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LAW. SUPREME COURT OF INDIANA. Cases Determined at the May Term, 154). Reported for the Indiana State Journal. Monday, May 26. Conner Conner ¥. Myers. Error to the Fayette C. €. Opinion by Sulllivan J.— In this case it was held. 1. That Courts of equity will follow the law in the construction of the Statute against usury, but on bill filed to be relieved against a usurious contract they will require the plaintiff to pay to the defendant, what is really and bona fide due to him, deducting the usurious interest, and it must appear in the bill that it has been done, or an offer to do so must be made. 2. Where a creditor holds two demands against his debtor, and a payment has been made which has not been applied by the par ties, a Court of equity if required to make the application, will apply it in reduction of the demand, that is most onerous and oppres sive. The decree of the Court was reversed at defendant’s costs. Jones Jons v Myers. Error to the Fayette C.C. opinion by Sulllivan J. A second mortgagee, before forfeiture, filed a bill in Chancery against the first mortgagee, alleging that it had been paid off by the mort gagor. The bill did not allege that the se curity, notwithstanding the existence of the first mortgage was insufficient, nor that the complainant was prejudiced by it. Held on demurrer to the bill, that it could not be sus tained. Decree affirmed. Anderson v. Farmer. Action of debt. Er ror to the Randolph C.C. Opinion by Dew ry J. A justice of the peace may take cog nizance of a bond, the penalty of which is over one hundred dollars, if the plaintiffs actual demand be for a less sum. A bond to indemnify an officer against the insequences of a legal act or apparently legal act is valid; otherwise, if the act be unlaw ful. Schuer v. Veeder. Case. Error to the Tippecanoe C. C. Opinion by Dewey J. For a forcible and direct injury to property, if occasioned by carelessness, trespass or case will lie, at common law; but if the injury be wilfully done trespass only will le. The distinction between the two actions is established by Statute. Judgment reversed. Hamilton ». Wort. Error to the Wash ington D. C. Opinion by Blackrurn J. Judgment afirmed except as to the costs, and reversed as to them. Bowser another v. Bliss et al. Debt. Error to the Grant C.C. Opinion by Buack rorp J. Judgment affirmed with five per cent damages, some of them got breakfast, and again start ed, and proceeded to a point where the Noblesville and Westfield roads separated, and here were met by another company of persons, on their way to the scene of the arrest. ‘The crowd now consisted of about 159 persons, mostly members of the Liberty party or Abolitionists, some of them under a good deal of excitement, but the most of them disposed and anxious to have a trial of the right of the plaintuff to the negroes. Propositions were made to give bond for their appearance for trial, an‘’ other arrange ments were proposed on both sides, but not acceded to. Mr. Bales addressed the crowd, stated that he knew the negroes were free, and could procure evidence to establish the fact, and would close if time was given, and urged upon them to go peaceably and quiet ly to Noblesville and have a full, fair trial of the case. During the communications passing between Mr. Bales and the Plaint iff, one of the persons present jumped into the wagon, in which the negroes were, and drove off rapidly toward Westfield, instead of Noblesville, contrary to the will and or der of the plaintiff, and in such manner as to render it, apparently impossible for the plaintiff, and his friends present, to stop him, or prevent it; and upon his driving off, many in the crowd raised a cheering shout of approbation. The evidence in the case, in the opinion of the Court in their charge to the jury, if believed by the jury, established the facts of an arrest of the negroes by the Plaintiff, and a rescue of them from him by the de fendants. The Plaintiff proved and produced in Court the writ under which he made the arrest, and also his bill of sale, from ead rick, by which he held them in Missouri as slaves. He also by proof identified the negroes. The Plaintiff here rested his case. Jonn H. Brophy. Esq. of counsel for the defendants then opened for the defence, and called witnesses and read depositions proving. That when the crowd started from the hose of the negroes, they had agreed to stop at Mr. Anthony’s, to have breakfast, and that when they arrived there, the Plaintiff and his company wished to go on without eating—that Mr. Anthony fur nished his wagon and horses to take the negroes to Noblesville, and other facts— some corroboratory of Plaintiffs, testimo ny, and others contradicting directly the ev idence of some of Plaintiff’s witnesses, as to the conduct and doings of the crowd friendly to the negroes.The defendent al so proved by some 10 or 15 witnesses and their depositions, that in October, 1835, John ‘Tipton bright said negroes from Kentucky, where he alledged he held them as slaves, to Warren County, Ilinois, that he put them to work in that County, (War ren, Ilinois,) at making rails, building a house, making improvements on land, and attending to and laboring in the domestic matters of his family, and kept them so at work until March or April 1836, some 5 or 6 months. ‘That ‘Tipton said when he came to Ilinois that he came there to settle, and reside; and during the time the negroes were there, in the winter of 1835, he built himself a house, smoke house and some other buildings, fenced in and pre pared for cropping about 40 acres of land, and made all winter arrangements for far ming; that he did continue to reside there, with his family consisting of a wife and 8 or nine children, from the time he came, until September or October 1837, about 2 years; that he voted at the General Election of the State in August—and at the Presi dential Election in November, 1836. And that he was not absent at any time, except once in March or April 1836 for but a few weeks, when he took the negroes to Mis souri and sold them, and once on a visit to Kentucky. They further proved, that when Tipton started to Missouri, with the negroes, he told one of the witnesses, he knew he had kept the negroes too long in Ilinois, and that he feared the abolitionists would inter fere and take them from him and set them free. ‘They also proved that ‘Pipton, du ring the winter or spring of 1836, purchas ed a farm in Warren County, Illinois, and that as soon as he came, and frequently af terwards he expressed his intention of set tling permanently there. ‘That the weath er and traveling were such that he might, in the fall and winter after he came there, readily and comfortably have proceeded with his family to Missouri, had he desired to do so. ‘They also proved, that Sam, and Maria and the child Amy, the negroes in question, were the same persons that Tipton thus brought to Illinois, and after wards runoff to Missouri and sold as slaves. The evidence of the defendants on all these points was very full and clear— three wit nesses having been brought from Illinois who knew Tipton and the negroes well, having resided in their immediate neighbor hood. ‘The defendants here rested. Judge Wick and O. H. Smith Esquires, addressed the jury for the Plaintiff, and Wim, Quarles, and John H. Bradley, Es quires, on the part of the defence. We heard only the speeches of Judge Wick, for the plaintiff, and Wr. Bradrey, for the defendant. The Judge made the best speech we ever heard from him, and the effort of Mr. Bradley we regarded as very able. The Honorable Joan McLean, one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Presiding Judge of the Court, charged the jury very fully in the cause, both as to the arrest and rescue, and as to the right of the negroes to their free dom, from the acts of ‘Tipton, in carrying them to Illinois and putting them to labor for him there, whilst he himself was a res ident of that State. ‘The Court decided no new point different from other and previous decisions in similar cases, but charged the jury that if they believed the testimony in this case, ‘Tipton by his conduct had made the negroes free, and that his sale of them afterwards in Missouri was fraudulent and void. In the course of his charge to the jury, the Judge took occasion, and very justly too, we think, to remark upon the proper and gentlemanly conduct of Mr. Vaughn the Plaintiff, throughout the whole proceeding, and to express his approbation at the straightforward, open and legal man ner in which he had proceeded to claim and recover what he considered, (though erro neously) his property. He also paid a high compliment to many of the members of the crowd, who were present at the scene of the arrest and al ledged rescue of the negroes, and who, the friends of the negroes, and anxious for their freedom, urged and advocated a full and fair trial of the negro’s rights, before the officer whom Mr. Vaughn had selected, but whose efforts and aims were overcome and frustrated, by one or two men more heedless than the rest. The jury, after retiring for a few mo ments, found a verdict for the defendant, thereby deciding that the negroes were free. New Discovery in relation to Stone.—It is stated in the Sheffield (Eng.) Mercury that a scientific gentlemen residing at Ipswich, Mr. Frederick Ransome, engineer, has late ly discovered a method whereby the hardest stone can be brought into a consistency re sembling common putty, so that it can be cut and moulded into any shape, for useful and ornamental purposes, without altering its general appearance; for it becomes as hard, and in some instances even harder, than when subjected to the process. Anoth er peculiarity of the process is, that any col or or variety of colors, can be imparted to its solid substance so that an endless variety of shades can be produced, and, as it is capa ble of being polished, it effectually resists the action of the water. It can also be used as a cement, and can be brushed over the sur face of the wood, so as to render it fire-proof. Giod doth the cure, and the physician takes the money for it.
Newspaper Details
Indianapolis Indiana State Journal
Indianapolis, Indiana, US
Wed, May 28, 1845
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Leane H.
USA 05 May 2026
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