Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/587

 UNITED STATES V. GBISWOLD. 573 �the said tnortgage to the board of scbool la.n(i commissioners, and appiy the proceeds upou the judgmeut of the plaiatiii, less the costs of sale. �Sawybk, C. J., concwrring. For direct evidence to establish the con- tested facts in this case we are, compelled to rely mainly on- the tes- timony derived from the defendants Griswold and wife themselves. The other testimony chiefly bears upon the probabilities or improb- abilities of their varions conflicting statements, and tends to show their acts in regard to, and their dealinga with, the subject-matter of the contest from the date of the conveyance to J. M. Adams till the present litigation was moved. From the varions conflicting state- ments alone of these defendants, made at different times, unillustrated by the surrounding circumstances and their aots, oonstituting a part of the res gesta, shown in part by other evidence, it would be difficult to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion upon the facts at issue. Whg.t- ever the purpose and character of the first conveyance from Griswold and wife to J. M. Adams, as between themselves, may have been, I am satisued, after a careful examination and consideration of all the evidence in the light of the attending circumstances, and the whole course of dealing with the property, that all moneys used to obtain a reconveyance of the title were furnished by W. C. Griswold out of his own funds and on his ovra account ; that the title was taken and held in the name of Chester Adams, and subsequently of Mrs. Griswold, his wife, for his own use and purposes; that the property and its revenues have been in fact as absolutely under his dominion and con- trol as if the legal title h ad stood in him; that neither the property nor the funds that went into it were ever in good faith given to Mrs. Griswold by her husband to really and substantially hold, control, and enjoy as her own sole and separate estate ; but, on the contrary, that the legal title, with her consent and co-operation, was placed in her, and so held and employed for defendant W. C. Griswold's own uses and purposes ; and, although the legal title stands in the name of Mrs. Griswold, that she holds it understandingly in trust for the use and benefit of her husband, in whom bas ever been in fact the actual control and beneficiai use until it was likely to become liable to be subjected to the satisfaction of the olaim of the complainant against the defendant W. C. Griswold now in judgment. �At the time of the transaction by which the title was passed to Chester Adams for the benefit, as it is claimed, of the wife, Griswold was at least insolvent and on the eave of bankruptey, for within two ��� �