Horace Gray

“ Upon the application of the bankrupt to the court, state or national, in which the suit is pending, it is the duty of that court to say the proceedings 'to await the determination of the court in bankruptcy on the question of the discharge,' unless there is unreasonable delay on the part of the bankrupt in endeavoring to obtain his discharge, or unless, the amount of the debt being in dispute, the United States court sitting in bankruptcy gives leave to proceed to judgment for the purpose of ascertaining that amount. ”

“ Its purpose is not merely to protect the bankrupt, in case he obtains a certificate of discharge, from having the original cause of action against him merged in a judgment, the right of action upon which might not be barred by the discharge; but to prevent him, so long as the question of his discharge is undetermined, from being harassed by suit upon any debt provable in bankruptcy, whether it would or would not be barred by a certificate of discharge, and whether the attachment or other security obtained in the suit would or would not be affected by the proceedings in bankruptcy ”

“ On the sixteenth of March, 1877, the original plaintiffs, in accordance with the statutes of Illinois, and upon the affidavit of one of them that the defendant was indebted to them in the sum of $8,264 for services as attorneys at law, and that he was a resident of Illinois, and was about fraudulently to conceal, assign, or otherwise dispose of his property or effects so as to hinder or delay his creditors, sued out from the circuit court of Cook county a writ of attachment against him, upon which his real estate was attached. ”