185 Ind. 335 | Ind. | 1916
Lead Opinion
— This action was brought by appellees Medford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Alfred A. Barnes, Charles Latham and Frank E. Gavin as trustees against the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, The Winona Technical Institute, Charles A. Bookwalter, receiver, and many others, to have determined the character and purpose of the trust under which they had, as such trustees, acquired and then held title to a tract of land in the city of Indianapolis known as the “United States Arsenal Grounds”. The purpose to buy the ground from the Federal government to preserve it intact as a site for a manual labor school, and to raise a fund by popular subscription to cover the purchase price was averred in the complaint. The proposal of a certain group of men known as the “Winona Group” to establish, liberally endow, and maintain a school for the education of boys and girls in trades and handicrafts on the site, if the public would so buy it, was shown. They were to incorporate the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute to conduct the school. The raising of the amount necessary for the purchase by popular donations and subscriptions from many persons for the purpose of keeping the grounds intact as a site for such a school was set forth at length. • It was then averred that when the donations and subscriptions had reached the amount necessary to make the purchase it was learned that the “Winona Group” had failed to provide any endowment; that then the appellees named, as trustees of the fund, called a meeting on January 8, 1903, of the larger subscribers, representatives of the proposed Winona corporation, and others interested to consider the matter of making the pur
Many others than those named in the complaint came in as parties and many pleadings of great length were filed, mainly in the nature of answers to the complaint, and cross-complaints between the many parties defendant. Three of the donors of large sums, Fletcher S. Hines, William E. Hayward .and Edward C. Fletcher, by their answers and cross-complaints, took the position that, as the “Winona Group” had failed to raise either a promised endowment of $2,000,000 and provide an annual income of $50,000 as originally contemplated when thesubscriptions weremade, or to raise $154,000 as provided when the subscriptions were paid in response to the “blue letter,” the trust was never consummated but had failed and that the property held by the trustees should be sold by the court and the proceeds divided among the donors who were about 4,000 in number, to the exclusion of the creditors of the institute, in the ratio that the gift of each should bear to any sum for which the property might sell. The creditors of. the Winona Technical Institute, made up in the main of those who had loaned it money to fit the buildings and carry on the schools, after it had entered into possession claimed, through that corporation as their common debtor, that the property stood charged in equity with their several demands
The court found the facts specially and stated conclusions of law thereon favorably to the position taken by Mr. Harris and others and against the contentions of the donors Hines, Fletcher and Hayward, and the creditors of the institute; and, following motions for a new trial, rendered judgment accordingly. From that judgment the three donors last mentioned and the creditors have brought this appeal. The errors assigned and relied on for reversal by the donors who have appealed and also the creditors are: (1) That the court erred
The vital questions in the case make it essential to set out the facts, in substance, as the court found them to be established by the evidence to the extent that they are involved in the questions raised by the assignments of error. In 1902, the United States Government owned, and for many years theretofore had owned, a tract of land, much of it wooded and substantially in a primeval state, which comprised slightly less than eighty acres in the city of Indianapolis. It had been devoted to use by the government as an arsenal site and small military post and, at the time named, there were on it a small number of old but substantial buildings which had been erected for that use. During the years of the government’s ownership, the city in its growth had completely surrounded the tract so that in 1902 it lay near the heart of the city. It then became known that the government proposed selling the tract. Thereupon a concerted movement was initiated by the press, civic and educational organizations, public officials and public-spirited citizens to procure the tract by purchase from the government and to hold and preserve it intact for park and educational uses in the city. While this movement was gathering force and taking shape, a group of men of large means who were connected with or interested in the Winona Assembly and Summer School Association, a corporation conducting a chautauqua and summer school at Winona Lake, Indiana, proposed that they would endow and manage a technical institute to be located on the arsenal grounds, if the citizens of Indianapolis and vicinity would secure for them those grounds and buildings, the management of
“This is to be a national school, national as to its officers, its teachers, and the territory from which it will draw its students.
“This directory is a unit in regarding Christian character as the foundation for all real success in life, non-sectarian, but strictly evangelical, religious teaching will be impressed upon the heart and conscience of every pupil,*348 and the Bible will be given its proper place as the most important text-book.
“There will be no charity students and- no free tuition. The most precious possession any boy has or can have is his manhood, and we believe that no boy can retain his manhood unimpaired and obtain and accept things for nothing. We do not believe that the state of society or the church owes any man or boy either a living or education. But every boy is entitled to a chance to obtain an education, and also that which is just as important, the chance to pay for it either in money or in labor.
“If a boy’s parents or friends want to pay in full for his education, he will be paid in cash for his physical labor, but he must work just as many hours as the boy who pays for his education by labor alone.
“The statement, endowment and place of collection of subscriptions will be made by the trustees as soon as they can hold a meeting. The Technical Institute will be dedicated with a fixed annual income of not less than $50,000 aside from the money received from tuition.
“As ample security to the subscribers, trustees will not only hold the collected funds, but also a deed to the property until they and the subscribers are thoroughly’ satisfied that the school can have a sufficient inauguration and maintenance through a fixed and ample endowment.”
A prospectus was prepared for use in the canvass for donations to the fund to purchase the real estate which prospectus was approved by Dr. S. C. Dickey and the chairman of the canvassing committee. The prospectus was printed and used by the solicitors canvassing, and by them presented to each person solicited. It contained a statement of the plans and purposes in which was this sentence:
“One thing we may assure — the men who compose the board of the Winona Agricultural*349 and Technical Institute will be satisfied with nothing less than the best faculty that can be secured, and that we will not rely upon tuition of the students for means with which to meet the salaries of the teachers. Men who are heart and soul in this movement will supply such expenses by generous contributions. They have already taken up the work and signified their intention, so we are not building a fabric of plans on a foundation lacking substantial qualities.”
The name S. C. Dickey was printed at the close of the statement containing the foregoing sentence. It also contained a list of the men constituting the officers and directors of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute. The following statement also appeared in it:
“The press of Indianapolis has unanimously endorsed and favored the purchase of the Arsenal site and the establishment of a technical institute, and at the conference on July 8th of the joint committees representing the press, Commercial Club, Board of Trade, University of Indianapolis, Woodruff Place, Winona Assembly, and the citizens of Indianapolis Hon. A. C. Harris, presiding, the following resolutions were adopted unanimously:
“ ‘Believing that the United States Arsenal grounds of this city should be preserved intact and used for educational purposes, we, as members of a conference committee, representing the board of trade, Commercial Club, University of Indianapolis, The Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, the press and citizens of Indianapolis, and Woodruff Place, endorse the project of the Winona Agricultural Institute to purchase the grounds for the purpose of establishing thereon a National Technical Institute. We commend the plan proposed for raising the necessary funds by subscription,*350 the money thus secured to be held by five trustees, citizens of Indianapolis, in trust for the object named, it being understood that the grounds when purchased will be deeded to The Agricultural Institute, which has, by resolution, pledged itself to manage and endow the institute. It is further understood that the detailed management of the school shall be placed in the hands of a local committee, who shall work in conjunction with the executive committee of the Winona Agricultural and.Technical Institute.
“ ‘We recommend the appointment of an executive committee of five members to have full power in the conduct of the canvass for funds and in the negotiations with the Government for the purchase of the grounds.
“ ‘Resolved, that we commend to the attention of the people of the city of Indianapolis the opportunity here offered to secure not only the national technical institute, but an Army Post, the site for which by Act of Congress may be purchased at the option of the Secretary of War, with the funds realized from the sale of the Arsenal Grounds.’
“The committee as called for in the resolutions was agreed upon as follows: Addison C. Harris, Hilton U. Brown, representing' the University of Indianapolis, Frank E. Gavin, President Commercial Club, John J. Appel, President of Indianapolis Board of Trade, Dr. Sol C. Dickey, representing Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, Mayor Bookwalter, representing the City of Indianapolis.
“The following were named as Trustees to hold the fund that may be subscribed: Medford B. Wilson, President Capitol National Bank; Charles Latham, Cashier Fletcher National Bank; John Perrin, President American National Bank; A. A. Barnes, Director Columbia National Bank, and Judge Frank E. Gavin, President Commercial Club.
“The special solicitors with the knowledge*351 and approval- of said canvassing committee prepared a blank form for those who made donations to sign, in form following:
“ ‘Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute.
Indianapolis, Indiana,-1902.
“ ‘In consideration of the promise of the proposed organizers of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute to duly incorporate said institute under the laws of Indiana and to establish the technical department of said institute upon the United States Arsenal site at Indianapolis, Indiana, if the amount hereinafter mentioned, my subscription included, shall be subscribed thereto and said arsenal site can be purchased, I promise upon demand to pay to Medford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Charles Latham, A. A. Barnes and Prank E. Gavin, Trustees, or their successors or order, the sum of- dollars, to be used in the purchase of said arsenal site for said Winona Institute’s technical department and the establishment of said department, provided that, and this subscription is subject to the condition that,'valid bona fide subscriptions of like purport with this subscription to the amount of $150,000.00 shall have been made, and provided further that the sum by me hereby subscribed shall not be demanded or payable until such aggregate amount shall be subscribed.
The trustees whose names appear in said subscription blank were selected pursuant .to the resolution set forth above at one of the public meetings held at the inception of the movement to raise said funds, and the fact of their selection as said trustees was, at the time, published in the Indianapolis News, and a copy of said blank was published daily in said paper for a long period of time, with a request to its readers to make their subscriptions on such blank and forward the same to the In
“Technical Institute Fund.
Indianapolis, Indiana,-, 1903.
I promise to pay upon demand to Medford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Charles Latham, A. A. Barnes and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, or their successors or order the sum of - dollars for the purpose of the purchase of the Arsenal Site for the Technical Institute (the amount paid hereon to said trustees to be returned to the undersigned in case the said Technical Institute shall not be located on said Arsenal Site).”
About 4,000 different persons, some of whose names were at the time unknown to the solicitors, made contributions to the fund in sums ranging from five cents to $15,000. Of the sum thus donated by parties whose names were known about three-fourths thereof was donated by parties who signed one or the other of the foregoing forms of subscription blanks, only a comparatively small number of them signing the second form, it being used near the close of the canvass. About one-fourth of the fund was paid in by donors who did not sign, any form of subscription blank. In addition to those whose names were known a great number of individuals donated small sums by contributing to collections taken in large manufacturing plants and business houses employing large numbers of men and women, in which cases the total collection for each house or manufacturing plant was turned in to the soliciting committee in the name of some -one of the contributors and the names of
“Resolved, that it is the belief of the Board of Trustees that the deed of conveyance for the arsenal grounds to the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, should contain clauses limiting the property to educational uses, prohibiting its being mortgaged and providing that it might be sold should the Institute deem it wise only on condition that the proceeds should form a trust fund to be forever invested in real estate in Indianapolis to be used for educational purposes in said city; with a provision of reversion to the city of Indianapolis should said real estate or the proceeds of the same at any time cease to be used for educational purposes in said city of Indianapolis.
“Resolved, further, that the deed should not be delivered to said Institute until it shall have obtained in cash or in bona fide collectible subscriptions, an amount equal to the purchase*355 price of the real estate to be used for Institute at Indianapolis.
“Resolved, further, that upon said Institute’s having secured such sum for such purpose in cash or subscriptions as above it shall be deemed entitled to such conveyance and the same shall be accordingly made.”
Appellants Hines, Fletcher and Hayward had no knowledge of the meeting or of this resolution. Omitting the date, which was January 13, 1903, the “blue letter” reads as follows:
“The undersigned trustees for the Technical Institute fund hereby inform you that valid and bona fide subscriptions to the full amount of $150,000 have been secured for the purchase of the Arsenal Site from the Government for the purpose of establishment of the proposed Technical Institute thereon.
“That the object may be certainly fulfilled it has been determined by your trustees and agreed to by the representatives of the Institute that the deed of conveyance to the institute limit the property and all its proceeds to educational uses in the city of Indianapolis, and the deed to the Arsenal Site property shall not be delivered by the trustees to the Institute corporation until it shall have in cash or bona fide collectible subscriptions a sum at least equal to the purchase price of the real estate. In order, therefore, that the Trustees may be in position to promptly submit their offer for the property, you are kindly requested to co-operate by making immediate payment of your subscription at the bank designated in the enclosed notice.”
After the subscribers had been thus specifically advised of the limitations and conditions upon which a deed would be made to the Institute, payments were made by the subscribers, and on these terms some additional donations were’ secured.
“This article of agreement between Med-ford B. Wilson, John Perrin, A. A. Barnes, Chas. Latham, and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, as parties of the first part and the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, parties of the second part witnesseth, that:
“Whereas, Said Trustees have purchased and paid for the land near Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, known as the Arsenal Grounds, being the east one-half of the northwest quarter of section six (6) township fifteen,. Range four and as such trustees now hold the title thereto, and
“Now, therefore, it is hereby agreed that said Technical Institute shall take possession of, _ care for and manage said property at its own' expense and without any power to make or create any charge therefor, or open any account against said Trustees and shall hold the same until possession thereof may be demanded by said Trustees upon the order of the majority thereof. It is further expressly stipulated that upon such demand being at any time made, all right of said Technical Institute under this contract, and all persons holding through or under them, shall at once cease and be at an end, and said Institute shall deliver and surrender possession thereof to such trustees.
“It is further expressly understood and agreed that any possession of said property which said institute may take and hold is under and by virtue of this contract, and not otherwise, and until it shall obtain a deed therefor from said Trustees.”
Certain of the court’s findings are specifically assailed in certain errors assigned by the donors who have appealed. These are the eighth finding, relating to the meeting of January 8, 1903, preceding the sending out of the “blue letter,” set
The tenth finding, so far as is material, is as follows: “And at the time said donations were pledged, and at the time they were paid in, the donors understood and intended that said fund so donated and paid should and would be used by said trustees in purchasing such real estate to be held in trust by said trustees or some corporation or persons selected by them in perpetuity as a site for a National Technical School, and that the said real estate should be retained intact for such purpose. And said trustees when they accepted such trust and received said funds and said conveyance to said lands so understood the intentions of said donors. The principal object and purpose in the minds of the various donors in making their subscriptions, payments and donations to said fund, were the establishment and maintenance upon said arsenal grounds of trade schools, the preservation of said grounds intact and its permanent dedication to educational uses in said city of Indianap olis. ’ ’
The twenty-second finding is as follows:- “The School City of Indianapolis is ready and willing to accept the real estate in controversy in trust and establish and maintain a technical school thereon, open to all students residing in said school city, as students are admitted to other schools in said city.”
Those of the conclusions of law stated by the court which are assailed, in this appeal are, in substance, as. follows:
(1) The real estate described in the complaint and the findings herein and known as the arsenal grounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, is held by the plaintiffs as trustees of a public charitable trust, in trust to be forever kept intact and dedicated to
On the other hand appellant donors assert in their pleadings that no public trust was within the
The issues thus raised compelled an inquiry into the common purpose in the minds of the donors in making gifts to the fund, and the capacity in which appellee trustees took and held the fund and the title to the real estate purchased with it. It seems to have been assumed and conceded by all who tendered these issues that the subscription blanks did not fully illuminate the intent and purpose of the donors or any of them at the time they actually paid their money. The cross-complaints of appellant donors did not, and manifestly could not, rely solely on the terms of the subscription blank. They based their claims on the “blue letter” and on “representations, publications, statements, conditions, agreements and understandings both oral and written.” The cross-complaint of the only one of them who signed the subscription blank of the second form (for $100 only) showed that he thereafter subscribed and paid $4,400 additional without signing any kind of a subscription form, and his letter accompanying this gift is full of tbe purest charitable spirit. And it appears and is found by the court that many contributed to the fund who subscribed to no paper. So it was assumed that resort must be had to parol testimony to uncover the common purpose of all who contributed to the fund. Much of such evidence was given. Much of it by appellant donors, and some of it by appellee trustees at the request of appellant donors. It is
The evidence shows without contradiction that no stockholder of the proposed corporation was to profit from the school. It was to be established and maintained by men of large means who were actuated solely by motives of good works towards the boys and girls and the public generally in the form of education in trade and technical schools. While tuition would not be free, yet provision was to be made for those lacking money to go through the schools to work their way through; and provision was to be made for night schools for those whose necessity compelled them to work in the day time. It was recognized, and several times expressly stated by Dr.’ Dickey, that the Winona people were to hold the tract in trust for this proposed school. In addition to evidence of the character here detailed there was much direct testimony of donors of their intent and purpose in giving their money all going to support the tenth finding.
There is no doubt from all this and other evidence that the donors, when they made their subscriptions, had it in mind that, when the legal title to the land
Even if it be conceded that the original purpose was to make an absolute gift to the institute, it is nevertheless evident that at any time before the subscriptions were completed by payment the donors could have restricted the purpose by limiting the use. And if it were necessary to avoid appellant donors’ contentions that they purposed making a
The thing that gave rise to the desire in the minds of the public to secure and preserve this tract was the beauty and situation of it, its parklike nature and its adaptability for public educational purposes. The desire of the public to possess it and its willingness to contribute to a fund for its purchase was not raised in the first instance by the proposal of the “Winona Group.” The latter did not come to the city of Indianapolis merely to present to its people as something entirely new a proposition to establish a great technical school if the citizens would give a site, but they came offering themselves as instruments to aid in carrying into effect a broadly charitable purpose already existing to secure and devote to educational purposes this particular site and keep it parklike as a campus. This they did, it is obvious, with knowledge that the public interest
. The donors gave their money into the hands of appellee trustees to execute a charitable purpose then in their minds. And with it they charged the trustees with the duty to purchase the arsenal site for a general charitable purpose of devoting it to educational uses in the city of Indianapolis and coupled with this was the further duty to convey in trust, when it should qualify as contemplated, to the corporation which proposed to carry out the particular object of the gift. The trust was then created. There was nothing more for the donors to do and certainly they could not revoke the gift or demand a return of the money before the day of the sale. Of course, if the government had withdrawn the property from sale or if some other interest had outbid the trustees, or, if for any such reason they could not accomplish the purchase, in such ease the whole purpose, general and particular, would have
In Winona Technical Institute, etc. v. Stolte (1909), 173 Ind. 39, 89 N. E. 393, there is a dictum, based
In Martin v. McCullough, supra, this court quoted approvingly the following: “Where one ‘clearly * * * manifests an intention to make a present gift * * * to another, and in consummation of his intention makes a delivery to a third person for the use of the intended donee, as he is then capable of making, considering the character and situation of the property, the person to whom delivery is thus made will be presumed,' . * * * to take the property as trustee for the intended donee, and not merely as agent of the donor’ ”. In Grant Trust etc., Co. v. Tucker, supra, it was said: “The ultimate question as to whether the bank occupied the position of agent or trustee is one of fact to be determined from the intentions of the donor, the writing on the envelope containing the bonds, the situation and relation of the parties, the kind and character of the property, and the things said and done in regard thereto, all as disclosed by the evidence.”
The court’s findings and the application of the law thereto are in the broad spirit of the rule of equity that where a charitable purpose, as here
What has been said necessarily answers much of the brief of appellant creditors. Their reliance was placed first on the proposition that the Winona Technical- Institute of Indianapolis, their debtor, was the beneficiary of the donations and, as such, was the owner of the property purchased with the donations and, as such owner, is liable for the debts due appellants as any other debtor is liable. This contention fails with the conclusion reached as to the relation of their debtor, the Winona Technical Institute, to the property. The gift was not to that corporation, but to those whom its use of the property was designed to benefit.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion.
— In presenting the views of . the writer it will serve no good purpose to set out in
The special finding of facts is as follows:
“First. In the year 1902 and for a long time prior thereto the United States Government owned the following described real estate in Marion County, in the State of Indiana, to-wit: The East Half of the Northwest Quarter of Section Six, in Township Fifteen North and Range Four West, and occupied and used the same as an Arsenal site and military post.
“In the year 1902 it became known, in the City of Indianapolis, that'a sale of said tract of land was contemplated by the Government authorities, with the view of purchasing another and larger site entirely outside of the city of Indianapolis on which to establish a larger military post. The City of Indianapolis had grown and extended so that at said time and at the present time, said tract, of land was, and is, within the corporate limits of said City, and said city is built up compactly on all sides of said tract and for many blocks distant therefrom in all directions.
“Second. There were, and are now, a number of substantial buildings on said tract of land, which were and are now suitable to be used for. educational purposes, and particularly in connection with a Technical School for the teaching of mechanical arts, and said tract of land was well adapted to be used as a public park or for educational purposes. And when it became known to the citizens of Indianapolis that a sale of said tract was contemplated, a movement was started by public spirited citizens, the press, civic bodies and mayor of said city to*403 purchase said tract for some park or educational purpose, which would result in preserving it in substantially its then condition as an open place in the midst of a closely built portion of said city and which would add to the beauty and healthfulness thereof.
“While said movement was taking shape a group of men of large means, who were connected with or interested in the Winona Assembly and Summer School Association, a corporation conducting a chautauqua and summer school at Winona Lake, Indiana, determined to establish an agricultural and technical school, the agricultural department of which should be at Winona Lake and the technical department at Indianapolis, provided the citizens of Indianapolis would purchase said tract of land from the United States Government as a site on which to locate said technical department. Said group of gentlemen representing said Winona interests held a meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa., on the 2d day of March, 1902, and adopted the following resolution, to-wit:
“ ‘That we will endow and manage a technical institute in Indianapolis provided the citizens of Indianapolis and vicinity will secure for us the United States Arsenal grounds and buildings, free of cost of encumbrance, or provided they will secure grounds and buildings of equal suitability or value, and our executive committee is empowered to make all contracts in the matter.
“ ‘That the management of this technical institute should, in our judgment, be conducted largely through a local committee composed of the citizens of Indianapolis.’
“Said men adopted said resolution and acted in said matter as the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, but at that time no corporation of that name existed. They authorized and empowered Dr. S. C. Dickey to act for them in connection with the citizens of Indianapolis in securing donations of money by*404 said citizens, sufficient to purchase said tract of land as a site for said technical department of said school.
“Said men so adopting said resolution were men of large fortunes and well able to endow said school in a manner to insure its success and perpetuity, and such fact was well known to many of the citizens of Indianapolis.
“Third. On or about the 23rd day of April, 1902, a meeting was held in the city of Indianapolis attended by representative citizens, members of various civic bodies, representatives of the press of the city at which the said Dr. S. C. Dickey appeared on behalf of said Winona people and presented said resolution and the plans of said people to establish said proposed technical school, and represented that men of great wealth were ready to and would establish and endow such a school if the citizens of Indianapolis would by donations purchase said tract of land as a site on which to establish such a school.
“It was then determined by those present at said meeting'to abandon all other efforts to purchase said tract of land for other purposes, and to unite in an effort to raise a fund with which to purchase said tract of land as a site on which such Technical School might be permanently located. Other and similar meetings were held near the same time at which other representatives of said Winona people were present and urged the purchase of said, tract for said Technical School, and made similar representations as to the ability and the purposes and intentions of said men to establish and permanently endow such a school if the citizens of Indianapolis would purchase such a site.
“At one of said meetings a committee was appointed under a resolution which is set out in full in finding No. 4, to have the charge and oversight of the effort to solicit and collect a fund with which to buy said tract of land. The defendant, Addison C. Harris, was chair*405 man of said committee and said Dr. S. C. Dickey was. a member thereof. George W. Brown and Albert Sahm were selected as special canvassers to solicit subscriptions for said fund and they were so selected on the suggestion of said Dr. S. C. Dickey,, and he reported their selection to said Winona people who approved the same, without, however, reporting such approval to the said chairman of such committee.
“Fourth. Said canvassers at once entered upon an active canvass among the citizens of Indianapolis, soliciting funds to the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars which it was then supposed would be sufficient for the purchase of said land. Said solicitors kept in close totieh with the said Dr. Dickey, and kept him informed as to the progress of the canvass, the nature of the literature which they were placing before the public, and of the efforts of the committee and all the parties interested in collecting said fund. The said Dr. Dickey and said solicitors furnished information of the nature, purposes, and progress of the canvass to the press of the city of Indianapolis, and especially to the Indianapolis News, a paper published daily in said city, of wide circulation throughout said city, and the State of Indiana, and which was very generally read by the people of said city and state. The said Indianapolis News tendered the use of its columns for the purpose of aiding in said enterprise and articles, some of them signed by the said Dr.. Dickey or said canvassers, many of them editorials, and many of them news items, and purported interviews with the said Dr. Dickey or said solicitors appeared almost daily in said paper during the summer, fall and winter of 1902, while said canvass was being made. The whole tenor and effect of said articles and publications was that if the people of Indianapolis would donate a sum sufficient to purchase said site that said men of wealth*406 would establish and endow a National Technical School thereon, and that a sum was already in sight sufficient to erect necessary buildings and pay the expenses of the operation of said school for a period of ten years, and that an ample endowment was assured to continue its operation permanently as a national school, which would bring large numbers of students from all parts of the country. Said articles and statements were never publicly repudiated, denied or criticised. And were read by and known to said Dr. Dickey as the same were published.
“Among said publications appearing in said Indianapolis News were the following which were authorized by said Dr. Dickey as representative of said Winona people and without consultation with said committee or the chairman thereof, to-wit:
“ ‘This is to be a national school, national as to its officers, its teachers, and the territory from which it will draw its students.
“ ‘This Directory is a unit in regarding Christian character as the foundation for all real success in life, non-sectarian, but strictly evangelical, religious teaching will be impressed upon the heart and conscience of every pupil, and the Bible will be given its proper place as the most important text-book.
“ ‘There will be no charity students and no free tuition. The most precious possession any boy has or can have is his manhood, and we believe that no boy can retain his manhood unimpaired and obtain and accept something for nothing. We do not believe that the state or society or the church owes any man or boy either a living or an education. But every boy is entitled to a chance to obtain an education, and also that which is just as important, the chance to pay for it either in money or in labor.
“ ‘If a boy’s parents or friends want to pay in full for his education, he will be paid in cash for his physical labor, but he must work just as*407 many hours as the boy who pays for his education by labor alone.
“ ‘The statement, -endowment and place of collection of subscriptions will be made by the trustees as soon as they can hold a meeting. The Technical Institute will be dedicated with a fixed annual income of not less than $50,000 aside from the money received from tuition.
“ ‘As ample security to'the subscribers, trustees will not only hold the collected funds, but also a deed to the property until they and the subscribers are thoroughly satisfied that the school can have a sufficient inauguration and maintenance through a fixed and ample endowment.’
“A prospectus was prepared for use in the canvass for donations to the fund to purchase said real estate, which prospectus was approved by the said Dr. S. C. Dickey and the chairman of said canvassing committee. Said prospectus was printed and used by the solicitors canvassing, and by them presented to each person solicited. It contained a copy of the ‘Pittsburgh resolution.’ A statement of the plans and purposes and in said statement was this sentence: ‘One thing we may assure — the men who compose the board of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute will be satisfied with nothing less than the best faculty that can be secured, and that we will not rely upon tuition of the students for means with which to meet the salaries of the teachers. Men who are heart and soul in this movement will provide such expenses by generous contributions. They have already taken up the work and signified their intentions, so we are not building a fabric of plans on a foundation lacking substantial qualities.’ The name S. C. Dickey was printed at the close of the statement containing the foregoing sentences.
“Said prospectus also contained a list of the names of the men constituting the officers and directors of the Winona Agricultural and Tech*408 nieal Institute-. The following statement also appeared in said prospectus:
“ ‘The press of Indianapolis has unanimously endorsed and favored the purchase of the Arsenal Site and the establishment of a technical institute, and at the conference on July 8th of the joint committees representing the press, Commercial Club, Board of Trade, University of Indianapolis, Woodruff Place, Winona Assembly, and the citizens of Indianapolis, Hon. A. C. Harris, presiding, the following resolutions were adopted unanimously:
“ ‘ “ RESOLUTIONS.
“ ‘ “Believing that the United States Arsenal grounds of this city should be preserved intact and used for educational purposes, we, as members of a conference committee, representing the Board of Trade, Commercial Club, University of Indianapolis, The Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, the press and citizens of Indianapolis, and Woodruff Place, endorse the project of the Winona Agricultural Institute to purchase the grounds for the purpose of establishing thereon a National Technical Institute. We commend the plan proposed for raising the necessary fund by subscription, the money thus secured to be held by five trustees, citizens of Indianapolis, in trust for the object named, it being understood that the grounds when purchased will be deeded to the Agricultural Institute, which has, by resolution, pledged itself to manage and- endow the institute. It is further understood that the detailed management of the school shall be placed in the hands of a local committee, who shall work in conjunction with -the executive committee of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute.
“ ‘ “We recommend the appointment of an executive committee of five members to have full power in the conduct of the canvass for funds and in the negotiations with the Government for the purchase of the Grounds.
*409 “ ‘ “Resolved, That we commend to the attention of the people of Indianapolis the opportunity here offered to secure not only the national technical institute, but an Army Post, the site for which by Act of Congress may be purchased at the option of the Secretary of War with the funds realized from the sale of the Arsenal grounds.” ’
“The committee as called for in the resolutions was agreed upon as follows: Addison C. Harris, Hilton U. Brown, representing the University of Indianapolis, Frank E. Gavin, President Commercial Club; John J. Appel, President Indianapolis Board of Trade; Dr. Sol C. Dickey, representing Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute; Mayor Book-waiter, representing the city of Indianapolis.
“ ‘The following were named as trustees to hold the funds that may be subscribed: Med-ford B. Wilson, President Capital National Bank; Charles Latham, Cashier Fletcher National Bank; John Perrin, President American National Bank; A. A. Barnes, Director Columbia National Bank, and Judge Frank E. Gavin, President Commercial Club.’
“The committee named in said resolutions is the same committee that is referred to in finding No. 3.
“Fifth. Said solicitors with the knowledge and approval of . said canvassing committee prepared a blank form for those who made donations to sign, which form is as follows, to-wit:
“ ‘Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute.Indianapolis, Indiana,-, 1902.
“ ‘In consideration of the promise of the proposed organizers of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute to duly incorporate said institute under the laws of Indiana and to establish the technical department of said institute upon the United States Arsenal Site at Indianapolis j Indiana, if the amount hereinafter mentioned, my subscription included, shall*410 be subscribed thereto and said arsenal site can be purchased, I promise upon demand to pay to Medford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Charles Latham, A. A. Barnes, and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, or their successors or order, the sum of--dollars, to be used in the purchase of said arsenal site for said Winona Institute’s technical department and the establishment of said department, provide that and this subscription is subject to the condition that, valid bona fide subscriptions of like purport with this subscription to the amount of $150,000.00 shall have been made, and provided further that' the sum by me hereby subscribed shall not be demanded or payable until such aggregate amount shall have been subscribed.
“The trustees whose names appear in said subscription blank were selected pursuant to the resolution set forth in finding No. 4 at one of the public meetings held at the inception of the movement to raise said funds and the fact of their selection as said trustees was at the time published in the Indianapolis News and a copy of said blank was published daily in said paper for a long period of time with a request to its readers to make their subscriptions on such blank and forward the same to the Indianapolis News or, to the soliciting committee.
“And a number of subscriptions were made in that way without any other solicitation than that appearing in the columns of the News. Other subscriptions were taken on a blank in the following form, to-wit:
“ ‘Technical Institute Fund.
Indianapolis, Ind., -, 1903. -
“ T promise to pay upon demand to Med-ford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Charles Latham, A. A. Barnes, and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, or their successors or order the sum of-dollars for the purpose of the purchase of the Arsenal Site for the Technical Institute (the*411 amount paid hereon to said trustees to be returned to the undersigned in case the said Technical Institute shall not be located on said Arsenal Site.’
“About four thousand different persons whose names were at the time known to the solicitors made contribution to the fund in sums ranging from five cents to fifteen thousand dollars. Many of those who made the smaller donations and whose names were then known are now unknown and the Court is unable to ascertain their names. Of the sum thus donated by parties whose names were known about three-fourths thereof was donated by parties who signed one or the other of the foregoing forms of subscription blanks, only a comparative small number of them signing the second form it being used near the close of the canvass. About one-fourth of said sum was paid in by donors who did not sign any form of subscription blank. In addition to those whose names were known a great number of individuals donated small sums by contributing to collections taken in large manufacturing establishments and business houses employing large numbers of men and women, in which cases the total collection for each house or manufacturing establishment was turned in to the soliciting committee in the name of some one of the contributors and the names of the others so contributing were never known to the soliciting committee or any one connected with the collection of said fund or the promotion of said enterprise.
“About three thousand dollars was subscribed and paid in in this manner from fifteen or twenty different institutions and establishments.
“Of said four thousand persons contributing to said fund of $154,000 the names of about twenty-six hundred of them are in evidence in this case and the amount contributed by said last number, including fifteen thousand dollars paid in by the Winona Assembly and Summer School Association amounted to about $150,000.
*412 “The defendant- and cross-complainant, Flecther S. Hines subscribed and paid the sum of Five Thousand Dollars to said fund; the defendant, Edward S, Fletcher, subscribed and paid to said fund the sum of Twenty-five Hundred Dollars; and the defendant, Addison H. Nor dyke subscribed and paid to such fund the sum of One Thousand Dollars. Each of said contributors made his subscription on a blank of the form first above set out.
“The defendant Edward C. Fletcher clipped said form of subscription from the Indianapolis News and signed and mailed the same and had no other information concerning the effort and canvass to raise funds for said purpose than that obtained from the columns of said Indianapolis News.
“Said Hines, Fletcher and Nordyke each paid his subscription without any notice or knowledge of the resolution adopted Jan. 8* 1903, as set out in the eighth finding, and without any notice that any such meeting was held as is described in said finding No. 8.
“The defendant and cross-complainant, William E. Hayward subscribed $500.00 to said fund on the 22nd day of September, 1902, on a blank of the form first above set out, and paid the same on the 14th day of January, 1903; on March 4, 1903, he subscribed an additional $100.00 to said fund on the second form of blank above set out, and he paid the same onMareh 13, 1903, on or about March 12, 1903, he subscribed by letter to said fund the sum $3,400.00 which letter addressed to the trustees of said fund is as follows, to-wit:
“ ‘Dear Sirs — As the time draws near for the purchase or failure to purchase the Arsenal Site on the 16th inst., I feel it my duty to add to my subscription already amounting to six hundred ($600.00) dollars. I now do what the public has got to do, or a few benevolently disposed individuals, subscribe a sum, that in this day of cheap prices including the cheap*413 rent of money will cause me to go down into my resources to an extent that I feel the sacrifice. I feel that I would do almost anything to to assist the city to acquire the Technical Institute with all its advantages to the rising generations without considering the commercial advantages referred to in some of the appeals, as in my youth I had only the advantage of an education represented by the Three R’s I now want to be instrumental in giving rising generations an opportunity for usefulness in the higher walks of life. I now want to clear my conscience and wash my hands of any responsibility of the failure of securing to our city so important and lasting a benefit to this community_ by subscribing the sum of $3,400.00, filling out my total subscription to $4,000 and I hereby bind myself for that amount. If this from a stranger in your midst, as it were, will not bring the Technical Institute, with all of its elevating effects on students and citizens of your city alike, I shall have the satisfaction of feeling that I did my best to secure the coveted institution.
“ ‘Yours truly,
William E. Hayward.’
“Said Hayward paid said subscription of $3,400.00 on March 14, 1903, together with an additional one of $1,000.00 contributed by him that day by giving his check dated March 14, 1903, for $4,400.00 a copy of which cheek is as follows:
“ ‘No. 36175. Real Estate Office of W. E. Hayward. Established 1867.
Indianapolis, Indiana, Mar. 14, 1903.
‘Pay to the order of G. W. Brown for technical fund Pour Thousand Pour Hundred Dollars, in current funds. $4,400.00 to Capital National Bank, Indianapolis, Indiana.
W. E. Hayward.’
“Endorsed: ‘G. W. Brown for technical fd.’
“That all said several payments were made by said Hayward without any notice or knowledge*414 of the resolution adopted January 8-, 1903, by said trustees and certain subscribers to said fund, as described in finding No. 8 herein.
“Sixth. On the 6th day of August, 1902, Articles of Incorporation under the voluntary association law of the State of Indiana, attempting to incorporate ‘The Winona Agricultural'and Technical Institute’ were filed in the office of the Secretary.of State of the State of Indiana. Said Articles of Incorporation provided and stipulated that, ‘The principal place of business of said association or corporation where its head office will be located is in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana’, and ‘the amount of the capital stock of this association or corporation shall be and is One Hundred Thousand Dollars, and same shall be divided into shares of One Hundred Dollars each in amount.’
“And it is further provided in Articles 2, 3, 6 and 8 of said Articles of Incorporation and Association, and articles 2, 3, 6 and 8 of said Articles of Association, respectively, are as follows, to-wit:
“ ‘II. Said association and corporation is organized for pecuniary profit, in the sense only that it will charge and receive money for tuition, board and like school fees and bills, but in the sense that the members of shareholders of said association and corporation shall be entitled to receive dividends or like distributive shares of surplus income, earnings issues and profits of said association it is not organized for pecuniary profit, inasmuch as said association is organized for philanthropic purposes and its stock shall be issued and accepted with the express agreement that all surplus of earnings income, issues and profits shall forever remain the property of said association and that no dividends or like distributive parts of any such surplus shall ever be given or paid to the holders of the stock of said association and that upon the expiration of the term of existence of said association as hereinafter provided, all of*415 the property of whatsoever kind, which said association shall then possess shall be given absolutely and in fee simple to another corporate body having similar objects, purposes and policies to those of this association as shall be decided by' the Board of Trustees of this association then in office. The amount of the capital stock of this association or corporation shall be and is one hundred thousand dollars and the same shall be divided into shares of $100.00 each in amount.’
“ Til. The object of said association and corporation is to establish, maintain and conduct schools wherein, under Evangelical Christian influences, the arts and sciences shall be taught, in both practical and theoretic ways, and the proposed plan of doing business in carrying out said object is to procure financial endowment for said association.’
“ ‘VI. The term of existence of said association or corporation shall be fifty years.’
“ ‘VIII. The business and prudential concerns of said association and corporation shall be managed by a board of trustees consisting of twenty-one stockholders and by the executive officers of said association to be designated by said board of trustees annually. At the first election of trustees seven trustees shall be elected for one year, seven for two years, and seven for three years and thereafter all annual elections of trustees' by the stockholders shall be for three years.’
“A copy of said articles of association was filed in the office of the County Recorder in' Kosciusko County in the State of Indiana, but no copy of the same was filed in the office of the County Recorder of Marion County, in the State of Indiana, until about the time of the commencement of the trial of this cause. No certificates of capital stock were ever issued to any one in said corporation or pretended corporation, nor was any sum, whatever, ever paid to said corporation for capital stock. Nor was*416 any subscription for stock in said corporation ever made by any one.
“Seventh. On the seventh day of April, 1904, articles of Association under the voluntary association law of the State of Indiana, attempting to incorporate ‘The Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis’ were filed in the office of the Secretary of State of the State of Indiana, and a copy thereof was filed in the office of the County Recorder of Marion County, State of Indiana. Said Articles of Association provided and stipulated that ‘The principal place of business of said association or corporation, where its head office shall be located, is the city of Indianapolis, Indiana.’ And further ‘The amount of the capital stock of this association and corporation shall be and is $100,000.00 and the same shall be divided into shares of $100.00 each in amount.’
“And it is further provided in articles 2, 3, 6, 8 and 10 of said articles of incorporation and association, and articles 2, 3, 6, 8 and 10 of said Articles of Association, respectively, are as follows:
“ ‘II. Said association and corporation is organized for pecuniary profit in the sense only that it will charge for tuition, board and like school fees and bills, but in the sense that the members are share-holders of the association and corporation shall be entitled to receive dividends or like distributing shares of surplus income, earnings and profits of said association, it is not organized for pecuniary profit inasmuch as said association is organized for philanthropic purposes and its stock shall be issued and accepted with the express agreement that all surplus earnings, income and profits shall forever remain the property of said association and corporation, • and that no dividends or distributive parts of any such surplus shall ever be given or paid to the holders of the stock of said association or corporation and that upon the expiration of the term of existence of said*417 association as hereinafter provided, all property of whatsoever kind which said association shall then possess, shall be given absolutely and in fee simple to another corporate body having similar objects, purposes and qualities to those of this association as shall be decided by the trustees of this association then in office. The amount of the capital stock of this association and corporation shall be and is $100,000.00 and the same shall be divided into shares of $100.00 each in amount.’
“ Til. The object of said association and corporation is to establish, maintain and conduct at Indianapolis, Indiana, a general school or like school wherein, under Evangelical Christian influences, the arts and sciences shall be taught in both practical and theoretical ways; and that the proposed plan of doing business in carrying out said objects is to procure financial endowment, for said association and corporation.’
“ ‘VI. • The term of existence of said association or corporation shall be fifty years.’
“ ‘VIII. The business and prudential concerns of said association and corporation shall be named by a board of trustees, consisting of fifty stockholders. At the first election- of trustees, seventeen shall be elected for one year, seventeen for two years and sixteen for three years, and thereafter all annual elections of trustees by the stockholders shall, be for three years, provided, however, that the share-' holders may by a by-law require that each trustee in addition to the qualification that he will be a stockholder shall have such other qualification or qualifications as may be expressed in and by said by-law, and no by-law so fixing the qualification of the trustees of said association or corporation shall ever be repealed, amended or modified except by the vote of persons holding the stock of said association or corporation to the aggregate amount*418 of at least ninety-five per cent of the stock of said association at such time, issued and outstanding.’
. “ ‘X. Inasmuch as the objects for. which said association and corporation are formed are philanthropic and it is not the intent that its affairs shall be managed and conducted with a view to the pecuniary profit of any persons or person, but that they shall be managed and conducted in such a way that in perpetuity the best instruction shall be provided for the largest number of students that the financial ability of said association or corporation will warrant, to' secure said.objects it .is hereby provided that all the stock issued shall be issued and accepted with the understanding and agreement that no share of any such stock shall ever be voted at the stockholders’ meeting in favor of authorizing any incumbrances to be placed upon the real estate of said association, or any structure thereon, and all trustees elected and accepting the office of trustee shall accept the same with the understanding and agreement that no power shall be treated as being held by or vested in the Board of trustees of said association in any way, to place incumbrance upon the real estate of said association.’
“No certificates of capital stock in said corporation or association was ever issued to any one and no sum of money was ever paid to said corporation by any one for or on account of capital stock. And no subscription for capital stock in said corporation was ever made by any one.
“The said Articles of Association, of said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute were signed by eight men and the Articles of Association of said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis were signed by twenty-one men, H. H. Hanna, Tiros. Kane, W. J. Richards and Sol C. Dickey signed, and they are the only ones who did sign each of said Articles of Association.
“Eighth. About the first of the year 1903 it*419 was thought, by those soliciting the funds that a sum practically sufficient to purchase the land had been subscribed and it began to be talked among some of the parties who had contributed or agreed to contribute the larger sums, and the trustees of the fund and others that some definite understanding should be reached before the money .was paid in, as to the exact nature of the trust to be created. Some of the donors who had promised to pay the larger sums were contending that there should be a more definite and substantial step taken by the parties who had proposed to establish and endow the school, toward the accomplishment of that purpose, before the contributors should be asked to pay their several pledges. And this talk resulted in a meeting held on the eighth day of January in the city of Indianapolis, which was attended by a majority of said trustees of the fund, Addison C. Harris, Chairman, and a majority of the members of the canvassing committee on behalf of the citizens of Indianapolis, Dr. Sol C. Dickey and his attorney representing the Winona people, and six or eight of the donors who had promised donations of sums ranging from one hundred dollars to ten thousand dollars and representing in the aggregate about forty or fifty thousand dollars of donations.
“At this meeting extended discussion was had and an agreement reached assented to by a majority, if not all, of those present and particularly by Dr. S. C. Dickey and the trustees of the fund, which was reduced in writing and is here set out in full as part of this finding, and is as follows, to-wit:
“ ‘Resolved, That it is the belief of the Board of Trustees that the deed of conveyance for the arsenal grounds to the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, should contain clauses limiting the property to educational uses, prohibiting its being mortgaged and providing that it might be sold should the Institute deem it wise only on condition that the proceeds*420 should form a trust fund to be forever invested in real estate in Indianapolis to be used for educational purposes in said city; with a provision of reversion to the city of Indianapolis should said real estate or the proceeds thereof at any time cease to be used for educational purposes in said city of Indianapolis.
“ ‘Resolved, further, that the deed should not be delivered to said Institute until it shall have obtained in cash or bona-fide collectible subscriptions, an amount equal to the purchase price of the real estate to be used for Institute at Indianapolis.
“ ‘Resolved, further that upon said Institute’s having secured such sum for such purposes in cash or subscriptions as above it shall be deemed entitled to such conveyance and the same shall be accordingly made.’
“After the adoption of said resolution said McGowan and McCullough and others paid their subscriptions and said McCullough subsequently subscribed and paid an additional sum of $5,000.00.
“It was also agreed orally that said trustees should take title to said real estate in themselves and hold the same until said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis should comply with the provisions and conditions of said resolutions.
“Ninth. On the thirteenth day of January, 1903, by the procurement and with the consent of said Brown and Dickey the trustees of the fund prepared a circular letter and mailed a copy thereof to each person who had in any manner promised to make a donation whose name and address were known to them and this constituted practically all of those who had so promised to donate. A copy of said letter is here set out and made a part of this finding and is as follows, to-wit:
“ ‘Indianapolis, Ind., January 13, 1903.
“ ‘Dear Sir:
“ ‘The undersigned trustees for the Techni*421 cal Institute fund hereby inform you that valid and bona fide subscriptions to the full amount of $150,000.00 have been secured for the purchase of the Arsenal Site from the Government for the purpose of establishment of the proposed Technical Institute thereon.
That the object may be certainly fulfilled it has been determined by your trustees and agreed to by the representatives of the Institute that the deed of conveyance to the Institute limit the property and all its proceeds to educational uses in the city of Indianapolis, and the deed to the Arsenal Site property shall not be delivered by the trustees to the Institute corporation until it shall have in cash or bona fide collectible subscriptions a sum at least equal to the purchase price of the real estate. In order, therefore, that the Trustees may be in position to promptly submit their offer for the property, you are kindly requested to co-operate by making immediate payment of your subscription at the bank designated in the enclosed notice.
“ ‘Yours truly,
Medford B. Wilson,
John Perrin,
A. A. Barnes,
Charles Latham,
Frank E. Gavin,
Trustees.’
“The subscribers and donors of said fund were divided into four groups and a list of names and amounts subscribed by each person was made up on four separate books, and one of each of such books placed in a bank in the city of Indianapolis for the purpose of collecting said fund. And, a copy of the circular letter was sent to each of the several donors- with a card informing each donor in what particular bank to pay his pledge, and in this way the collection of the pledges was made. At this time, however, about Fifteen Hundred Dollars from various sources had already been paid to*422 the soliciting committee and by them to the Trustees of the Fund.
“Tenth. . The gentleman who were selected as members of the canvassing committee, the solicitors, and the trustees of the fund are men of high character and reputation and were generally known by the citizens of Indianapolis at the time the donations were being solicited as such, and as men of large experience in business affairs and who might be depended upon to successfully manage and safeguard the funds entrusted to them in the enterprise in hand.
“And at the time said donations were pledged, and at the time they were paid in, the donors understood and intended that said funds so donated and paid should and would be used by said trustees in purchasing said real estate to be held in trust by said trustees or some corporation or persons selected by them in perpetuity as a site for a National Technical School, and that the said real estate should be retained intact for such purpose. And said trustees when they accepted said trust and received said funds and said conveyance to said lands so understood the intentions of said donors. The principal object and purpose in the minds of the various donors in making their subscriptions, payments and donations to said fund, were the establishment and maintenance upon- said Arsenal grounds of trade schools, the preservation of said tract intact and its permanent dedication to educational uses in said city of Indianapolis.
“Eleventh. On the 16th day of March, 1903, the real estate in controversy was offered for sale by the United States Government at public auction. On said date, they, the trustees of the fund in bank the sum of $133,000.00, which had been paid on subscriptions and donations, and they had collectible pledges unpaid amounting to approximately $6,000.00, and an additional pledge of $22,000.00 made by one Walter Smith with the condition that it should*423 be available only in the event that it was necessary to collect the same or some part thereof in order to have a sum sufficient to pay the purchase price of said real estate. Certain gentlemen connected with the Winona Assembly, and Summer School Association advanced of their own funds $6,000.00 and took over said unpaid pledges and subscriptions to reimburse themselves in so far as they would do so. And at the same time Winona Assémbly and Summer School Association advanced the sum of $15,000.00 making in all, in the hands of said trustees of the fund $154,000.00 which they used in the purchase of said real estate, and received a deed therefor, which is as follows, to-wit:
“ ‘Whereas by an Act of Congress, approved June 30, 1902, entitled “An act asking appropriation for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June 30th, nineteen hundred and three” it was provided that whenever in the opinion of the President the lands and improvements or any portion of them of the military posts or reservations at Indianapolis, Indiana, Columbus, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York, have become undesirable for military purposes he may in his discretion cause the same to be appraised and sold at public sale at not less than the appraised value, either as a whole or in subdivisions, under such regulations as to public notice and terms and conditions of sale as he may prescribe.
“ ‘And whereas the lands and improvements of the Military Reservation of Indianapolis Arsenal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, hereinafter described having in the opinion of the President, become undesirable for military purposes, he did cause the Same to be appraised and offered as a whole at public sale at not less than the appraised value, due notice of the terms and conditions of the sale having been given and did cause to be sold at said public sale at the office of the commanding' officer Indianapolis*424 Arsenal, Indianapolis, Indiana, at 12 o’clock noon, March 16th, 1903, to Medford B. Wilson, Alfred A. Barnes, John Perrin, Charles Latham and Prank E. Gavin, as Trustees of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute Fund, at their bid of one hundred fifty-four thousand ($154,000.00) dollars being the appraised value of the premises no other bid having beenreceived the following described premises to-wit:
“ ‘All of the military reservation of Indianapolis Arsenal and improvements thereon in the city of Indianapolis, Marion county, Indiana, being the (east half of the northwest quarter of section six, township fifteen north, range four east, containing seventy-five acres and fourteen-hundredths of an acre more or less), as acquired by the United States of America by deed from Calvin Fletcher, Jr., and wife, dated December 15, 1862, and deed from Allen R. Benton and wife dated December 22, 1862, recorded respectively at pages (403) and (404) of Record No. 17 of the Recorder’s Office of Marion County, Indiana.
“ ‘Together with the former interest of the United States in the lands acquired for a roadway to and from said Indianapolis Arsenal by deed from Herman Sturm and wife dated November 2, 1863 and deed from Stoughton A. Fletcher and wife dated November 2, 1863, recorded respectively at pages 157 and 158 of Land Record MM of the Recorder’s Office of Marion County, said roadway having been acquired for the purpose of a public highway forever.
“ ‘Now, therefore, I Elihu Root, Secretary of War of the United States of America, in consideration of the said sum of one hundred fifty-four thousand dollars ($154,000.00) the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged do by direction of the President hereby give, grant, sell and convey unto the said Medford B. Wilson, Alfred A. Barnes, John Perrin, Charles Latham and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, as aforesaid and to*425 their successors as such Trustees all the right, title and interest of the United States in and to the premises sold as aforesaid with all the rights, privileges and appurtenances thereunto belonging.
“ ‘To have and to hold unto the said Medford B. Wilson, Alfred A. Barnes, John Perrin, Charles Latham and Frank E. Gavin and to their successors as such trustees, forever.
“ ‘In Witness Whereof, I, Elihu Root, Secretary of War of the United States, have hereunto subscribed my name and caused to be affixed the seal of the War Department this twenty-seventh day of March, 1903.
“ ‘Elihu Root (L. S.)
“ ‘Secretary of War.
“ ‘District of Columbia, ss.
“ ‘Before me, Jno. B. Randolph, a Notary Public in and for the District of Columbia, duly commissioned and qualified, this twenty-seventh day of March, 1903, personally appearedElihuRoot, Secretary of WaroftheUnited States, known to me to be the person whose name is subscribed to the foregoing deed and' acknowledged that he executed the same as Secretary of War for the purposes and eonsidtion therein expressed.
“ ‘In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my official seal this 27th day of March, 1903.
“ ‘Jno. B. Randolph, (L.S.)
“ ‘Notary Public’
“No obligation was undertaken by said trustees to repay to said Winona Assembly any part of said Fifteen Thousand Dollars, but the same was subsequently charged by said Assembly against the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute and some adjustment of the claim was later made between said Assembly and said Institute.
“Twelfth. On the 15th day of April, 1903, the trustees named in said deed executed the following written agreement, to-wit:
*426 “ ‘This Article of Agreement between Med-ford B. Wilson, John Perrin, A. A. Barnes, Chas. Latham, and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, parties of the first part and the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, party of the second part, witnesseth, that
“ ‘Whereas, Said Trustees have purchased and paid for the land near Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, known as the Arsenal Grounds, being the east one-half of the Northwest quarter of section six (6) township fifteen, Range four and as such trustees now hold the title thereto, and
“ ‘Whereas, It is desired that said Technical Institute shall take possession of and care for said real estate.
“ ‘Now, Therefore, It is hereby agreed that said Technical Institute shall take possession of, care for and manage said property at its own expense and without any power to make or create any charge therefor, or open any account against said Trustees and shall hold the same until possession thereof may be demanded by said Trustees upon the order of the majority thereof. It is further expressly stipulated that upon such demand being at any time made, all right of said Technical Institutute under this contract, and all persons holding through or under them, shall at once cease and be at end, and said Institute shall deliver and surrender possession thereof to such trustees.
“ ‘It is further expressly understood and agreed that any possession of said property which said Institute may take and hold is under and by virtue of this contract, and not otherwise, and until it shall obtain a deed therefor from said trustees.
Medford B. Wilson,
John Perrin,
A. A. Barnes,
Charles Latham,
Frank E. Gavin,
Trustees.
*427 “ ‘Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute,
By S. C. Dickey, President.
“ ‘April 15, 1903.’
“And thereupon said S. C. Dickey, acting for said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, entered into possession of said real estate under said contract and agreement.
“Said agreement has remained in full force and effect and said Trustees have never authorized any one to occupy or become possessed of said real estate or any part thereof under any other agreement or arrangement whatever.
“Thirteenth. In the fall of 1903 a'school consisting of two or three departments was opened upon said premises and managed by said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute until the incorporation or attempted incorporation of the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, in April of 1904’, at which time said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, by S. C. Dickey, its president assumed the control and management of said school and conducted the same until a Receiver was appointed for said Institute and school on the 28th day of March, 1910.
“That in the fall of 1904, additional departments were added to said school; the faculty enlarged, and repairs and improvements made from time to time thereafter on the buildings and equipments of said school, and the same was kept open throughout the entire school year, each' year, and attended by a considerable body of students from all parts of the country; and during the time from the opening of said Institution until the appointment of said Receiver there were about 2,000 different students in attendance at said school and about 1,000 graduated from the several departments in courses covering from four weeks to two years.
“Fourteenth. The Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute has had'no connection with said Technical Institute or said tract of land since April, 1904, and has in no way exercised*428 any control or supervision over the same. Said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute has had no assets or property of any kind since said date and has at all times since said date been and now is wholly insolvent and unable to establish and maintain a technical institute on said site.
“Said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute never had any endowment subscribed and paid to it.
“Fifteenth. Said Winona Technical Institutute at Indianapolis is now and for more than five years has been wholly insolvent and is now not financially able and will not be able to manage, conduct and support said Technical Institute nor any technical school on said site.
“Said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis never had any endowment subscribed or paid to it except as herein otherwise found.
“The tuition received by said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis has never equaled the amount paid to instructors in the conducting of the various departments of said school.
“Sixteenth. No request was made to the plaintiffs for a deed to said lands until in the Spring of 1908, when said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis through its President Dr. Sol. C. Dickey, informed said plaintiffs that the condition relating to the raising of said $154,000.00 had been complied with, and requested that steps be taken to execute a deed to said Institute.
“A deed was then prepared by plaintiffs conveying said real estate to said Institute, in trust to be held with all its proceeds for educational uses in the city of Indianapolis and plaintiffs were willing and ready at that time to execute said deed upon a proper showing that the conditions of the agreement of January 8th, 1903, had been complied with. At the request of the plaintiffs an audit of the books of the Winona Technical Institute was had and it was then*429 learned by plaintiffs that said Winona Technical Institute was insolvent and plaintiffs being in doubt as to whether said conditions as to said $154,000.00 had been complied with, declined at that time to execute said deed and the matter of making such deed remained in abeyance until during the fall of 1909, at which time a form of deed was agreed upon between plaintiffs and said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, whereby said real estate was to be conveyed to said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis as a trustee, in trust for educational purposes in the city of Indianapolis and providing that in the event said trustee or any successor, or assign should fail to use said lands as a site for educational purposes such trustee should convey said lands to the School City of Indianapolis as trustee to be held upon the same terms and conditions as were imposed by said deed upon said Institute as Trustee. Before said deed was finally executed some of the donors made objection to said plaintiffs executing said deed and while the matter of executing said deed was under consideration a Receiver was appointed to take charge of said Winona Technical Institute and said school and property.
“Seventeenth. Prior to the appointment of the Receiver for said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis and prior to the preparation of the deed last referred to in finding number sixteen, said Winona Technical Institute had, out of funds received by way of donations and by loans negotiated by said Institute, invested $62,000.00 in permanent improvements on said lands in the way of buildings, steam engines, boilers, pumps, air compressors, electric generators, large motor, stoker and firing grates, radiators, water pipes, electric wiring, underground mains, water tank, fire escape, well, and remodeling buildings.
“Said Winona Technical Institute also paid out on Barrett Law improvement assessments*430 for street improvements the sum of $2,685.19, and for insurance on buildings and equipments the sum of $8,234.86. Of said sum so paid for insurance about $6,176.13 was paid for insurance on buildings and about $2,258.73 was paid for insurance on equipments.
“Eighteenth. Prior to August 31, 1909, said Winona Technical Institute' had received in cash donations from various parties for use in maintaining said Technical School the sum of $73,892.47.
“It had also received as donations in the nature of equipments, supplies suitable for use and which were used in equipping said technical school, certain machinery and supplies valued at the time by the parties in the aggregate at the sum of $48,869.48.
“It had also received cash as scholarship donations the sum of $33,722.12, which was paid in to be used in paying the tuition of boys who could not pay their own tuition. When a student who could not pay his own tuition was allowed his tuition out of said fund he was required to execute a note to the Institute to be paid out of his earnings after graduation. The donors of this fund reserved the right.to name students who should receive the benefit of such fund. These donations were mostly made by manufacturer’s associations and were for a period of years to be paid in annual payments, and on the above date there were a number of such pledges running which if they had been paid in full for the full time for which the donors agreed to pay would have amounted to $53,-557.24 additional, but only a small amount< thereof was collected or collectible by the' Receiver.
“Nineteenth. Prior to the commencement of this action two actions were begun in the Superior Court of Marion County for the appointment of a Receiver for the Winona Technical Institute and upon proper proceedings said causes were consolidated and on the 28th day*431 of March, 1910, Charles A. Bookwalter was appointed Receiver of said concern and duly qualified as such Receiver and ever since said date has been and now is acting as such Receiver and has been and now is in full control of the affairs and property-of said Winona Technical Institute and as such Receiver succeeded to all rights of said Institute to the possession of the real estate involved herein.
“On the 4th day of April, 1910, said Receiver filed in said cause in which he was appointed a petition showing that said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis had personal property of the value of more than Forty-five Thousand Dollars and that a necessity existed for raising funds for immediate use in the management of the affairs of said Institute and thereupon said Marion Superior Court entered an order to said - Receiver to issue and sell, Receivers’ certificates to the amount of $20,000.00 and that said certificates when sold should be a first lien on said personal property of said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis.
“And said Receiver did issue and sell certificates to the amount of $11,000.00 bearing six per cent, interest which are still outstanding and unpaid.
“On the 13th day of December, 1910, and while this cause was yetpending in the Marion Superior Court said Charles A. Bookwalter, Receiver as aforesaid, filed in this cause his petition for an order to issue and sell Receivers’ certificates for the purpose of defraying the expenses of said Technical Institute and said Court found that Addison C. Harris appeared to said petition for himself, Baker, and Daniels, appeared for the Winona Assembly and Summer School Association, The Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, and the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, Lewis C. Walker appeared for ‘certain creditors’ and Ferdinand Winter appeared for Hugh McGowan, and that due and reasonable notice of said petition*432 had been served upon William Bosson, attorney for the defendant Robert C. Light.
“And said Court entered an order in this cause on said petition to said Receiver, to issue receivers’ certificates to the amount of Ten Thousand Dollars, bearing interest at the rate of six per cent, per annum, and that the same should be a first and prior lien ahead of all other claims of any character whatsoever, upon all personal property of said defendant, the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, except the lien of Receivers’ certificates issued April 4th, 1910, and also a first and prior lien upon the real estate involved in this suit. Said order has not been appealed from, modified or set aside, and acting under said order said Receiver issued Receivers’ certificates to the amount of $10,000. and sold the same and used the funds arising from the same in operating said Technical Institute and preserving said real and personal property. Said certificates are still outstanding and unpaid.
“Said Receiver has ever since his appointment been in possession of said school and premises and has conducted and is now conducting said school and premises and had conducted and is now conducting said school and has cared for and is now caring for said property and under the orders and directions of said court. And said Receiver was by permission of said Court made a party defendant to this action and has appeared in person and by attorney and filed pleadings and participated in the trial of this cause.
“Twentieth. The Court further finds that the defendant The Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis is indebted to the cross-complainant, The Union National Bank of Indianapolis, upon the notes described in its cross-complaint in the sum of Forty-eight Thousand Two Hundred Twenty-three Dollars and Ten Cents ($48,223.10) principal and interest, and Four Thousand Eight Hundred*433 Twenty-two Dollars and Thirty-one Cents ($4,822.31) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant William J. Richards, upon claims described in his cross-complaint in the sum of Ten Thousand Seventy-six Dollars and Forty Cents ($10,076.40) principal and interest, and Seven Hundred Eleven Dollars and Sixty-five Cents ($711.65) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross complainants, William J. Richards and Solomon C. Dickey, upon the claims described in their joint cross-complaint, in the sum of Thirty Seven Thousand Four Hundred Forty-three Dollars and Eleven Cents ($37,443.11) principal and interest, and One Thousand One Hundred Eighty-five Dollars and Sixty-nine cents ($1,185.69) attorney’s fees, and that said Richards and Dickey are liable as endorsers for said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, in the further sum of Fifteen Thousand Eight Hundred Two Dollars and Forty-six Cents ($15,802.46).
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, John H. Holliday, Trustee, upon the debts described in his cross-complaint' in the sum of Five Thousand Three Hundred Four Dollars and Twenty-two Cents ($5,304.22) principal and interest.
That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, William H.. Hubbard, upon the claims described in his cross-complaint in the sum of Two Thousand Three Hundred Forty six Dollars and Eleven Cents ($2,346.11) principal and interest, and that said Hubbard is liable as endorser for said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis in the further sum of Two Thousand Three Hundred Thirteen Dollars and Thirty-four Cents ($2,313.34).
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, Solomon C. Dickey, upon the claims described in his cross-complaint, in*434 the sum of One Thousand Five Hundred Fifty Four Dollars and Thirty-three Cents ($1,554.33) principal and interest, and that said Dickey is liable as endorser for said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis in the further sum of Four Thousand Nine Hundred Eighty-two Dollars and Twenty-seven Cents ($4,982.27).
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, William H. Hubbard and Charles W. Hubbard, Trustees, upon' the claims described in their cross-complaint, in the sum of Eight Thousand Nine Hundred Ten Dollars ($8,910.00) principal and interest, and Five Hundred Twenty-five Dollars ($525) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, Thomas C. Day, upon the claims desceibed in his cross-complaint, in the Sum of Five Thousand Six Hundred Seventy-five Dollars anb Forty Cents ($5,675.40) principal and interest, and Two Hundred Thirty-two Dollars and Eighty-three Cents ($232.83) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to said cross-complainant, The Indianapolis Home for Friendless Women, upon the claims described in its cross-complaint, in the sum of One Thousand Seven Hundred Twelve Dollars and Fifty Cents ($1,712.50) principal and interest, and One Hundred Seventy-one Dollars and Twenty-five Cents ($171.25) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to said cross-complainant, John H. Holliday, upon the claims described in his cross-complaint, in the sum of Two Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy-One Dollars and Twenty-three Cents ($2,971.-23) principal and interest, and Fifty-nine Dollars ($59.00) attorney’s fees, and that he is liable as endorser for said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis in the further sum of Three Thousand One Hundred Fifty Dollars and Twenty-five Cents ($3,150.25).
“That said defendant is indebted to said*435 cróss-complainant, Shelby National Bank of Shelbyville, Indiana, upon the note described in its cross-complaint, in the sum of Two Thousand Three Hundred Twelve Dollars and Sixty-six Cents ($2,312.66) principal and interest, and Two Hundred Thirty-One Dollars and Twenty-six Cents ($231.26) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, Dauner Coal Company, upon the notes described in its cross-complaint, in the sum of Six Hundred Fifty-four Dollars and Ninety-three Cents ($654.93) principal and interest, and Sixty-Five Dollars and Forty-nine Cents ($65.49) attorney’s fees.
“That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, Winona Assembly Summer School Association, in the sum of Thirty-Three Thousand Three Hundred Twenty-five Dollars ($33,325.00) exclusive of interest upon the notes described in its cross-complaint.
“That the defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, Frank E. Bell, upon the claim described in his cross-complaint, in the sum of Sixty-one Dollars and Sixty. Cents ($61.60) principal and interest.
“That said defendant is indebted to the German American Building Association in the sum of Six Thousand Six Dollars and Sixty-seven Cents ($6,006.67) principal and interest, and Six Hundred Dollars and Sixty-six Cents ($600.66) attorney’s fees.
That said defendant is indebted to the cross-complainant, Milton A. Woolen, in the sum of One Thousand Five Hundred Thirty-three Dollars and Seventeen Cents ($1,533.17) which debt was incurred for heating plant installed on said premises.
“All of said indebtedness above described is past due and wholly unpaid. The said several items of indebtedness as found include interest computed to Dec. 2nd, 1911.
“The Court further finds that each and all of the debts above described were created by*436 said defendant, Winona Technical Instituté at Indianapolis, in the proper establishment and maintenance of a technical or trade school upon what is known as the Arsenal site in the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, which said school is now in the hands and control of said Receiver.
“That said indebtedness and each and every item thereof is for money furnished and loaned, or goods and merchandise supplied to said defendant, The Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, at its special instance and request; that the same was reasonably necessary for the establishment, maintenance and equipment of said technical or trade school and was used for said purposes.
“Twenty-first. That there is due the cross-complainant, William H. Hubbard, the sum of $1,174.01 for premiums for insurance on the buildings on said real estate.
“Twenty-second. The School City of Indianapolis is ready and willing to accept the real estate in controversy in trust and establish and maintain a technical school thereon, open to all students residing in such School City and as students are admitted to other schools in said city.”
Upon the facts found specially the court stated its conclusions of law as follows:
(1) The real estate described in the complaint and the findings herein and known as the arsenal grounds in Indianapolis, Indiana, is held by the plaintiffs as trustees of a public charitable trust, in trust to be forever kept intact and dedicated to educational uses in the city of Indianapolis and to be forever used as a site for the purpose of the maintenance thereon of an industrial or trade school or schools for education and instruction and training of both males and females in the various mechanical and manual trades, arts and sciences, and of such other educational institutions as may be established and maintained thereon, together*437 with all the machinery, buildings and appliances which may be used in connection therewith, and for the furnishing of places of residence for the instructors and students in such schools and as a campus or yard to be used in connection therewith, the right of attendance not to be limited to pupils residing in Indianapolis but to be open to pupils resident elsewhere under proper rules and regulations to be made by the trustees from time to time to effectuate the purposes of this trust.
(2) That the'Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute and the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis are each insolvent and incapable of executing such trust or of maintaining a technical or trade school thereon, and are not entitled to have said real estate conveyed to them, or either of them, as trustees, or otherwise.
(3) That neither the said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, nor the said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, has any right, title or interest in or to said real estate, or any claim or lien thereon.
(4) That neither of the defendants and cross-complainants, Winona Assembly and Summer School Association, William J. Richards, Solomon C. Dickey, The Union National Bank of Indianapolis, Winona Interurban Railway Company, Thomas C. Day, John H. Holliday, trustee, Central Supply Company, Dauner Coal Company, State Bank of Walkerton, Indiana, Indianapolis Coal Company, Woolen & Callen Company; Milton A. Woolen, W. A. Harbison, George W. Brown, John H. Vajen, J. M. Dalrymple, John H. Holliday, James W. Lilly, William H. Hubbard and Charles W. Hubbard, trustees, The Indianapolis Home for Friendless Women, Shelby National Bank of Shelbyville, Indiana, Frank E. Bell, German-American Building Association, nor any other person similarly situated, whether such person be specifically named in any of the pleadings*438 herein or not, has any right or title to, or any interest, claim or lien upon the said real estate, or any part thereof.
(5) That the trust under which the plaintiffs hold said real estate has not failed so as to create a resulting trust in favor of the donors to the said Winona Technical Institute Fund, and that neither of the defendants and cross-complainants, Fletcher S. Hines, George F. McCullough, William E. Hayward, Edward C. Fletcher, Addison H. Nordyke, Robert E. Light, Kate F. McGowan, and Kate F. McGowan, trustee under the last will of Hugh J. McGowan, Delavan Smith, John J. Appel, Hilton U. Brown, Harold B. Hibben, William C. Bobbs, Fred M. Ayres, John H. Vajen, George A. Gay, Charles R. Williams, Joseph K. Lilly, Charles Mayer, Gustave A. Schnull, Arthur Jordan, Crawford Fairbanks, Andrew M. Sweeney, Frank YanCamp, Thomas Taggart, M. O’Connor & Company, Frank Fauvre, Henry Kahn, Louis Newberger, Charles W. Moore, E: Rach & Sons, W. J. Holliday & Co., Charles E. Coffin-, Solomon C. Dickey, William J. Richards, William D. Allison, Andrew J. Brunt, Nicholas McCarty, Henry Severin, George B. Yandes, Raphael Kirschbaum, Joseph A. Rink, Joseph K. Sharp, Henry Lawrence, William H. Block, George W. Stout, Clarence A. Kenyon, Guedelhoefer Wagon Company, Fremont Alford, Fred Fuehring, Winona Assembly and Summer School Association, Winona Interurban Railway Company, Thomas C. Day, John H. Holliday, trustee, Central Supply Company, Dauner Coal Company, Indianapolis Coal Company, State Bank of Walkerton,' Indiana, Milton A. Woolen, Woolen & Callen Company, W. A. Harbison, George W. Brown, J. M. _Dalrymple, James W. Lilly, John H. Holliday, Harry J. Milligan, Addison C. Harris, nor any of the other donors or contributors to said fund, whether named as defendants or cross-*439 complainants in this cause, and whether specifically mentioned in the pleadings herein or not, has any interest in said real estate, nor are they, nor any of them, entitled to have the same partitioned or sold, or any interest therein conveyed to them, or any of them.
(6) That the said real estate is subject to a charge and lien for so much of the receiver’s certificates aggregating $10,000 issued under the order of the Marion Superior Court, room No. 3, in this cause, as may remain unpaid after- the application thereto of the personal property in the hands of such receiver, in accordance with the terms of such order, but no resort shall be had to siich real estate for the payment of such certificates until said personal property shall have been exhausted and so applied. And in the event that said $10,000 of receivers’ certificates are paid out’of personal property of said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis in the hands of said Receiver then said real estate shall be subject to a charge and lien for $2,350.28 in favor of said Charles A. Bookwalter, Receiver, to reimburse him for money by him as such receiver paid out for insurance on the buildings on said real estate.
(7) That said real estate is further subject to a charge in favor of the defendant and cross-complainant Charles A. Bookwalter, receiver of the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, for the further sum of $4,792.74 expended in the care and preservation thereof, as the same have been determined by the said Marion Superior Court, room No. 3; and said Bookwalter, receiver, is further entitled to a charge and lien upon said real estate for the sum of $2,685.19 paid out by said Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis in the payment of street and other municipal .assessments which were a lien upon said real estate. Said real estate is further subject to a lien and charge in favor of said Charles A. Bookwalter, receiver, for the sum of $6,176.13 paid out by said*440 Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis for insurance on the buildings on said real estate prior to the appointment of said receiver. Said sum of $4,792.74 above is made up of the following items, towit: Salaries of watchmen, $2,067; proportion of power plant expense, $2,625.24; repairs, $100. Said real estate is subject to a further lien in favor of said receiver for $4,400 for his services and the sum of $3,000 for his attorneys, Thompson & Hayes.
(8) That said défendant and cross-complainant Charles A. Bookwalter, receiver of the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, has no other right, title, or interest in, or any claim or lien upon said real estate, except as herein stated.
(9) That the cross-complainant William H. Hubbard is entitled to a lien and charge upon said real estate in the sum of $1,174.01 due to him for premiums for insurance upon the buildings thereon.
(10) That said real estate is further subject to a charge and lien for the attorneys’ fees and expenses and services of the plaintiffs, as trustees, in this litigation and in the maintenance of the trust as the same may be hereafter allowed by the court.
(11) That the plaintiffs are entitled to an order and judgment of this court ascertaining and determining the character and scope of said trust and directing them as to the disposition of such trust property and to be exempted from any .personal liability of any kind in connection with, the property, or said trust, or with the administration of said trust.
(12) • That the board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis is a proper trustee to-execute said trust and is willing and able to do so.
(13) That the several sums herein declared liens upon and charges against said real estate shall be payable on or before August 1, 1915, with six (6) per cent, interest payable annually*441 thereon, but the same shall not be enforceable against said real estate by any process or writ or proceeding in law or equity until after said August 1, 1915.
(14) No party defendant or cross-complainant, ñor any person similarly situated, has any right or title to, or any interest or claim or lien upon, the said real estate or any part thereof except as in these conclusions stated.
(15) That no person similarly situated to any of the persons by name made parties to this action in any of the classes mentioned in the complaint in this cause, whether he has been specifically mentioned in any of the pleadings in this cause or not, and whether he has appeared in this cause or not, has any right, title or interest in, or any lien or claims upon said real estate and all such persons shall be as fully and effectually barred and concluded by the judgment herein as they would be if they had been by name made parties to this action.
(16) That the plaintiffs should convey the said real estate to the board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis, as trustee, to be held in trust by it to be kept forever intact and dedicated to educational uses in the city of Indianapolis and to be forever used as a site for the purpose of maintaining, or causing to be maintained thereon such school, or schools, for the education, training and instruction of both males and females in the various manual and mechanical trades, arts and sciences, and such other educational institutions as such trustee may establish or cause to be established and maintained thereon to effectuate the trust, together with all the machinery, buildings and appliances which may be used in connection therewith, and for the furnishing of places of residence for the instructors and students in such schools and as a campus or yard, to be used in connection therewith, with a provision in said deed that the said grantee shall have no power in any manner to a lien or incumber or*442 creat any debt, charge or lien against said real estate, and with the further provision that in the event the said grantee should, for a period of five years from this date, fail to put in operation upon said real estate; such a school for such instruction in the mechanical trades or arts, and sciences, or in case it should at any time thereafter, for a period of twelve consecutive months, fail to maintain or cause to be maintained, thereon such a school, then its right in such real estate and its services as trustee thereof shall cease and terminate upon the decree of any court having jurisdiction of the proper parties and the subject-matter of the trust, said conveyance to said board of school commissioners to be made subject to the liens and charges herein declared against said real estate.
Appellee trustees, in their complaint, allege substantially the facts as set out in the findings of the trial court, with the exceptions hereinafter negatived, and also specifically allege “that according to the announcements made by the promoters and managers of the said Institute, both through the public press in the city' of Indianapolis, and at various public meetings held in such city, the principal purpose of said institute was to be the establishment and maintenance of that branch of technical education, known as trade schools, wherein the pupils and students might be taught both theoretically and practically various trades; that the principal and main purpose in the minds of the subscribers to said fund in creating the same, and the principal inducement leading to the creation of that fund was the establishment and maintenance of such trade schools in the City of Indianapolis. * * * That these plaintiffs as such trustees are advised that they cannot with safety to themselves make any conveyance or disposition of said lands and premises, until some
The answer and cross-complaint of appellees Addison C. Harris and Robert C. Light and of Hugh J. McGowan and Delavan Smith alleged in substance the facts heretofore set out and that “a committee was appointed (being the plaintiffs in this action and called trustees), who were to have said fund when accumulated and to make the purchase of the government and take the title to the lands as the committee and trustees of the donors.” (Italics ours.) That “while and as the subscriptions were being taken and howsoever taken, that is to say whether upon subscription books, or upon subscription papers, prepared and used by the aforesaid subscription committee and others engaged in obtaining subscriptions, it came to be mutually understood and agreed that when the arsenal site should be purchased by the contribu
Appellants Edward C. Fletcher, Fletcher S. Hines and William E. Hayward, by their answer and .cross-complaint, as subscribers and donors to the fund, for themselves and others similarly situated, set out the facts as heretofore stated, and in addition thereto allege that: “The conditions upon which the plaintiff trustees might or could have exercised the power to convey said lands to the WTinona Agricultural and Technical Institute never existed for the reason that the organizers of said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute never existed and for the reason that the organizers of said Winona Agricultural Institute never complied with the conditions upon which said Institute was entitled to receive a deed from the plaintiffs as such trustees for the purpose of maintaining such school or Institute, that each and all of the conditions' upon which the plaintiffs might or could have exercised the power to convey sai d lands to any corporate
The Union National Bank, Wm. J. Richards and other creditors of Winona Technical Institute by their pleading contend, after a partial statement of facts, as heretofore set out, that the Winona Tech
The board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis by its pleadings asserts “that as to the other facts averred * * * this defendant has not sufficient knowledge to admit or deny the same; that this defendant is the only common school corporation within the- city of Indianapolis and that for common school purposes, it has exclusive jurisdiction throughout the corporate limits of said city; that on the-of May, 1911, this defendant in a regularly and duly held meeting of its members and by the unanimous vote of all the members present, being more than a legal majority, adopted a resolution reading as follows:
“ ‘Whereas, it has come to the knowledge of the Board of School Commissioners of the City of Indianapolis that there is a desire on the part of the persons who have the right to control the disposition of the real estate, improvements, machinery, plant and all other property of the Winona Technical Institute of Indianapolis, such real estate being the east half of the northwest quarter of section number six (6) in township number fifteen (15) north, of range number four (4) east in the city of Indianapolis, in Marion County, Indiana, and being what was formerly the United States Arsenal ground, to cause all of the same to be transferred to the Board of School Commissioners of the City of Indianapolis for educational purposes; primarily for conducting thereon a trade school or schools;
“ ‘Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved that the Board of School Commissioners of the City of Indianapolis hereby expresses its willingness to*447 accept as a donation all of said property, subject to such just charges as shall rest thereon at the time of such donation, not exceeding Three Hundred Fifty Thousand Dollars ($350,000) but without personal , covenants for payment on the part of this Board, and subject to this Board’s carrying out the conditions of such donation, in respect of the conduct on said property of trade schools, to the extent that this Board is authorized by law to accept such donation and to perform such conditions; that the Board of School Commissioners is willing and offers to do as in said Resolution expressed.’ ”
The appellants, contributors and donors, by their brief and oral argument herein earnestly contend that there was no public charitable trust created; that the trustees held the real estate purchased with the funds by them donated and contributed upon an incomplete and imperfectly declared executory trust for a particular object and use, which has failed; that the intended gift or trust was for a particular corporation and for a particular use and upon failure of the specific object or use for which the gift or trust was intended, whether private or charitable, the fund or property is held as a resulting trust for and reverts to the donors; that the identical rule would apply and the same results follow if the gift or trust had been fully executed and the real estate transferred to the particular corporation for the particular use on the incapacity to take, dissolution or abandonment of use, even though no provision for reversion was contained in the deed; that in such ease there is no general charitable intent, and the gift or trust would be restricted to the particular corporation to be benefited as well as to the particular use; that it is a settled rule of equity that when the objects or purpose of a trust fail, or
It is further contended that the real estate in question could not be used to pay debts; that the decree of the lower court, as written herein, diverts the trust from its intended purpose; that the school contemplated by the donors to the fund was to be private and not public, a pay school and not free, to be supported by private endowment and not by taxation; that there were to be no free tuition or charity students; that on the facts properly or well found appellants are entitled to a reversal of the judgment with instructions to the court below to restate its conclusions of law and establish the right, title and interest of the donors or contributors in and to the trust property.
Appellant creditors insist that on the facts well found the case should be reversed and a new trial ordered or that the conclusions of law be restated to the end that their claims be established as equitable liens upon such real estate; that their rights are.in no way affected whether there was or was not a public charitable trust created.
Appellees contend that the decree of the lower court is correct; that a public charitable trust was created of which the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute was only trustee; that it is insolvent and that the board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis should be appointed and
The one principal question here presented for determination by this extraordinary record, as I see it, is the nature and character of the trust, if any, or the character in which appellees hold the real estate. To solve this question it is necessary to consider and determine from the evidence what facts are well found. All parties are content, as no question is raised or presented, as to the correctness of all the special findings except the eighth, tenth and twelfth. As to these it is insisted by appellants that they are not supported by the evidence and are not well found.
The fifth finding shows there were about 4,000 donors or contributors to the fund which, it is agreed, amounted to $154,000. It appears from the eighth finding that at a-meeting held on January 8, 1903, when there were present a majority of appellee trustees, a majority of the members of the canvassing committee “and six or eight of the donors who had promised donations of sums ranging from 100 to 10,000 dollars and representing in the aggregate about forty or fifty thousand dollars of donations” (less than one-third of the entire amount), the resolution providing for a reversion to the city of Indianapolis of said real estate as set out in said eighth finding was adopted. The letter addressed to the subscribers, bearing date of January 13, 1903, .and known as the “blue letter,” requesting payment of subscriptions, did not refer to the resolution of January 8, 1903, or to any understanding that would bind the donors or sub- ' '
As to the tenth finding the first paragraph is an encomium on the probity, honesty, uprightness and business capacity of the canvassing committee, solicitors and trustees. This is not within the issues under the pleadings. The “character and reputation” of these citizens of Indianapolis is presumptively good, at least until attacked, and we find no attack in the record. As to the latter part of said finding, the record fails to disclose any evidence that the donors intended to vest the trustees with the power to select some corporation or persons to hold said real estate as a site for a national technical school, or that such trustees so understood the intention of the donors, or that the principal object and purpose in the minds of the various donors in making their subscriptions, payments and donations to said fund was the establishment and maintenance on said arsenal grounds of trade schools or the preservation of said tract. intact and its permanent dedication to educational uses in the said city of Indianapolis. The form of subscriptions as set out in the fifth finding clearly shows that the subscribers made their own selection; that the fund was to be for the use and benefit of Winona Agricultural and - Technical Institute. There is nothing in thé evidence that refers to any power in the trustees to make any selection of “some corporation or persons” and there is nothing in any of
The twenty-second special finding is that: “T.he School City of Indianapolis is ready and willing to accept the real estate in controversy in trust and establish and maintain a technical school thereon, open to all students residing in such School City and as students are admitted to other schools in said city.”
The only evidence I find that in any sense would even tend to support this finding was a stipulation that the board of school commissioners is a common
For the reasons above indicated I am firmly of the opinion that the eighth, tenth and twenty-second special findings are not sustained by the evidence and are in conflict with other findings which are thus supported. Under the record before us, the right and duty of this court being to ascertain and declare the justice of the case and to direct such judgment as will secure to each party his just rights, I believe the cause should be remanded with instructions. §702 Burns 1914, .§660 R. S. 1881; Bells’ Admrx. v. Golding (1866), 27 Ind. 173, 184; Buchanan v. Milligan (1886), 108 Ind. 433, 435, 9
It is further contended by appellants that the court erred in its conclusions of law, separate exceptions to which were taken by each appellant, and errors thereof ■ duly assigned to this court. While what I have heretofore said as to the findings of fact might suffice for my final conclusions, yet at the expense of being charged with repetition, because of the insistence of the very able counsel for appellees, I am inclined to go over some of the conclusions of law and compare them' with the findings, if for no other purpose than to make my viewpoint clear. The first conclusion of law, in substance, is that the real estate in question is held by appellee trustees as trustees of a public charitable trust, the same to be forever kept intact and dedicated to educational purposes in the city of Indianapolis and to be forever used as a site for an industrial or trade school, etc. The determination of the question raised by the exceptions to this conclusion of law is the cycle around which revolve all the other questions presented, and its solution is decisive of the whole case. The question is, What was the nature of the trust, if any, intended by the contributors, not by the committee, canvassers and solicitors? Was there a public charitable trust created in said fund or in the real estate purchased with said fund? It should be remembered that there is no allegation in any of the pleadings to the effect that the contributors to the fund with which appellees trustees purchased said real estate created or intended to create a public charitable trust. Appellee Harris, in his answer, does allege that: “Said trustees took title
The first intimation found in the record as to the creation of a public charitable trust is contained in the first conclusion of law as announced by . the lower court. I find nothing in the pleadings, the evidence, or special findings that refers to a public charitable trust, in the sense that the same can be said to be affirmatively pleaded or proved. -Wherever one turns — to the “Pittsburg resolutions,” the statements and representations made in the course of organizing the effort to raise the funds, to the resolution adopted by those in charge of the canvass, to the prospectus used by the solicitors and given to each subscriber, to the “blue letter,” to the deed
I believe, therefore, that it was the intention of the contributors to give a fund for the 'special use and benefit of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute; that said institute was to be duly incorporated under the laws of Indiana (which was not done); that said funds were given as and for an endowment to be used in the purchase of said arsenal grounds as a site, campus and foundation for said institute and for no other purpose.
It is shown by the fourth finding of facts that: “as ample security to the subscribers, the trustees will not only hold the collected funds but also a deed to the property until they and the subscribers are thoroughly satisfied that the school can have a sufficient inauguration and maintenance through a fixed and ample endowment.” Said fund was duly raised and the arsenal property purchased therewith from the United States government, appellee trustees receiving a deed therefor in fee simple as “Trustees of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute Fund.” Appellee trustees have never conveyed said real estate and still hold legal title to the same. On April 15, 1903, said trustees and Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute executed a certain written instrument, as set out in the twelfth finding, by virtue of which agreement said institute was put in possession of said real estate. Such agreement has remained in force and
From the facts set out in the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth findings of fact, it is clear that said Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute has never had any endowment subscribed and paid to it; that the school which was conducted on the arsenal ground by the said Winona Technical Institute was operated with some money collected for that purpose, but. eventually with borrowed funds which now constitute a part of the debt against said Winona Technical Institute; that both the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute and the Winona Technical Institute are, and long since have been, wholly insolvent.
The next question to be determined is, What are the rights at this time of the contributors to the original purchase fund, and what are the rights, if any, of the creditors of the Winona Technical Institute? From what has been said heretofore it is clear that the school or institute, which it was the intention to create, should receive its site or location from the contributors to the purchase fund and should then receive from the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute a further endowment of not less than $2,000,000. The contributors or donors to the original fund fully performed their part and supplied the amount necessary to purchase the arsenal grounds and acquire the title thereto. The Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, on the other hand, failed to furnish any endowment, or otherwise to fulfill the promises which constituted the inducement for the subscription of the original purchase fund. I am of the opinion that the intended endowment for the use and benefit of the Winona Agricultural and Tech
The decree appealed from attempts to divert the real estate purchased with the contributed funds to another and different purpose on failure of the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, that is, from a private institute to a public school, from a national private educational institution, supported by private endowment, to a local common public school supported by taxation. To test the soundness of this decree it might be well to reverse the proposition, as was done in an inquiry propounded to appellees’ counsel by a member of this court during the oral argument herein. Suppose the contributors had failed to raise the original purchase fund of $154,000 and the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute had raised the $2,000,000 endowment, could a court of equity reasonably decree that there was a public charitable trust created and order the $2,000,000 turned over to the board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis? The answer must be, as made by appellees’ learned counsel, in the negative. I can find no reasonable basis for the decree as written.
It is a settled rule in equity that when the object or purpose of a trust fails, or does not become effective, a resulting trust will arise for the benefit of the donor or his heirs, and the property will revert to them. Such property cannot be diverted to a similar use when the original grant or gift was made to an express and specific use which has failed. Appellees insist that no provision for a reversion was made in this ease; that there were “no strings
In Hopkins v. Grimshaw (1897), 165 U. S. 342, 353, 17 Sup. Ct. 401, 405, 41 L. Ed. 739, the court said: “If it be assumed, however, as most favorable
In Jenkins v. Jenkins University, supra, the court says: “Here was an entire abandonment of the purposes of the trust, and apparently of the property, by the' appellant, and the respondent’s inquiry is a pertinent one, that if the land does not revert, what is to become of it? It cannot be taken to satisfy the debts contracted, with the exception of that part which was authorized to be mortgaged, and it could not be devoted to another like charitable purpose, the specific one having failed, as is sometimes done in the case of a devise. . If the plaintiff is not entitled to a reversion of the property under such circumstances, who is to have it? The authorities generally agree that it is not essential that such a deed shall contain a clause providing for a reversion, and, while it is to be construed against the grantor, it must not be construed so strongly as to make it impossible to have a reversion where none is expressly provided for in terms. It seems to us, considering all the facts and the terms of the gift, that the plaintiff is entitled to a reversion, and, even if the deed had contained an express
The decision in the ease of Heiskell v. Trout (1888), 31 W. Va. 810, 8 S. E. 557, is thus clearly expressed in the syllabus: “Where real estate purchased with money contributed by individuals is by their direction conveyed by the vendor to trustees, to be held upon trust for a parsonage for the use of the ministers of a church, and after the property has been so used for many years the trust is declared inoperative and void for uncertainty — Held—(1) The property does not revert to the grantor; nor can the grantees hold it for their own personal use and benefit. (2) The individuals, who contributed the purchase-money, are by resulting trust in their favor the beneficial owners of the property and have a right in equity to have the property sold, and the proceeds paid to them in proportion to the sum contributed by each to the purchase-money. (3) The property having been held by the trustees not for the use of themselves but for the use of the church, which is incapable of taking or acquiring title to it, no lapse of time however long continued will bar the right of the beneficial owners to said property.”’ Other eases which sustain the same conclusion are as follows: Teele, Trustee, v. Bishop of Derry (1897), 168 Mass. 341, 47 N. E. 422; Bowden v. Brown (1908), 200 Mass. 269, 86 N. E. 351, 128 Am. St. 419; Allen v. Nasson Institute (1910), 107 Me. 120, 77 Atl. 638; Grundy, Trustee, v. Neal (1912), 147 Ky. 729, 145 S. W. 401; Printing House v. Trustees (1881), 104 U. S. 711, 727, 26 L. Ed. 902.
In Indiana this general rule of equity has been made statutory and applies where property, real or personal, is given as an endowment. Section 4179 Burns 1914, supra, provides that “If any university, college or seminary of learning owning
This being the rule in cases where the endowment has actually been paid to the school or college in question, there could be no different rule where the property intended to be given as an endowment was still in the hands of agents' and had not been delivered for the reason that the beneficiary was not entitled to receive it. Appellees contend that the above statute has no application to institutions of learning of the character contemplated by the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, not organized under the act of which §4179, supra, is. a part. I deem it unnecessary to pass on this point for the reason that, as has already been seen, that statute merely incorporates within its provisions a proposition, general and well established, which is broad enough to cover the case at bar.
’ For whom were appellees acting when they received the funds and transferred them to the United States, receiving therefore a deed to the arsenal property? Clearly they were acting as agents for the contributors and donors whose purpose it was to endow the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute with the arsenal grounds as a site for the proposed school. Said institute never complied with the conditions demanded of it as prerequisite to a transfer of the property to it and the so-called trustees must necessarily hold the property at the present time as agents for the original contributors and donors. Even if properly incorporated, the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute, on its failure, would have no right
However, it must be borne in mind that the donors and contributors of the original purchase fund did not seek to avail themselves of their right to prevent the use of the arsenal property by the Agricultural and Technical Institute before it was properly entitled thereto and the record discloses that possession of such real estate was delivered to representatives of said institute on April 15, 1903, under the agreement set out in the twelfth special finding. The record further discloses that in the fall of 1903 a school consisting of two or three departments was opened on thepremisesand there operated by the so-called Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute until April, _1904, when the so-called Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, by Dr. S. C. Dickey, its president, assumed control and management of said school and conducted the same until a receiver was appointed for said institute and school on March 28, 1910. At the beginning of the school year in 1904, additional departments were added to the school, the faculty was enlarged and certain repairs and improvements on the buildings and equipment were made thereafter from time to time. The twentieth finding of fact sets out the several amounts due appellant creditors and finds that said amounts are due for “money furnished and loaned or goods and merchandise supplied to said defendant the Winona Technical Institute at Indianapolis, at its special instance and request; that the same was reasonably necessary for the establishment, maintenance and equipment of said technical or trade school and
It seems to me that it would be fair and equitable to return to the donors or their heirs the full amount of their contributions and then to pay to the creditors their just claims created in the conduct of said school. Such balance as remains should then be distributed among the original contributors or their heirs in proportion to the amounts of such
Appellant contributors' admit that the facts stated in the nineteenth finding are correctly found, but insist that the sixth and- seventh conclusions of law are not justified by the facts; that the receiver’s certificates and the allowances made to such receiver and to his atorneys do not create a charge on the real estate in question for the reasons that such receiver was, appointed in another and different cause, and would have no right to ask for and obtain an order in this cause authorizing the issuance of receiver’s certificates for the purpose of raising funds with which to carry on said school. The finding shows that there was in the hands of the receiver personal property of the Technical Institute of the value of $45,000; that at the time the order was made directing the issuance and sale of receiver’s certificates the only notice .given was to one of the appellees herein; that only six of the thousands of persons who contributed to the original purchase fund entered any appearance to the petition asking for such order; that there is no pleading or evidence in this case to justify the decree that the receiver be allowed $4,400 for his services as receiver and $3,000 as fees for his attorneys; that, if said receiver and his attorneys are entitled to the compensation named for services rendered, such allowances should be made in the cause in which such receiver was appointed and by the court wherein such receivership is pending, and therein that such allowances should be declared a first lien on the property in the hands of the receiver. In this contention appellants are correct.
The same appellants contend further that the allowances made to appellees’ so-called trustees and to their attorneys for their expenses and services in the
It should be kept in-mind all through this case that this is an action in equity in which the will of the chancellor should be guided solely by the considerations of conscience. If great numbers .of philanthropic citizens who have subscribed their funds for a specific purpose are to have the same diverted by judicial decree, and are to have the benefits thereof gratuitously conferred on the school city of Indianapolis — a result which could' not have been within contemplation of the wildest speculative imagination when the gifts were made — and if the use of such valuable properties as the grounds herein mentioned and the improvements which have
In my opinion the judgment of the Hendricks Circuit Court should be reversed with instructions to restate its conclusions of law and to render such judgment thereon as should secure to the several appellants herein their respective rights.
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion.
— I find myself unable to agree with the majority opinion in this cause. In the first place, the findings of the court fall far short of finding that any trust for a charitable use was ever created. The statutes of this State provide how a trust in real estate may be created, and is as follows: “No trust concerning lands, except such as may arise by implication of law, shall be created, unless in writing, signed by the party creating the same, or by his attorney thereto lawfully authorized in writing.” §4012 Burns 1914, §2969 R. S. 1881. There is also a provision of the statute that, “Nothing contained in any law of this state shall be construed to prevent any trust from arising or being extinguished by implication of law.” §7466 Burns 1914, §4907 It. S. 1881. If, therefore, a trust in the real estate in question has been created in favor of appellees, it is by reason of the section of the statute first quoted, supra, or else it is one which arises by implication of law;
The only parties to this transaction who could
This court is in error in holding that it is now too late to object to parol testimony in support of the court’s findings. In the opinion of the writer, where a statute makes provision as to how a trust shall be created, it is immaterial what evidence may have been introduced by any or all of the parties to the litigation; unless there be some evidence of the creation of the trust in the manner provided by statute, none was, in fact, created.
The writings on which the trust for a charitable use was created, if at all, are the following:
“Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute,
Indianapolis, Indiana,-1902.
“In consideration of the promise of the proposed organizers of the Winona Agricultural and. Technical Institute to duly incorporate said institute under the laws of Indiana and to establish the technical department of said institute upon the United States Arsenal site at Indianapolis, Indiana, if the amount hereinafter mentioned, by subscription included, shall be subscribed thereto and said arsenal site can be purchased, I promise upon demand to pay to Medford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Charles Lath-am, A. A. Barnes and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, or their successors or order, the sum of-dollars, to be used in the purchase of said arsenal site for said Winona Institute’s technical department and the establishment of said department, provided that this subscription is subject to the condition that, valid bona fide*472 subscriptions of like purport with this subscription to the amountof $150,000.00 shall have been made, and provided further that the sum by me hereby subscribed shall not be demanded or payable until such aggregate amount shall have been subscribed.
“Technical Institute Fund.
Indianapolis, Indiana,-, 1903.
“I promise to pay upon demand to Medford B. Wilson, John Perrin, Charles Latham, A. A. Barnes and Frank E. Gavin, Trustees, or their successors or order the sum of-:dollars for the purpose of the purchase of the Arsenal site for the Technical Institute (the amount paid hereon to said trustees to be returned to the undersigned in case the said Technical Institute shall not be located on said Arsenal Site.
- — •)■
“Indianapolis, Indiana, January 13, 1903.
“Dear Sir—
The'undersigned trustees for the Technical Institute fund hereby inform you that valid and bona fide subscriptions to the full amount of $150,000.00 has been secured for the purpose of the Arsenal Site from the Government for the purpose of establishment of the proposed Technical Institute thereon.
“That the object may be certainly fulfilled it has been determined by your trustees and agreed to by the representatives of the Institute that the deed of conveyance to the Institute limit the property and all its proceeds to educational uses in the City of Indianapolis, and the deed to the Arsenal Site property shall not be delivered by the Trustees to the Institute corporation until it shall have in cash or bona fide collectible subscriptions a sum at least equal to the purchase price of the real estate. lix order, therefore, that the Trustees may be in possession to promptly submit their offer for the property, you are kindly requested to co-operate by mak*473 ing immediate payment of your subscription at the bank designated in the enclosed notice.
“Yours truly,
Medford B. Wilson,
John Perrin,
A. A. Barnes,
Charles Latham,
Frank E. Gavin,
Trustees.”
On these instruments of writing signed by those creating the trust, the donors, this trust must have been created, or not at all. The authorities cited in the majority opinion authorizing the admission of parol evidence to ascertain the intent and purpose of making a subscription never held that it could be shown by parol that a trust was created in lands, when a positive statute prohibited it being so created. This court, in an opinion by Mitchell, J., has said how a trust is created. The language of the court is as follows: “A trust may be said to be executed when it has been perfectly and explicitly declared in a writing duly signed, in which the terms and conditions upon which the legal title to the trust estate has been conveyed, or is held, and the final intention of the creator of the trust in respect thereto, appear with such certainty that nothing remains to be done, except that the trustee, without any further act or appointment from the settlor, carry into effect the intention of the donor as declared.” Gaylord v. City of Lafayette (1888), 115 Ind. 423, 429, 17 N. E. 899, 902. Quoting further from the same decision as to the question whether the deed under consideration was sufficient and effectual as the declaration of a perfectly created trust, Mitchell, J., says: “Pertinent to the first point, it may be said, if the transaction created- a trust, since the subject-matter thereof was land, it was essential to its validity that it should have been
Considering these two subscriptions, the “blue letter” .and the deed from the government, which contain all the writings signed by any of the parties to the controversy, yet in none of these is there even a hint at the creation of a trust for a charitable use. It is immaterial what may have been said or done in relation, to the subscription to the fund, or what their intentions were in paying the money. The question here is, Was there an express trust created according to law in the lands in controversy? To create an express- trust various combinations of elements have been held to be- essential, the most common being: sufficient words to create it; a definite subject; and a certain and ascertained object. Considered from the standpoint of parties, ah express trust implies a co-operation of three persons: A settlor-, or a person who creates or establishes the trust; a trustee, or person who holds the legal title to the trust property for the benefit of another; and a cestui que trust, or person for whose benefit the trust is created; 39 Cyc 34, .35.
As said in the majority opinion, “If there is any competent written evidence that the person holding the legal title is only a trustee that will open the door for the admission of parol evidence to explain the position of the parties,” citing 1 Perry, Trusts
It has been repeatedly held by this and the Appellate Court that a trust in real estate cannot be created by parol testimony.
The title to the lands in controversy is either in the contributors to the fund or in appellees as trustees for the contributors upon a resulting or constructive trust. The subscribers were not bound to complete the gift by transfer of the money, or the land purchased therewith, and the trustees had no power to do so after the failure of the Winona people to incorporate, establish and endow the institute, and after they had abandoned the object for which the subscriptions were made, even if that object was held to be charitable. Commercial Travelers’ Home Assn., etc. v. McNamara, supra; Larrimer v. Murphy (1904), 72 Ark. 552, 82 S. W. 168; Heiskell v. Trout, supra; Printing House v. Trustees, supra; First Church, etc. v. Schreck (1911), 70 Misc. Rep. 645, 127 N. Y. Sup. 174; Bowden v. Brown, supra.
If a trust was created it would imply a settlor, the subscribers; a trustee, Gavin, et al.; and a cestui que trust — who? This latter element was to be the Winona people, on condition that they complied with certain terms and conditions which they failed to fulfill; hence, we have an absence of an essential element to constitute a trust at all, either charitable or otherwise. That a trust in the lands in question was created is not to be measured by evidence, although admitted without objection, that does not create, according to the requirements of the statute governing the subject. Suppose a suit to compel the execution of a deed was instituted against a wife who had contracted to convey, without her husband joining in the deed,
In my humble opinion the tenth finding is unsupported by any legitimate evidence showing the creation of an express trust in conformity with §4012 Burns 1914, supra. In all the exhibits introduced there are none which provided for an absolute transfer of the property to the Winona people until they had complied with certain specified conditions. They failed to meet these condi
The donors in this case never completed the trust. • They manifested a purpose ultimately, at a time and in a manner thereafter to be determined, either by themselves or by their agents, appellees, to bestow the property upon the Winona Agricultural and Technical Institute; therefore, the trust was executory and incomplete and not within the jurisdiction of a court of chancery, and equity will not aid in carrying it into effect whether the intended gift or trust was for private or charitable use, Gaylord v. City of Lafayette, supra; Wright, Gdn., v. Moody (1888), 116 Ind. 175, and eases cited on page 179, 18 N. E. 608; Stone v. Hachett (1858), 12 Gray (Mass.) 227, 230; Welsh v. Henshaw (1898), 170 Mass. 409, 413; Milroy v. Lord (1862), 4 DeGex, F. & J. 263, 274; Dipple v. Corles (1853), 11 Hare 183; Richards v. Delbridge (1874), L. R. 18 Eq. 11; Young v. Young (1880), 80 N. Y. 422, 437, 438, 36 Am. Rep. 634; Cowan v. Wheeler (1845), 25 Me. 267, 43 Am. Dec. 283; Steere v. Steere (1820), 5 Johns, Ch. (N. Y.) 1, 9 Am. Dec. 256; Orth v. Orth (1896), 145 Ind. 184, 42 N. E. 277, 44 N. E. 17, 32 L. R. A. 298, 57 Am. St. 185; Bennett v. Littlefield (1901), 177 Mass. 294, 58 N. E. 1011; Ould v. Washington Hospital, supra; 1 Perry, Trusts § §357, 359.
In the ea.se of Wright, Gdn., v. Moody, supra, Mitchell, J.,onpage 179says: “Where,however, the owner of real estate, without contemporaneously declaring a Valid trust, makes a voluntary conveyance to another in pursuance of an oral or imperfect agreement that the later shall reconvey to the owner, who orally agrees to hold for the benefit of, or convey to, some third person, upon whom the
If the trust were created as claimed by appellees why appeal to a court of chancery to ascertain their rights and duties? The fact that they held the legal title to the property (and they took it by virtue of an election by the subscribers of them as agents) without any definite directions in any of the writings as to their-duties, except to turn it over to the Winona people, is evidence sufficient to establish the fact that- no express trust was created. “A trust and a trustee of real property may be created by any writing which passes the legal title to the trustees, and contains a proper declaration of the trust, (Hill on Trustees p. 63-4). But the writing must declare what the trust is.” Dillaye v. Greenough, supra. Quoting further from this same opinion, “A trust must be manifested and proved by writing, and the nature of the trust, and the terms and conditions of it must sufficiently appear, so that the court may not be called upon to execute the trust in a manner different from that intended. * * * But it is sufficient to say that the terms and conditions of the trust must be expressed in writing.” It is not enough to say that the trust was created in the money when paid to appellees and that it continued into the real estate. The purpose of the subscription's was to buy the real estate, and the question here is the title to the same.
It is not contended that appellees own the land in question in fee. These men are but the agents of the subscribers and hold title for them, in carrying into effect the proposed purchase of the arsenal
If appellees were trustees, their powers and duties
It is conceded by the majority opinion that, if it had been impossible to purchase the arsenal grounds from the government, the donors would have been entitled to a return of the money. I am unable to distinguish between the right to a return of the money and a restoration to the donors of that represented by the money which purchased it, viz., the real estate. But I take it that this is an argument in favor of the proposition that, if from any cause the trust failed of consummation, the donors were entitled to the money or land purchased with the money. It seems to me that a court of chancery would have the same right to direct that the money paid by the donors should be taken and applied to educational purposes in Indianapolis as it would to take the real estate.
The cy pres doctrine has no application to this ease. This doctrine has only to do with trusts that are created and need only to be administered, and does not authorize a court of chancery to create a trust in conformity with what the chancellor may gather from oral testimony was the intention of the donors, when they signed the subscription. But nevertheless'it is conceded that, if another trustee could not be found to administer the trust in accordance with the trust instrument, the money should revert to the donors. It is contended by the majority opinion that the cy pres doctrine is in effect and authorizes a court of equity to supply what is lacking in this contract to effectuate a trust. Cy
The carrying into effect by the judgment of the court of conclusion of law No. 16 would violate the express conditions in the subscription papers and the “blue letter.” By the terms of these papers, construed by their terms and from the circumstances and surroundings of the subscribers and contributors, as shown by the previous findings, the gift or donation or intended trust was not to take effect until (1) the institution had been duly incorporated, (2) had established its technical department by endowment, (3) the amount of $150,000 had been subscribed, the subscriptions to be of like purport with the first subscription papers; (4) and the subscriptions were to be returned to the subscribers, if the institute should not be located (in the sense in which this term was used) on said arsenal site, and (5) the deed was not to be delivered (see “blue letter”) until the institute corporation should have in cash or bona fide collectible subscriptions (evidently a part of the endowment) a sum. at least equal to the purchase price of the real estate. All these conditions were either concurrent or precedent to the vesting of any interest in the intended donee or beneficiary, and concurrent or precedent to the impressing of either the fund or the land with any kind of a trust, other than for the subscribers and contributors. It was clearly the intention of the subscribers and contributors that those conditions should be complied with. None of them have been complied with. No provision is made in conclusion
The trust which would be, so created would be in conflict with the intent of the contributors to the fund as found by the court in the tenth finding. The court expressly finds that: “The donors understood and intended that said funds so donated and paid should and would, be used by said trustees (the plaintiffs) appellees in purchasing said real estate to be held in trust by said trustees or some corporation or persons selected by them in perpetuity as a site for a national technical school, and that said real estate would be retained intact for such purpose,” etc. If the creators of the trust expressed the intention that the plaintiff appellees, or some corporation or persons selected by them, should hold the land in perpetuity as a site for a national technical institute, etc., it was not competent for the court to select a trustee when there was no vacancy and the plaintiffs were óffering to execute the trust.
There is no evidence to support the twenty-second finding that the school city of Indianapolis is ready and willing to accept the real estate upon the trusts in said finding declared. The trusts therein declared were not declared by the subscribers and contributors. All the evidence is to the effect that the school city was willing to become the
In the case of Bullock v. Robison (1911), 176 Ind. 198, 93 N. E. 998, this court held in an opinion, written by a member of this court at this time, involving the legality of a similar act (Acts 1909 ch. 38, p. 89, §6539 Burns 1914) that a law providing for contributions to the art institute of the city was void as contravening §22, Art. 4, of the Constitution, it being class legislation. This decision was handed down by this court on February 14, 1911, and a rehearing denied June 23, 1911. The act of 1911 in relation to the maintenance of trust estates by taxation, being the act under consideration was approved, with an emergency clause on March 1, 1911. If the act of March 1, 1909, is unconstitutional, and it certainly is, for the reasons assigned in Bullock v. Robison, supra, then the act of 1911 is also unconstitutional for the same reason. •
Section 22, Art. 4, of the Constitution is as follows: “The general assembly shall not pass local or special laws in any of the following enumerated eases, that is to say: * '* * Providing for supporting common schools and for the preservation of school funds.” This same question was decided by a member of this court while sitting as a judge of the circuit court, and held that a statute concerning common schools which apply to cities or towns having a designated population only is violative of this clause of the constitution. The decision of the lower court was upheld by this Court in School City of Rushville v. Hayes (1903), 162 Ind. 193, 70 N. E. 134. In the act of 1911 it is provided that it shall apply to
The institution and school which was to be established and maintained and which is contemplated by the express terms of the subscription papers was not such an institution or school as the city of Indianapolis has power to establish and maintain, and, therefore, it-cannot raise money by taxation for either endowment or maintenance. It is, therefore, impossible for it to comply with the conditions. Maxcy v. City of Oshkosh, supra; Allen v. Nasson Institute, supra; Board v. Dinwiddie, supra; Skinner v. Harrison Tp., supra. The board of school commissioners of the city of Indianapolis has no power to levy a tax to support a trust of which it is merely a trustee.
The eighth, tenth, and twenty-second findings of fact, or at least the material parts thereof, are not sustained by sufficient evidence, and there is not sufficient evidence upon which a'finding could have been made upon the subject-matter of the twenty-second finding or that would have supported conclusion of law No. 16. If said findings, or the ma
The court erroneously applied those principles which it believed applicable to a perfectly declared executed express public or charitable trust. The evidence and facts proven did not show that such a trust had been created. Upon a correct application of principles, the findings of fact mentioned in No. 1, supra, could not have been made. The errors in the application of the principles to the evidence, facts and cause are carried into all said conclusions of law and the judgment thereon. The facts found do not support conclusions of law Nos. 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16, or either thereof. The subscription papers set out in finding No. 5, even including the “blue letter” set out in the ninth finding, together with all other facts relating to each thereof set out in other findings, are not sufficient to support conclusion of law No. 1, that the real estate is held by the plaintiffs as trustees of a public charitable trust as set out in said conclusion. The tenth finding in which it is found that “the donors understood and intended that said fund so donated and paid should and would be used by said trustees in purchasing certain real estate to be held in trust by said trustees or some corporation or person selected by them in perpetuity as a site for a national technical school,” etc., and the’twenty-second finding, that the school city of Indianapolis is willing to accept the real estate in trust and establish and maintain a technical school thereon, open to all students in such school city and as students are admitted to other schools in said city, taken together, and with other facts found, do not support conclusion of law No. 16, that the plaintiffs, who so held as trustees with the right to select
In conclusion I am of the opinion that: (1) No
Note. — Reported in 112 N. E. 780.