David Davis

“ He pretends to wish to serve his friend, and does it by depriving him as fast as possible of a valuable piece of business.
But the gravamen of our charge is less here than in that Duff communicated his irregularly obtained knowledge to Simpson, the leading and senior member of his firm. He had assuredly no authority to do that. Duff's duty, when becoming accidentally possessed of information not intended for him, was to forward the letters as fast as possible, with an explanation to Mr. Jones, and to keep profound silence as to everybody else. ”

“ The theory of this action is, that the defendants in error, who resided in Baltimore, Maryland, in March, 1858, addressed two letters to Jones, an attorney-at-law, in Rogersville, Tennessee, which, in his absence, were opened and read by Duff, one of the plaintiffs in error, and their contents communicated to his copartners, and then were detained for the purpose of obstructing the defendants in error in the prosecution of an attachment suit against the indebtedness which the plaintiffs in error owed to Dunham & Kearfoot, a mercantile firm, also resident in Baltimore. ”

“ The proof necessary to establish the loss of a writing, so as to let in secondary evidence of its contents, must depend upon the nature of the transaction to which it relates, its apparent value, and other circumstances. If suspicion hangs over it, and there is any reason to believe that it is designedly withheld, a rigid inquiry should be made into the reason of its non-production ”

“ That authority to forward a letter is not an authority to break it open; that if, even with good motives, the defendants broke open the plaintiffs' letter to their attorney without authority, it was a violation of the legal rights of plaintiffs. ”

“ The bill of exceptions, we may admit, is not well drawn; but it is plain enough that the exception was taken before the witness was examined. It says, indeed, that the plaintiffs 'except' to the action of the court in allowing the secondary evidence. But it proceeds straight to add, 'the witness, Jones, then went on to testify;' showing that the exception was taken before the testimony was given; and that though, in a present tense, the term relates to a past transaction. All that this court cares for is the fact ”

“ The well-settled rules of evidence require this, and the danger of departing from them is well illustrated in this case; for on the important point of the dates and amount of the notes the testimony of the witness was imperfect, and wanting in clearness and precision. In order to show the loss of the letters, it was necessary to prove that a diligent search had been made for them where they were most likely to be found. There is no general rule as to the degree of diligence in making the search ”

“ If I committed an error, it was in not then informing you what I had done; this, however, was an error of omission only. Before opening the letter, I had no knowledge or intimation of its contents. You say you are 'astonished' at it. I am surprised that you should express astonishment, in view of our long intimacy, and in view of the fact that I have for so many years taken out your letters from the post-office at your request, and forwarded them to you, when you were absent from Rogersville, as you were when I opened the letter. ”

“ In this condition of things, Dall, Gibbons & Co. hearing that a house in Rogersville, Tennessee (Simpson, Duff & Co.) , which was solvent, owed money to the insolvent debtors just named, at Baltimore, set themselves at work to get payment, by attachment, from it. Addressing his letter to Rogersville, Tennessee, Mr. Cocke, their attorney in Baltimore, accordingly wrote-first on the 16th of March, 1858, and then on the 17th-to a cousin of his, Mr. Jones, a professional gentleman, who had been residing at Rogersville, but who was now in Florence, Alabama, a place three or four hundred miles away ”

“ Suppose they had accidentally or even designedly overheard a conversation instead of seeing a letter. Does any one think that in law they would have been bound to hold back payment?
1. Before passing to either of the objections, we note that no errors are assigned on this record. ”

“ Simpson the two letters which he had received, and 'asked Simpson's counsel in the premises.' Simpson, without informing him that he was already apprised of what the letters contained, informed him that the claim had been 'turned over' to another attorney, Colonel McKinney, who was now 'trying to get an attachment on the amount his firm might owe Dunham & Kearfoot;' and informed him also of the fact, more important to his principals, that the debt had all been paid. Mr. ”