Harlan F. Stone

“ During the period from April, 1911, until November, 1914, appellant, who was represented in Alaska by counsel and by an attorney in fact, was aware that the receivers, and later the appellee Noyes, none of whom was shown to have had any knowledge of the alleged duress, were engaged in the administration of the trust created by appellant's conveyance, under an order of the court obtained on her petition. ”

“ The appellant formed the intention of taking proceedings to set aside her conveyance immediately on her return to Los Angeles, in April, 1911. This intention remained undisclosed for more than three years until she brought suit in the district court of Alaska in November, 1914. There is no evidence that the threats of violence were renewed after she left Alaska, or that they operated to prevent the prompt exercise of her election when she had returned to her home in Los Angeles. ”

“ The District Court below held that appellant's conveyance had been procured by duress. This conclusion was based on findings that during the period of appellant's sojourn in Alaska in 1911 threats or 'suggestions' were made to her (which it appears were made by two women depositors of the bank and by others who are unidentified) that her children would be kidnapped and her husband and herself subjected to personal violence ”

“ The petition for removal from the state court to the District Court and the motion to remand, made and denied in the latter, are not shown in the record. They were omitted from the transcript made up on appeal to the Circuit Court of Appeals, because the parties had so stipulated under rule 75 of the Equity Rules then in force (226 U.S. Appendix, p. 23) relating to the reduction and preparation of transcripts on appeals in suits in equity. ”