126 Iowa 140 | Iowa | 1904
On the 24th day of February, 1902, D. W. Townsend, as agent of the plaintiff, entered into a contract by virtue of which he conveyed to the defendant, J. E. Ammons, a hotel property at Independence, Iowa, and some land in Missouri, estimated to be worth $1,700, in consideration of
For value received I promise to pay J. E. Ammons or order thirty-three hundred and seventy-five dollars as soon as the money can be obtained from the sale of a certain stock of clothing for which this note is given as a part of the purchase money. All money received is to be turned over as fast as received less necessary and legitimate expenses, which are not however to exceed the sum of one hundred dollars per month. The right to remove these goods to some other place in Iowa is reserved and also the right to handle these goods in a regular mercantile way which is agreed to.
Thus the money to pay the note was to be obtained from the sale of the goods, and to accomplish this the “ right to handle the goods in a regular mercantile way ” was reserved to the mortgagor both in the note and mortgage. That right was not parted with. That was the right Townsend was exercising when the defendant Ammons seized the stock. It was essential, in order to enable him, as agent of the plaintiff, to reduce the goods to money out of which, by the terms of both instruments, the indebtedness was to be paid. Only by the continued possession of the property could sales “ in the regular mercantile way ” be effected, and to guard against any interferences therewith the reservation was incorporated into the mortgage. That the seizure of the goods by Am-mons was in derogation of this reserved right, in that it de-
Complaint is made of rulings by which this witness was allowed to state that the stock was old. This was admissible as a circumstance tending to show that the marks on the-goods, which were shown to have been fresh, were not the original cost marks.
The witness was then asked his belief as to whether the price he finally put on the new tickets which he attached to the goods would equal the wholesale price. Manifestly, this called for a comparison of values, rather than for the fact as to whether he had acted in the belief that the marks
The result of the reversal on plaintiff’s appeal and an affirmance on defendant’s appeal is that the judgment is affirmed.