Appeal by the defendant from a judgment of the County Court of Schuyler County in favor of the plaintiff, after a trial before the court without a jury, in an action upon a promissory note. Coneededly the defendant signed a promissory note dated December 16, 1957, in the sum of $466, payable to John Wade, Jr., six months after date at the Glen National Bank, Watkins Glen, New York. The defendant is unable to read or write the English language. There is undisputed testimony that Wade made out the body of the note and asked defendant to sign it upon the representation that it was merely a statement of wage earnings while he was working for defendant, to be used for income tax purposes. Defendant's testimony that he owed Wade nothing and that there was no consideration for the note is likewise without dispute. The sole question presented on the appeal is whether or not the plaintiff was a holder in due course, and that in turn, depends upon whether or not the plaintiff had notice of an infirmity in the instrument before the note was negotiated to the plaintiff bank. The defendant testified that he personally orally gave notice to the cashier of the plaintiff bank in the following manner: “ I told him that if John Wade went to the bank to try to cash a note not to give him any money under my name, that I had been tricked and it wasn’t the paper I thought I signed, but he said not to worry and I said, ‘ thanks ’ and walked out.” This was in January of 1958. This testimony is not disputed, and the cashier in substance admitted the conversation but testified that he had forgotten it when he personally handled the negotiation of the note on April 16, 1958. If the plaintiff bank was nót a holder in due course the defense of lack of consideration is available to the defendant. Section 91 of the Negotiable Instruments Law provides: “A holder in due course is a holder who has taken the instrument under the following conditions: * * * 4. That at the time it was negotiated to him he had no notice of any infirmity in the instrument or defect in the title of the person negotiating it.” Upon the undisputed testimony in this case we do not see how it can be said that the plaintiff “had no notice of any infirmity in the instrument”. We interpret the opinion of the court below as finding that the plaintiff bank had oral notice but that its officer had forgotten it. The court below seemed to feel
