Newspaper Page Text
VOL. I,
SANDERSYILLE, GEORGIA, JUNE 13, 1873.
NO. 50.
I. at. G. ilEDLOCK. JETHKO APETNE. E. L. BCDGEBS.
By Medlock, Arliue & Bodmers.
The Heeald is published iu Sandersville,
Ga., every Friday morning. Subscription
rrice TWO DOLLARS per annum.
1 Advertisements inserted at the usual rates.
Ro charge for publishing marriages or
deaths.
POETRY.
Watch. Mother.
Mother, watch the little feet,
Climbing o'er the garden wall,
Bounding through the busy street,
Ranging cellar, shed, and hall.
Never count the moments lost,
Never count the time or cost:
Laughing, bustling, all the day,
Guide them, mother, while you may.
Mother, watch the little hand
Picking berries by the way,
Making houses in the sand.
Tossing up the fragrant hay,
Never dare the question ask,
“Why to me the weary task?”
These same little hands may prove
Messengers of Light and Love.
Mother, watch the little tongue,
Prattling eloquent and wild ;
What is said and what is sung
By the joyous, happy child.
Catch the word while yet unspoken,
Stop the vow before ’tis broken ;
This same tongue may yet proclaim
Blessings in a Saviour’s name.
Mother, watch the little heart
Beating soft and warm for you ;
Wholesome lessons now impart;
Keep, O ! keep that young heart true
Still, extracting every weed,
Sowing good and precious seed,
Harvest rich you then may see
Ripen for eternity.
SELECT MISCELLANY.
LITTLE BLUE EYES.
Or, How sire saved me.
“Can I sit with you?”
“Certainly, sir.”
“Nice weather.”
“Splendid, indeed.”
“Crops growing finely?”
“Yes, could’nt do better.”
X was sitting in a passenger coach,
on a Wisconsin railroad, one day,
years ago, when a good looking,
pleasant spoken man came along,
stopped at my seat, and the above
conversation took place, the latter
part, of it after I had given him part
of my seat.
Now I am regarded as a social
man. I like a joke, a good bit; and
I think a sour, morose man, who
uses his tongue only when obliged
to, is bound to die of some terrible
disease, and go to some place of red
hot punishment.
On entering a railroad car I al
ways look about for a talkative man,
and then get as close to him as pos
sible, and drain him dry, if the jour
ney is long enough.
And I want to state one thing
more. Left an orphan before 1
could realize the event which made
me one, I got kicked here and cuffed
there, and “grew up between folks,”
as they say. I ought to have had,
at the time of which I write, a pretty
thorough knowledge of human na
ture, and have been enabled, to read
iu a man’s face if he intended me
evil. I do not pride myself on being
over keen or extra sharp, but the
knocking around among strangers
ought to give one a good experience.
Well, the stranger and I fell into
an easy train of conversation as we
rode on together, and in ten minutes
I began to enjoy his company. He
was a well made fellow, finely
dressed, and he wore a fine watch
and a simon pure diamond ring. I
never saw a man who could talk so
easily and pleasantly. It seemed
that he had but to open his mouth
and the words fell right out.
I had traveled in the South, so had
he. I had heard the loud roar of the
Pacific; he knew all about it. I had
been up in a balloon, down in a mine,
been blown up, smashed up, and re
paired again; my new friend had ex
perienced all these things, and was
waiting for something to turn up of
a more startling nature. We agreed
on politics, neither had any religion,
and I had never met such a railroad
companion.
Did. you ever meet a man who,
though a stranger to you ten minutes
before, could wrest from you secrets
which you’d sworn to yourself not
to reveal? Well, he was just such
a man. It was not long before he
commenced asking me questions.
He did not seem to be trying to quiz
or draw me out, but he asked me
questions in such a sly, round-about
way, that before I knew it I was giv
ing him my history. sj.uuu. .w
l was at that time just on die j re t urn my money in his pocket
point of being admitted to ^the bar , anc | m y Ulood. upon his hands, I
About a year before his death,
being short for money, and not wish
ing to sell anything at a sacrifice,
Preston had given a mortgage on his
farm for three thousand dollars.
While the papers read “one year
from date,” there was a verbal agree
ment that it should be lifted off any
day when Preston desired. A month
after, when, having the money, he
desired to clear off the paper, the
old money-bags holding it refused to
disgorge, wishing to secure his inter
est for a year.
I was on my way to ascertain the
date of expiration. A fire among
our office papers had destroyed the
memoranda, and I must go down and
get the date from old Scrip, who
lives south of Grafton about five
miles. The stranger had pumped
all this out of me in ten minutes; and
yet I never once suspected that he
was receiving information.
“I am not positive,” I added, “but
I am pretty sure the time is the 13th,
which would be Tuesday.” -
“And then yonr folks will send
down the money and discharge the
mortgage, of course?” he inquired.
“Oh, yes. I should most likely
bring it down,” I replied, and it
never occurred to me how imprudent
I was. *
He turned the conversation into
other channels, and did not once at
tempt to pump me further. We got
to Grafton at half past ten, and to
my great surprise he announced that
he was to stop in the town on busi
ness for a few days. I had not asked
his name or vocation, while he knew
everything about me.
We went to the hotel, had. dinner,
and then I secured a lively team and
drove out, getting through with the
business so that I was back to take
the half past two express east. My
friend was on the porch of the hotel
as I drove up, carrying that same
honest, dignified face.
' “Well, did you find out?” he in
quired, in his pleasant way.
“It’s on the 13th, as I expected,”
I replied.
We had lunch together, and when
we shook hands and parted, I had
no more idea of seeing him again
than I have of knowing you. In
fact he told me that he should sail
for England in a week or ten days,
and should not return to America.
At parting he gave me his card. It
was a modest piece of pasteboard,
and bore the name of “Geo. Raleigh,”
in old English script.
Every thing at the office went on
as usual, and the 13th came at length.
Law & Law had arranged for me to
go down with the money, and I
looked, upon it as a business of no
special importance.
“We know you are all right,” re
marked the senior partner, as I was-
about to go ; “but I want to give-to
you a word of warning, neverthe
less. Don’t take any stranger into
your confidence until you have passed
out the money, and look oulwho sits
next to you.”
It was something new for him to
caution me, and I could not but
wonder at it; but in the bustle of
getting on board the train, I forgot
what lie said. Ordinary prudence
had induced me to place the money,
which was all in bank bills, and divid
ed into three packages, under my
shirt, next to my skin, where the
left hand of a pick-pocket could not
reach it.
Interested in a newspaper, time
flew by as the train flew West, and,
at length, the hoarse voice of the
brakeman warned me that I had
reached Grafton. I had leaped down
and was making my way to the livery
stable when I heard a familiar voice,
and looked up to see Raleigh. He
was seated in a buggy, and had, seem
ingly, waited for me to come up.
“Don’t express your surprise,” he
began, as I stopped at the wheel.
“I did intend to go away, but I
changed my mind, and I like this
section so well that I am going out
to-day to look at a farm, with a view
of purchasing. Come, ride up to
the hotel.”
We rode up, ordered a lunch, and
while we were discussing i£, Mr.
Raleigh discovered that the farm he
was going to see was just beyond the
Script’s.
How fortunate! I could ride out
with him, see the farm, and retum
in his company, and he would be
greatly pleased.
I was also pleased. If any one
had told me, as we got into the bug
gy, that George Raleigh meant to
of Wisconsin as a student of Law &
Law, of Brierville.
The firm were old lawyers, with a
lucrative practice, and it had been
talked over that in about a month I
was to become the “Co.” of the firm.
A year before, an old farmer named
Preston, down about four miles from
Grafton, had died, and his matters
had been put into the hands of Law
& Law for settlement. Preston had
died rich. He had money in the
hank, railroad stocks, mortgages,
etc., and everything was settled up
to the satisfaction of the relict and
the fatherless.
should have believed him a lunatic.
And yet George Raleigh had plann
ed to do that very same thing.
It was a lovely day in June, and
the cool breeze and the sight of
meadows and green groves made my
heart grow larger.
My companion was very talka-
tive/but ho didn’t even hint at my
errand.
“O, excuse me,” he exclaimed,
after we had passed a mile or so be
yond the village and were among the
farm-houses, “X should have offered
you this before.” •
s He drew from his pocket a small
flask of wine and handed it to me
Now, I was temperate in regard to
drinks. In fact, I detested the sight
and smell of anything intoxicating
but I had not the moral courage to
tell him so and hand back the flask
undisturbed. I feared to offend him,
and so I drank, perhaps, three good
swallows. He called my attention
to the woods on the left, as he re
ceived back the flask, and when ]
looked around again he was just re
moving it from his mouth, as if he
had drank heartily.
In about five minutes I began . to
feel queer. The fences, along the
road, seemed to grow higher, and
the trees to grow larger; something
got into my ears, so that the rattle
of the buggy sounded a long way
off.
“How strange! why, I believe I
am going to be sick!” I exclaimed,
holding on to the seat with all my
might.
“Yon do look strange,” he replied,
a sickly smile stealing over his face
“I shouldn’t wonder if it was apo
plexy.”
I did not suspect the game he had
played. His words were like an
echo, and his face seemed twice as
large as it usually was. My head
began to snap and crack, and I was
greatly frightened.
“You are badly off,” he continued,
looking into my face. “I will drive
as fast as possible, and get a doctor.
My tongue was so heavy that I
could not reply. I clutched the seat,
shut my eyes, and he put his horse
at his best pace. We met a farmer’s
team, and I can remember that one
of the occupants of the wagon called
out to know what ailed me. Raleigh
did not reply, but urged the horse
forward.
About three miles from Grafton
was a long stretch of forest, and this
we soon reached. The pain in my
head was not So violent, and I was
not so badly affected with opening
my eyes. I had settled into a sort of
dumb stupor, with a brain so be
numbed that I had to say to myself,
“this is a tree, that is a stump,” etc.,
before I could make sure that I was
not wrong. Half a mile down the
road, after we struck the forest, and
then Raleigh turned the horse into
a blind road, leading back into the
woods. I could not understand what
he intended. I tried to grapple with
the questien,but I could not solve it.
“Well, here we are,” exclaimed
Raleigh, when we reached a point
forty rods from the road.
He stopped the horse, got out and
fastened him, and then came around
to the wheel.
“You don’t feel just right, but I
guess you will be better soon,” he
remarked; “come, let me help you
down.”
He reached up his arms, and I let
go of the seat and fell into them. It
seemed to me as if I weighed a ton,
but he carried me along without an
effort and laid me down within about
a rod of the fence which ran along
on one side of an old pasture. Just
now.the effect of the drug was wear
ing off, and I began to feel a little
better, and I got a faint suspicion
that something unusual had hap
pened. But I was powerless to move
a limb. The sensation was like that
when your foot goes to sleep.
“Can you speak?” inquired Ra
leigh, bending over me; “because if
you can, it will Save me some trouble.
I want to know where you have
stowed away that money?”
Now I began to realize my situa
tion. His face looked natural again,
and the load was off my tongue.
“George Raleigh! are you going to
rob me?” I asked, finding my voice
at last.
“Well, some folks might call it
robbing, but we dress up the term a
little by calling it the only correct
way of equalizing the floating cur
rency, so that-each one is provided
for, and no one left out.”
“You shan’t have the money; I’ll
die first!” I yelled, rising a little.
“Ah, I see—you didn’t take quite
enough,” he coolly remarked. “Well,
I have provided for this.”
He went to the buggy, procured
ropes and a gag, and knelt down be
side me. I had. but little strength
yet, and he conquered me in a mo
ment. Laying me on my right side,
looking towards the fence, he tied
my hands, and then forced a gag into
my mouth.
“There, now, you see you are nicely
fixed up, and all because you acted
like a fool, instead of a sensible
young lawyer soon to be admitted to
the bar.”
While he was speaking—indeed
while he was tying me—I had caught
the sight of the white face of a little
girl looking at us between the rails
of the fence. I could see her great
blue eyes. There were red stains
around her month and on. the little
hand resting on the rails, and Ik w
that she.was some farmer’8 daughter
searching for strawberries- I could
not warn her of her danger, and I
feared she would be seen or heard.
While Raleigh was tying the last
knot, I winked at the girl as hard I
could, hoping that she would see me
and move away. But she did not go.
'‘Well, now for the money,” said
Raleigh, and he began searching my
pockets. He went from one to the
other, removing all the articles, and
finally passed his Land over my bos
om and discovered the money.
“Ha! there it is!” he exclaimed,
drawing out the packages, and he
was cool enough to go at it and
count-out the money. As he com
menced the girl waved her hand to
me. My heart went thumping, for I
expected she would utter a word or
a shout; but she sank down from
sight, and I caught a glance of her
frock as she passed through the grass.
“You see, my young friend,” re
marked Raleigh, as he drew off one
of his boots and deposited some of
bills in it, “there’s nothing like
transacting business as it should be
transacted. Some men would have
shot or stabbed you, but its only the
apprentices who do such work. All
the gentlemen of our calling do busi
ness as gentlemen should.”
He drew off the other boot and
placed some fifties and twenties in
it and then continued:
“I have it all planned how to deal
with you as soon as I get this money
disposed of around my person. I
shall lay you on your back and pour
the balance of this wine down your
throat. There’s enough of it to
make you sleep till to-morrow night,
and by that time I shall be hundreds
of miles away. As soon as I see
that the drug has taken effect I shall
untie your hands and remove the gag.
When you come out of your sleep—
if you ever do—you had better crawl
out to the road, where you will be
most likely to meet with some trav
eler. I want to use the horse and
buggy, otherwise I would leave them
for you.”
How cool he talked! He treated
the matter as if it was a regular busi
ness transaction. in which I fully
acquiesced. He had me a fast pris
oner, and I felt that he could do just
as he pleased. While I was think
ing, I saw the little white face be
tween the rails again, but in a mo
ment it faded away and its place was
taken by the sunburned phiz of a
farmer. He looked from me to Ra
leigh and back again, and I winked
to him in a way which he readily
understood. His face disappeared,
and I felt that I should be saved.
“No, old Grip won’t get his tin to
day,” mused Raleigh, storing away
the bills in his pockets. “You will
go back to Law & Law feeling put
out and cut up. But they Shouldn’t
blame you—it is not your way at all.
True, had you minded your business
on the cars and had not been so free
with a stranger, this would not have
happened; I was on my way to Mil
waukee, and had no thought of such
rich pickings here.”
“Now, in just about a minute we’l
be through with this business,” he
remarked, trying to put the mouth
of the flask between my jaws.
I rolled my head to one side and
he. did not succeed. He was jam
ming the flask against my teeth, when
I caught sound of a soft step, the
crash of a club, and Raleigh rolled
off my body. HeJ tried to leap up,
but three or four farmers struck him
down, and one of thO • blows render
ed him senseless. Before he came
to I was free of ropes and gag, and
we had him nicely bound.
Over beyond the pasture a farmer
and his hands were raking np hay.
“Little blue eyes,” only eight years
old, had wandered off after straw
berries, and had fortunately witnes-
ed part of Raleigh’s proceedings.
She had hurried hack to her father
and told him that “a man was all tied
up there,” and he had returned to
thefence. Understanding thesitua-
tion, he and his men had moved
around so as to secure an advantage.
Raleigh’s capture was the result.
When the rascal found his senses
he was terribly taken back, and he
cursed enough for a.whole Flanders
army.
We took him back to Grafton, and
when I last saw him he was on his
way to the penitentiary to serve a
sentence of fifteen years.
The mortgage was lifted, after all,
and the gift that Law & Law sent
little Katie Gray kept her in dresses
for many a year.
How to be Handsome.
Most people like to be handsome.
Nobody denies the greater power
which any person may have who
ha3 a good face, and who attracts
you by good looks, * even before a
word lias been spokan. And we see
all sorts of devices in men and wo
men to improve their good looks—
paints and washes, and all kinds of
cosmetics, including a plentiful an-
nointing with dirty hair oiL
Now, not every one can have’good
features. They are as God made
them; but almost any one can look
well, especially with good health.
It is hard to give rules in a very
short space, but in brief these will
do:
Keep clean—wash freely and uni
versally with cool water. All the
skin wants is leave to act freely, and
it will take care of itself. Its thou
sands of air holes must not be plug
ged up.
Good teeth are a help to good
looks. Brush them with a soft
brush, especially at night. Go to
bed with the teeth clean. Of course
to have white teeth it is needful to
let tobacco alone. Every woman
knows that. And any powder or
•wash for the teeth should be very
simple. Acids may whiten the teeth
but they take off the enamel or in
jure it.
Sleep in a cool room, in pure air.
No one can have a clear skin who
breathes bad air. But, more than
all, in order to look well—wake up
the mind and soul. "When the mind
is awake, the dull, sleepy look
passes away from the eyes. I do
not know that the brain expands,
but it seems to. Think, read—not
trashy novels, but books that have
something in them. Talk with peo
ple who know something; hear lec
tures and learn by them.
This is one good of
A man thinks and works, and te
us the result. And, if we listen, and
bear, and understand, the mind and
soul are worked up.
H the spiritual nature- is aroused,
so much the better.
.We have seen a plain face really
glorified by the love of God and
man which shone through it.
Men say they can’t afford books
and sometimes they don’t even pay
for their newspaper. In that case,
it does them httle good, they must
feel so mean while they are reading
it.
But men can afford what they re
ally choose. If all the money spent
in self-indulgence (in hurtful indul
gence,) was spent in books (in self-
improvement,) we should see a
change. Men would grow handsome
and women too. The soul would
shine out through the eyes. We
were not meant to be mere animals.
Let ns have books and read them,
and lectures and hear them, and ser
mons and heed them.
Decision of the Supreme Court.
B. J. Wilson & Co. et aL, vs W. C.
Riddle. Injunction, from Wash
ington.
TRIPPE, J.
B. J. Wilson & Co. were the fac
tors of W. C. Riddle. On May 5th,
1870, Riddle gave to Wilson & Co.
his promissory note at 30 days for
ninety thousand dollars, and a mort
gage as security therefor on realty.
The note was given, not for an
exact amount of indebtedness then
due, but for what might be then due
and for future advances. . Wilson &
Co. had made before that' time, and
did afterwards, make large advances
to Riddle—to an amount much lar
ger than the amount of the note;
but which, by cotton forwarded them
by Riddle, was reduced to about
$68,000 as claimed by them, on Jan
uary 25th, 1871.
On that day Riddle gave Wilson
& Co. four other notes amounting to
about $18,000, not as increasing his
indebtedness then owing, but as part
of the same, $68,000, and as claimed
by Wilson & Co. for considerations
accruing after the making of the
$90,000 note. Riddle claims it was
for the whole balance of his indebt
edness to Wilson & Co. At the
time these four smaller notes were
given, Riddle gave as security for
them, a mortgage on personalty for
$7,000 and what are called crop
liens for $11,000, jointly with Thig
pen on part of said crop liens, and
on another portion thereof.
Previous to this, in 1868, Evans,
Gardner & Co. of New York, had
obtained judgement against Riddle
in the Circuit Court of the United
States for some $5,000, and Wilson
& Co. had obtained a transfer" of the
execution issued thereon to them
selves, and had entered on their
books, ds a charge against Riddle,
the money advanced for said trans
fer, and which amount is part of
the $68,000 now claimed to be due
by Riddle on the $90,000 note and
mortgage.
. On the 1st of Februrary, 1871,
Wilson & Co. transfeared the $90,-
000 note and mortgage to Samuel J.
Armstrong, of New York. Armstrong
commenced suit on the note in the
Circuit Court of the United States
for the Southern Dictrict of Georgia
on the 17th March, 1871. Riddle
filed a bill in said Circuit Cour, pray
ing, amongst other things, an injunc
tion against said suit. After the
hearing and overruling of a demurrer
to said bill, Armstrong dismissed
said common law oction. The bill is
still undisposed of by any order or
decree of that Court.
Armstrong also commenced pro
ceedings at the April term, 1871, of
the Superior Court of Washington
county to foreclose the mortgage of
$90,000. ' To these proceedings a de
fense was made, and on the 20th of
January; 1872, a bill for injumction
was filed to restrain Armstrong from
prosecuting the same and setting up
generally the faets and equities con
tained in the last bill hereafter men
tioned, the decision on which is here
for review.
B. J. Wilson A Co. foreclosed the
mortgage on personalty and institu- j
ted proceedings to enforce ther crop
liens for the four notes constituting
the $18,000, securities. This was
done in November, 1871, and on
February 15,1872, Riddle obtained
an injunction against these proceed
ings alleging sameequities and pray
ing generally similar relief as asked
for in his bill against Armstrong:
B. J. Wilson & Co. transferred
the execution, issued from the Circuit
Court of the United States in favor
of Evans, Gardner & Co., to one B.
M. Hill, and said execution on the
23 of May, 1872, was levied no the
property of Riddle, and a bill was
filed by him on the 17th June, 1872,
in'said Circuit Court, to enjoin a sale
under that execution.
On the 17th February, 1873, B. J.
Wilson, as bearer, commenced an
action against Riddle in the Superior
Court of Washington county on the
$90,000 note.
All of these suits were pending on
the 18th dav of March, 1873, except
the suit in the Circuit Court of the
United States in favor of Armstrong
against Riddle on the $90,000 note
which was dismissed by Armstrong
and Wilson and Wilson & Co. and
Armstrong claim that such dismissal
carried with it the bill which Riddle
had filed in said Court to enjoin it
and also a supplemental or amended
bill subsevuently filed by Riddle in
the same Court embracing an appli
cation for injunction restraining
Armstrong from proceeding in the
Superior Court of Washington coun
ty to foreclose the $90,000 mortgage
and setting up the same rights and
equities as are alleged in this bill
next referred to, and the dicision on
which by the Court below is here for
review.
On the 18th of March, 1873, the
present bill was presented to the
Chancellor, for an injunction reciting
and charging all the foregoing facts
as to the various suits, etc.; that all
of said evidences of the . debts and
securities therefor constitute but one
debt, and that debt is whatever may
be due if any thing, after a full ac
counting between Wilson & Co. and
Riddle on the $90,000 transaction;
that said amount can only be ascer- -
tained from an examination of the
books and accounts of Wilson & Co.,
embracing several hundred thou
sand dollars, running through five
or six years; that fraudulent charges
and omissions of credits and mistakes
are in said accounts; that said suits
and levy are by different persons be
ing all for the same debt, and being
in different jurisdictions, and that
•Wilson <fc Co. are the real and only
creditors and owners of all the evi
dences of debt, and that these facts
make a case for an injunction of all
the said proceedings in the State
Court, and for all parties, to-wit:
Samuel P. Armstrong, B. J. Wilson
& Co. and B. J. Wilson, to be brought
together in one suit, that the correct
amount that may be due by Riddle,
if any, may be ascertained, and the
final rights of all parties determined.
Wilson & Co. deny any fraudulent
entries or omissions in their ac
counts, or any mistake now existing,
or that the $7,000 mortgage on per
sonalty is part of the $68,000 claim
ed by them to be due on tho $90,000
note and mortgage; that all of said
securities are bona Jide and just, and
that said sum of $68,000 is justly
due by Riddle, and the rights of the
parties can be asserted at law, and
a resort to equity is unnecessary.
The Chancellor ordered that this
last bill stand as an amendment to
the former bill filed against B. J.
Wilson & Co., and granted the in
junction prayed for until the further
order of Court.
The great question in the case, and
the one chiefly urged in the argument,
is whether this is a proper case for
equity to intervene by an injunction,
so as to stay the various proceedings
at law in the State Court, to consoli
date parties and causes and to bring
this vast array of litigation to one
head and by one battle close what
appears to be an interminable con
flict.
A single statement' would serve to
settle this question. Samuel J. Arm
strong has a suit to foreclose the
$90,000mortgage as assignee thereof.
B. >. Wilson, asbearer,has brought
suit on the $90,000 note. B. J.
Wilson & Co. are proceeding to en
force the mortgage and crop Hens for
the $18,000 (the four -smaller notes).
Eleven thousand of the $18,000 in
admitted to be but part of the same
sum claimed in the ninety thousand
dollars suits. Thus there are two
distinct parties claiming the same
debt, each in his own suit, and a
thitfd party claiming eleven thousand
dollars, a part of the same debt, in
another suit. It would hardly be
possible for a defendant in these
various actions bv different parties,
to protect himself from loss, if not
ruin, by any resources that were fur
nished him by the common law or un
der any equitable rights he may, by
statute, hive at law. If each pain-
tiff obtained the judgment he is seek
ing, two of them would have judg
ments for $68,000 each, and one for
$18,000, or *$154,000 in all, when it
is admitted that $68,000with interest,
or $75,000—if the $7,000 mortgage
is not part of the $68,000—is all that
is due. It is true that the two largest
of these judgments would be shown
by the record to be for the same debt,
one at law on the note, and one on
foreclosure of- the mortgage given
to secure it, and that such a case of
ten occurs and is legal and proper.
So it may be, when the creditor has
both securities, the note and the
mortgage, and a payment of either
is a discharge of the ether: But
where the plaintiffs are different, a
defendant would hazard much if jsueh
idgments were recovered against
im. At’any rate where different per
sons are thus, on the record, rival-,
claimants for the same debt,, the
debtor has the right to .bring - them*-
together, and by one judgment-pro- -
tect himself and ascertain who is bin
real adversary. This would be diffi
cult, if not impossible to be done at
law, and surely in such as emergency
equity will not turn a suitor asking
protection, from her door. The pro
ceedings on the $18,000 securities,
in still another name—another claimr
ant on the same debt—certainly re*-
moves all doubt and makes the debt
or’s demandfor equitable relief irres
istible. No agency at law could:
grant him as full and ample remedy
as he. might require, and as equity
ily conld grant him. #
But besides all this, if under the
equitable rights which the debtor
might have at law, he could in all
the separate actions by different
parties against him, be heard in his
defense at law as to their several
rights and as to his own rights in
volved in the question as to what is
his true indebtedness, if any. Yet
the facts in this case involving long
and complicated accounts for sever
al years to the amount of hundreds,
of thousands of dollars to ascertain
the true balance dne, the issnes
made on the validity and fairness of-
some of these securities, and how
they are to be credited if paid or
allowed, all of which would have to.
be investigated in each case and
most probably if not certainly, by
different juries, make it a strong
case “where a multiplicity of suits
would render a trial difficult, expen
sive and unsatisfactory at law.”
Code, section 3075.
One other view : A creditor has
a right to enforce all the securities
he holds for a debt until the debt is
paid, and in this case this right is
being fully asserted. Suppose on
the trial at law on either of the
$90,000 securities—the note or the
mortgage—it should be adjudged
that only the sum of $10,000 or
$15,000 was due. That amount so
ascertained would be the amount of
the judgment on the other of those
two securities. But the $18,000 se
curities are respectively for $7,000
and $5,200, and two for $2,900 each.
How would the judgment for $10,-
000 or $15,000 be disposed of, di--
vided and appropriated between
those several smaller securities ?
How much of it would be taken as
part of the one or the other of the
four small mortgag es and crop lien
papers? The plaintiffs have assert
ed their right to enforce them, and
they have this right, and the right
to enforce all until the debt is dis
charged. But in the case put, and
complainant’s bill presents the case
for such a result, how can the rights
of the creditors be enforced and the
rights of the debtor be protected ex
cept by one joint trial for all the
parties and of all the issnes?
The difficulties that would attend
the trial of their several cases at
law .would be still further complica
ted on account of the levy of the
Evans, Gardner & Co. execution is
sued from the Circuit Court of the.
United States on the property of the
complainant. That execution is for
a part of the debt constituting the
$90,000 claim.
Let the judgment of the Court be
low be affirmed.
Lanier & Anderson, R. L. War-
then, lor plaintiffs in error.
Jackson, Lawton & Basinger, and
J. N. Gilmore, for defendant.
tral Railroad & Banking Com
pany. Assumpsit, from Wash
ington.
McCAY, J.
When, without authority of law, a
railroad company, thirty years ago,
changed the public road at one of
ite crossings, cut out a new road,
and, at some expense, bnilded a
bridge over a stream said new road
crossed; and, by common consent,
the old road was abandoned and the
new one used by the pnblic:
Held, That the .Railroad Com
pany, in the absence of any contract
so to do, is not hound to keep np said
bridge, and the’ mere fact that the.
company first built it, and that it has
since, at various times repaired it (it
being near one of its depots), does
not make an implied contract with
the county that the company will
keep it in repair.
Judgment affirmed.
Langmade & Evans, represented
by sTf. Webb, for plaintiff
Jackson, Lawton & Basi
L. Warthen, for defendant.