Walter v. Bickham

The marshal testifies that he made the above indorsement with the understanding that the blank should be filled up with the name of a 'bonded officer.' Application being made to R. A. Hall, sheriff of Grenada county, to execute the writ, that officer agreed to do so. His name was accordingly inserted in the blank left in the indorsement thereon. He subsequently declined to act. Thereupon the attorney for the attaching creditors erased the name of Hall, and filled the blank with the name of Samuel Ladd, who was a town marshal. The latter execue d the attachment on the second of October, 1883, by levying upon certain property belonging to Lake, and to Lake & Austin. At a late hour of the same day, a regular deputy of the marshal appeared at Grenada, and took possession of the personal property which had been previously seized by Ladd under the writ of attachment. The writ was also delivered to him by Ladd.

On the nineteenth of October, 1883, the following order of sale was made in the cause: 'Upon the application and consent, by attorneys, of all the creditors who have heretofore sued out attachments in this court against Lake & Austin, defendants, and upon consent of said defendants and A. C. Hebron, claimant, as assignee in the deed of assignment executed by said Lake & Austin, and with the consent of all other and non-attaching creditors of said Lake & Austin, who are this day represented by Messrs. Sullivan & Sullivan and Slack & Longstreet, and it appearing unto the court that an immediate sale of the effects so assigned and attached will best promote and subserve the interests of all and each and every the creditors of said Lake & Austin, therefore it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the marshal of this judicial district shall sell at public auction, for cash, to the highest bidder, in one bulk, all the dry goods, groceries, and all other merchandise assigned by said Lake & Austin and subsequently attached and seized under writs issued from this court as aforesaid; * * * and, when so sold, the proceeds of such sale said marshal shall immediately pay to the clerk of this court, and be held subject to the orders of this court. The proceeds of such sale shall stand in all respects in lieu of and represent the goods and effects assigned and attached, and be liable as said property and effects now and to said attachment liens in their order, and not further or otherwise; and the rights of the parties claiming said goods and effects to replevy the same, or to reduce the same, or any part thereof, upon claim made and the execution of bond, as required by law, shall be in nowise prejudiced or affected by said sale, nor shall the consent to said sale in anywise operate as a waiver of or to the prejudice of any right, benefit, or advantage now held, possessed, or claimed by said parties, or any of them, but all and singular the same shall be preserved, this being simply a consent order, and intended to convert the property into money in order to protect the same from waste and great depreciation, and to let the money represent the property in all respects in the litigation. It is further ordered that said marshal do keep accounts of his said sales, showing the amount of proceeds of the several assets sold in the several bulks.'

A sale was had pursuant to that order, and the sum of $24,550 not more than sufficient to satisfy the claim of the plaintiffs and their costs-was realized, and paid over to the clerk of the court. The return of sale shows that so much of the order as required the sale of the books of account and choses in action was rescinded, and the notes levied on were delivered to A. C. Hebron 'in accordance with an agreement between counsel for plaintiff and defendants.' On the twentieth day of December, 1884, the plaintiffs in error, creditors of Lake & Austin, procured a judgment against the latter for $6,300.26, and obtained thereon a writ of garnishment against the marshal and clerk of the court.

On the second of January, 1884, the same judgment creditors moved the court to discharge the levy made in behalf of Bickham & Moore upon the following grounds: '(1) Because said alleged levy was not made by the United States marshal or any of his deputies, or by any one duly authorized to execute said writ of attachment; (2) because the writ of attachment in this cause was levied and executed by Sam Ladd, who was not and is not an officer of this court, from which said writ emanated and was returnable, said Ladd not being either a regular deputy United States a rshal or a special deputy; (3) because Mr. H. M. Sullivan, one of the attorneys for plaintiffs in this cause, appointed said Sam Ladd to execute the said writ of attachment; (4) because J. L. Morphis, the United States marshal for the Northern district of Mississippi, appointed R. N. Hall, sheriff of Grenada county, his deputy, to execute the said writ of attachment in this cause by his written deputation upon the back of and on the said writ of attachment, which said writ was sued out in the United States court for the Northern district of Mississippi, and said writ was not executed by said Hall, who was so appointed, but was executed by said Sam Ladd upon the appointment of Mr. H. M. Sullivan as aforesaid, without any further authority from said United States marshal, by striking out the name of said Hall, upon his own motion, upon said Hall's declining to act, and substituting the name of Sam Ladd in place and stead thereof; (5) because said levy was not made by any lawful officer whatever, or by any one duly appointed to make said levy.'

The motion was denied, and the present writ of error is brought to reverse that judgment.

M. R. Walter, for plaintiff in error.

No brief filed for defendant in error.

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