the petitioners being an indorser or surety upon one of a series of ten notes for $100 each, signed by the Dreher Shoe Company, dated May 1, 1901, and payable in one year from date; these notes having been discounted by the First National Bank of Selins Grove, and then held by it. On this showing a subpoena and order to show cause were issued, returnable October 26th, and duly served. No response was made at the return day by the alleged bankrupts, but on October 28th Fr. Otto Muller and two other creditors came in and obtained a rule to show cause why the proceedings should not be dismissed because the petitioners did not hold provable claims, and in this, on November 19th, the alleged bankrupts and two other creditors joined. A copy of one of the notes—which are all alike—was produced at the argument, and shows that the petitioners are not indorsers, but'joint makers with the Dreher Shoe Company. But, however that may be, they were at the time of filing the petition, and still are, sureties, and no more. The bank holds the notes,- by which they, as well(as the principal debtors, are bound;' and, while it declines to move, and has at the same time notified the sureties that they will be looked to, nothing has been done to enforce the obligations, which are, in fact, not yet due; nor have the sureties paid or been called upon to pay them. Under such circumstances it is difficult to see how the proceedings can be maintained. On each of the notes referred to the -debt- or claim ⅛ that of the holder of the obligation to whom it is
The rule is made absolute, and the petition and all proceedings thereunder are dismissed.