76 Mo. App. 1 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1898
It was admitted by the defendant that the signature to each of the certificates was that of Doveton, their cashier. The plaintiff then offered the two certificates in evidence, to the introduction of which defendant objected for the reason that they showed on their face plainly that the words, “no interest after maturity,” were stricken out in the one apparently with a pen and in the other with a pencil, which had the effect to vitiate them. The court then announced that it would reserve its decision as to the objections so made until after all the evidence that defendant might offer was in.
The defendant introduced several witnesses who testified, in substance, that they had been many years engaged in the banking business and had been accustomed to the examination of handwritings and signatures. They testified further that they had examined said certificate 47 and the ink used in making' the erasure therein, as well as the ink used on the written portions thereof, and that it was their opinion that the former was different from the latter. Doveton, who was the cashier of the defendant, and who signed and delivered the certificates, but who was not connected with defendant at the time of the trial, testified that the erasures thereon were not made by him nor by any officer or employee of defendant; that the first time he had discovered the erasures was nearly seven years after the date of such certificates. This witness further testified that in August or September, 1895, the deceased, the payee in the certificates, came into defendant’s bank and asked: “What interest
The plaintiff offered evidence tending to show that the reputation of deceased for honesty was good, and, that the certificates had been shown by deceased to the former two years before the latter’s death.
At the conclusion of all the evidence the court ruled: “The erasures were such on the face of the certificates as to show that in one of them the erasure was in different ink from that used in writing the other written portion of said certificate, and that the erasure in the other certificate was in pencil, and that these facts were apparent on the face of said certificates on inspection independent of the expert evidence aforesaid on that point, and that such erasures had not been explained by plaintiff on whom the burden rested, and therefore the said certificates were excluded.”
No declarations of law were requested or given. The court gave judgment for the amount of the two certificates and interest thereon from the date until the maturity thereof. No interest was allowed from the maturity. The plaintiff appealed.
The certificates were offered in evidence before the court sitting as a jury. The erasures appeared tobe suspicious on their face. One of them was made with ink that was different from that used on the other written parts of the certificate, while the other was made with a pencil. These facts were brought before the court by the exhibition of the certificates themselves. The opinion of the expert witnesses to the effect that the ink with which one of the certificates was written was different from that used in making the erasure tended to prove no fact beyond that shown by the face of the certificates themselves. The defendant’s case would have been as well without this testimony as with
The record discloses no error harmful to plaintiff and therefore the judgment must be affirmed.