77 Mo. App. 148 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1898
“14.30 No. 140
“S. C. Edgar
Glendale Zinc Works.
“This is to certify that Mike Jososki has due him fourteen and 30-100 dollars. For work done in the month of September, 1895.
“Payable October 16th, 1895.
“(Signed) S. C. Edgar,
“Per E. F. Keller.
“(Indorsed) Mike Jososki.”
Plaintiff’s testimony is, and it is undisputed, that Keller in person, while in the employ of defendant as bookkeeper and cashier, from time to time, presented the certificates, one at a time to him and asked him to cash them for the benefit of the payees named in them; that he paid ninety-five per cent of the face value for each certificate, in good faith, believing they were all right; that he had previous to this time cashed like certificates at Keller’s request which had been paid at the defendant’s office by Keller and in defendant’s presence without objection or protest. A similar course of dealing with others was testified to by other witnesses. We think this evidence was ample to show the authority of Keller to issue the certificates sued on. The authority of an agent need not be shown by express authority, but it may be proven by the habit and course of business of the principal. Mills v. Berla, 23 S. W. Rep. 910; Mabray v. Kelley-Goodfellow Shoe Co., 73 Mo. App. 1. We think also that the authority of Keller to make out and sign his principal’s name to the certificates may be inferred from the nature of his employment. Edwards v. Thomas, 66 Mo. 468. The defense
Another error complained of, and which is sufficient to require a reversal of the judgment is this; plaintiff’s counsel asked a question of a witness; defendant objected to the question, the court sustained the objection; counsel for plaintiff then undertook to state what he expected to prove by the witness; counsel for defendant objected to his making such a statement; the court sustained this objection also, and counsel for plaintiff was not permitted to state the proffered evidence. Where evidence is excluded by the trial court, unless the same is preserved in the bill of exceptions, an appellate court can not determine whether the excluded testimony is material or not, and will not pass upon the ruling of the trial court in excluding it. Bank v. Wills, 79 Mo. 275; Bank v. Aull, 80 Mo. 199; Jackson v. Hardin, 83 Mo. 175; State v. Douglass, 81 Mo. 235. For errors herein noted, the judgment is reversed and the cause, remanded.