Henry Billings Brown

“ The testimony of McIntire himself with regard to Emma Taylor is extremely unsatisfactory. Notwithstanding the number and magnitude of the transactions in which he took part and acted as her agent, he has no explanation of the manner in which the consideration for these deeds was paid or received by her, the bank in which it was deposited, or from which it was drawn, and is unable to produce a single check or letter signed with her name. His memory is excellent where he cannot be contradicted, and as to unimportant details, but fails him utterly as to the leading facts of the transactions. ”

“ What have we, in lieu of what we might naturally have expected? A few witnesses, who swear they saw her once, and saw her under circumstances which indicated that they had seen a woman who passed under that name, and who might have been a wholly different person. One, who took a deed from her, and, after testifying that he had never seen her, on being recalled said that he 'somehow had the impression' that upon one occasion she had been pointed out by McIntire's clerk in his office as Emma Taylor. ”

“ We have no desire to qualify in any way the long line of cases in this court, too numerous even for citation, in which we have held that, where the fraud is constructive, or is proved by inconclusive testimony, or by evidence falling short of conviction, and the property has greatly increased in value, great diligence will be required in the assertion of the plaintiff's rights. ”

“ The grantors' signatures are probably genuine, although the deed appears to have been procured of the plaintiff in total ignorance of its contents or purport. Indeed, she had never seen Martha McIntire, and knew absolutely nothing about her. Edwin A. McIntire's explanation is that Pryor came to him, said that he could not pay the note, and asked him whether he could get a purchaser of the property who would take it off his hands and assume the incumbrance and taxes, which he represented to be twenty or thirty dollars ”

“ The rent paid by her was to be applied by McIntire towards the extinguishment of the Jenison mortgage, and there was nothing definite to apprise her to the contrary until the fall of 1886, when she saw the contractors beginning to build, and notified them that the property belonged to her, and not to McIntire. ”

“ It seems that Jenison, being unable or unwilling to pay the expenses of foreclosure, which amounted to $87.88, and accumulated taxes to the amount of $278.81, for the purpose of raising money to pay these executed a note to one Emma Taylor for $425, payable in one year, and secured the same by a deed of trust upon the property to the defendant McIntire, as sole trustee. ”

“ He accounts for his inability to produce letters, receipts, accounts, or written evidences of any sort, showing his transactions with her, by an utterly improbable story of a fire in his office, which seems to have conveniently consumed all these documents, including a large ledger, in which her accounts were contained, and to have spared everything else, leaving no mark of fire, or even the stain of smoke, upon documents showing his relation to others. ”

“ This deed was also executed on June 29, 1881, and was of even date with the deed executed by McIntire to Jenison in pursuance of the foreclosure.
The testimony in this case turns largely upon the existence and identity of Emma Taylor. It is charged in the bill that she is a fictitious person, and that a sister of McIntire's, whose name was Emma T. McIntire, was represented and held out by him as Emma T ylor. Certainly, so far as witnesses have sworn to having seen Emma Taylor, they might easily have been led into supposing that his sister was this person. ”