Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/206

 CBANE V. PENNT. 199 �its liabilities were $17,000 and its assets $8,000, exclusive of its factory and machinery, whieh stood upon its books at $40,000. �In the propositions for settlement with Mrs. Penny, made or coneented to by the other creditors, and in what is shown of the opinion of ail the parties in interest, there is nothing to show that anybody valued the assets at less than the debts, but quite the contrary. The modification of the proposed agreement, securing a pro rata distribution in case of insuffi- ciency of assets, was made with reference to a proposed con- tinuance of the business for a year, subject, of course, to ail the chances of business. It showed nothing of any present apprehension of insolvency on the part of Mrs, Penny or the other creditors. �It is claimed that Mr. Penny knew the exact condition of the Company; that he knew it was insolvent; that his co- operating in the obtaining of the jûdgments, his concealment of the fact of the pendehcy of the action, and his course gen- erally, show that his real purpose was to obtain a preference for his wife; that she is chargeable with knowledge of ail that he knew because he was her agent. His action in con- cealing the pendency of the suits, and in not communicating the fact of the service made on him to the other trustees, is wholly indefensible, of course, but I do not think that the evi- dence as a whole shows that even his purpose was the obtaining a preference by his wife over other creditors. �There were other motives for his action, to which it can, in my judgment, be more probably attributed. In the first place, I see no reason to doubt that it was the evident hos- tility of some of the other ofScera of the company to his wife 's claim that induced him to give any assistance that he could, in the first instance, to its being secured by judg. ment. There is evidence that he was worried in mind by this hostility. He was also, at that time, not well in health. He desired to be continued in office as treasurer and secretary. The disclosure of the facts of the suits being brought might have prevented this, and the readiest way of shutting ont ail further question as to the liability of the company to her may ����