Ames v. Moir

Wilson Ames, the plaintiff in error, a rectifier and wholesale dealer in whiskies and highwines in the city of Chicago, executed and delivered to Robert Moir & Co., distillers and merchants at Oquawka, Ill., the following writing, bearing date June 9, 1870: 'I have this day bought of Robert Moir & Co. one hundred (100) barrels highwines, 'iron bound,' at one dollar seven cents ($1.07) per proof gallon. The conditions of sale are as follows: The buyer can call from 1st July to 20th of same month by giving three days' notice, and if not called for by the 20th July the seller has the privilege of delivering up to the end of July by giving three days' notice; to be delivered in fifty-barrel lots. To insure the fulfillment of this contract, a margin of three hundred dollars will be put up by both parties.'

On the 15th of July, 1870, Ames made a call upon Phillips & Carmichael, brokers for Robert Moir & Co., in the city of Chicago, for the highwines mentioned in this writing, deliverable on the 18th instant. Shortly before this call the bonded warehouse of Moir & Co. was burned, destroying the wines from which they expected to meet any call by Ames. This made it necessary for the brokers to buy in the Chicago market, on account of their principal, enough highwines to meet the demand of Ames. They obtained for that purpose fifty barrels of such wines from Conklin & Bro. and fifty from Lynch & Co. for delivery on the 18th at Ames' place of business in Chicago; and they were so delivered. The delivery was completed about 6 o'clock in the afternoon of that day.

In the opinion of the supreme court of Illinois in this case, (130 Ill. 582, 22 N. E. Rep. 535,) it is said: 'After the highwines had been delivered late in the afternoon of July 18th, Ames absented himself from his place of business, and could not be found by the agents of Moir & Co. to make a demand of payment for the high wines; they directed the porter in charge of Ames' warehouse to take care of the goods until morning, when they would call for the pay. When the agents called in the morning Ames was nowhere to be found, and they found that he had shipped fifty barrels of the highwines for New York, and the remaining fifty barrels were loaded in cars ready for shipment. Phillips & Carmichael immediately replevied the fifty barrels which were found in cars in Chicago, and went on to Detroit, Mich., where they overhauled the other fifty barrels, and they were also replevied. Phillips & Carmichael sold the wines thus replevied to Shufeldt & Co. at ninety-seven cents per gallon, the market price at that time, and deposited the proceeds in bank to await the result of the replevin suits. It appears that between the time the wines were delivered, late in the afternoon of July 18th, and the time the agents reached Ames' store next morning, Ames had sent all the wines to the Michigan Central depot, shipped them, obtained bills of lading, which were attached to drafts on the consignee in New York, one for $2,800 and the other for $2,900, which drafts he discounted at the National Bank of Commerce on the security of the bills of lading. The replevin suits were defended by the National Bank of Commerce, and the defense interposed, that the bank was the pledgee of the wines from Ames in good faith, and without notice of Moir & Co.'s rights, was in the end sustained, (Railroad Co. v. Phillips, 60 Ill. 190,) and the money realized on the sale of the high wines to Shufeldt & Co. was turned over to the National Bank of Commerce in payment of the drafts.'

It should be stated that a judgment by confession was taken against Ames in favor of a former partner, on which execution was issued, and under which the sheriff took possession of and closed up Ames' store. § s oon as the levy was made, Ames went to his bank and checked against the proceeds of the drafts that were discounted on the security of the bills of lading in favor of a creditor whom he identified to the officers of the bank as the payee of the checks.

The present suit was brought by the defendants in error in the superior court of Cook county, Ill., to recover from Ames the value of the highwines taken to his place of business on the 18th of July, 1870, for delivery upon payment of the price. One of his defenses-the only one of which this court can take cognizance-was that he was discharged September 13, 1872, by the district court of the United States for the northern district of New York, sitting in bankruptcy, from all debts and claims which, by the act of congress, were 'made provable against his estate, and which existed on the 28th day of March, 1872, on which day the petition for adjudication was filed against him, excepting such debts, if any, as are by said act excepted from the operation of a discharge in bankruptcy.'

There was a verdict and judgment in favor of the plaintiffs. That judgment was affirmed in the appellate court, and the judgment of the latter court was affirmed by the supreme court of Illinois, Ames v. Moir, etc., 130 Ill. 582, 22 N. E. Rep. 535. In respect to the defense based upon the discharge in bankruptcy, the supreme court of the state said: 'It is also contended that Ames' discharge in bankruptcy was a bar to the action. Section 5117 of the bankrupt act is as follows: 'No debt created by the fraud or embezzlement of the bankrupt, or by his defalcation as a public officer, or while acting in any fiduciary character, shall be discharged by proceedings in bankruptcy.' Whether the debt in this case was created by the fraud of Ames was a question of fact upon which the judgment of the appellate court is conclusive. But it is said incompetent evidence was admitted upon this question. No evidence was introduced, except such as tended to establisth fraud on behalf of Ames, and the sufficiency of the evidence was a question for the jury. But it is said the debt was created when the contract was executed, June 9, 1870, and up to this time there was no fraud on the part of Ames. The debt was not entirely created until Ames induced the agents of Moir & Co. to place the wines in his possession, and if he obtained the possession by fraud, with the intent to ship the goods out of the country, and thus defeat the lien of the vendors, those were facts from which the jury might infer fraud within the meaning of the bankrupt law. Darling v. Woodward, 54 Vt. 101. It is apparent from the evidence that Ames had no intention of paying for the wines when he called for them on the 15th day of July. His object seemed to be to get possession and control of the wines, and convert them to his own use without payment; this the evidence tends to show he did; and thus the debt was created.' John G. Reid, for plaintiff in error.

J. K. Edsall, for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice HARLAN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.