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54 Ill. App. 523

Trainor v. Adams

Appellate Court of Illinois

Decided March 26, 1894

Appellate Court of Illinois · decided 1894-03-26

<p>1. Promissory Notes—Innocent Holders.—T. signed a printed blank of a promissory note, and intrusted it to one Oa. to buy a horse of Co. for $51. Co- wouldn’t take T’s signature on the note, and so Ca. bought the horse for $51, and one An. bought another for $60, and the price of the two horses, §111, was put into the note, which Ca. and An. also signed, and delivered it, thus signed by the three, to Co., who assigned it to Ad. The note was held good in the hands of the assignee.</p>

Relies on Weston v. Myers · White v. Alward · Cutting v. Conklin

and affirmed · Decided 1894-03-26

Mr. Justice Gary

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court.

¶2The appellee sued the appellant upon a promissory note. The note was made to one Cone, and it may be conceded that the appellee had no better title to the note than Cone had.

¶3The appellant signed a printed blank of a promissory note, and intrusted it to one Cartwright to buy a horse of Cone for fifty-one dollars. Cartwright testified that “ Cone wouldn’t take Mr. Trainor’s signature on the note at all; he didn’t know him, and told me he wouldn’t take it,” and so Cartwright bought the horse for fifty-one dollars, and one Antonides bought another for sixty dollars, and the price of the two horses—one hundred and eleven dollars—was put into the note, which Cartwright and Antonides also signed, and delivered, thus signed by the three, to Cone. It does not appear that Cone had any notice of the relations between the appellant and Cartwright, and if he had, the note was good in his hands, and therefore in the appellee’s, for fifty-one dollars. Johnson v. Blasdale, I. S. & M. (Miss.) 17, and Gross v. Whitehead, 33 Miss. 213, cited in White v. Alward, 35 Ill. App. 195, are exactly in point; and the statement by Daniels to the contrary (1 Dan. Neg. Inst., S. 147) is not supported by the cases he cites.

¶4The note was indorsed in blank by Cone. The holder under a blank indorsement may fill it to suit himself on the trial, but need not do it, as it is a mere form. Weston v. Myers, 33 Ill. 424; Cutting v. Conklin, 28 Ill. 506.

¶5The case was tried without a jury, and the only exception in the case, except for rejecting as evidence a letter from a stranger to the suit, is to the denial of the appellant’s motion to dismiss the suit as against him, he being sued with Cartwright. As the appellee was, at least, entitled to recover the fifty-one dollars, that motion was rightly denied.

¶6The testimony of Cartwright, the only witness as to what took place with Cone, was so inconsistent with his conduct that the court might well discredit it, and hold that Cone was a T)ona fide holder Avithout notice, and therefore entitled to recover the full amount of the note.- And at least Adams-succeeded to Cone’s rights. The judgment must be affirmed.

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