Joseph P. Bradley

“ Notwithstanding the large estate left by Oliver J. Morgan, he died considerably in debt, and owed, among others, to William Gay, the complainant, the amount before stated. The coming on of the civil war produced a great change in the value of the property; the slaves were a total loss; and, no doubt, much other property was injured or destroyed; but through the management of agents, and in other ways, considerable income was derived from the lands prior to the sale which took place in 1869. ”

“ Yet this pretended debt, and its pretended priority over all other claims against the estate, and the mortgage by which it was declared to be secured, were used throughout the whole of the proceedings instituted in 1868 for the sale of the land, as potent factors in getting up the idea and impression that it was useless for any other creditors to interfere or make opposition, inasmuch as this privileged debt was sufficient to absorb the entire property ”

“ Witness says he does not know of two more incompetent persons than Gingery and Davis to appraise property. Thinks that more incompetent persons could not have been found to make said appraisement in 1868.'
Testimony of a different character was adduced, it is true, but in our judgment the result of the evidence is that the appraisement, as we said before, was a mere sham. We have little doubt that the property of the estate which, in the aggregate, was bid off by Buckner, Goodrich, and Montgomery for $47,133, was worth at least five times that amount. ”

“ In the mean time, F. M. Goodrich, attorney at law, representing certain creditors, also insisted that his clients should participate in such an arrangement. Subsequently Oliver T. Morgan, the executor of Oliver J. Morgan, insisted that there should be no preference among the ordinary creditors. If one was to come in, all were to come in; that if Buckner was willing to make a concession in favor of the creditors represented by Sparrow & Montgomery, he did not see any reason why all the other creditors should not come in too. ”

“ Westland plantation is established on the lands of the succession of Oliver J. Morgan furthest back from the Mississippi river, and the adjacent lands referred to are wild lands belonging to said succession. Says that Wilton, Albion, and Melbourne plantations have always been regarded as first-class plantations in the parish of Carroll. Regards the lands embraced in said plantations as worth about seventy-five dollars per acre before the war, and twenty-five dollars now and since the war, cash valuation. Such lands have been renting for from eight to ten dollars per acre since the war. ”

“ By it the donor reserves the usufruct of the land to himself, during his life; but by article 1520 of the Civil Code, treating of donations inter vivos, it is declared that the donor may dispose for the advantage of another of the enjoyment or usufruct of the immovable given, ut cannot reserve it for himself.' It has been decided by the supreme court of Louisiana, in a number of cases, that a donation of land or of a slave, reserving the use to the donor for life, is void. ”

“ Matthew F. Johnson did appear, entering his appearance as 'dative testamentary executor of Oliver T. Morgan' to the bill of revivor, and to the amendments thereof, 'wherein Stephen Waters, administrator of the succession of William Gay, deceased, is complainant, and said Matthew F. Johnson and others are defendants.' This appearance was entitled in the cause by its true title and number. The subpoena was mere process to bring the defendant into court. When he came into court and read the bill of revivor he was informed that he was called upon to answer as dative executor of Oliver J. Morgan. ”

“ If the available assets and the proceeds of said lands should not be sufficient to pay all the debts of said estate established before said master, including the debt due to the complainant, there shall be a pro rata distribution thereof after the payment of all costs and expenses of the complainant, and of said reference and sale. The sale shall be advertised and proceeded in according to the laws of Louisiana in reference to succession sales. ”

“ Melinda afterwards married John A. Buckner, and by him had a daughter. Oliver J. Morgan (sometimes called Gen. Morgan) had a large landed estate, situated on the Mississippi river, in Carroll parish, Louisiana, consisting of five plantations contiguous to each other, Albion and Wilton in the center, Melbourne to the south-east, down the river, and Westland and Morgana to the west and north-west, amounting altogether to over 15,000 acres of land, much of it rich cotton land. He also had a large number of slaves, and considerable movalbe estate. ”

“ The making of the bills of exchange was fully stated and set forth, and the bills described, in the original bill of complaint, and it was admitted and stated, in the answer of the defendant, that the said claim of the complainant was duly acknowledged by the executor as a just claim against the estate. With such a statement in their own pleading, they could hardly be heard to aver th t the claim was prescribed. Besides, it is difficult to see how it could possibly be prescribed, any way, during the pendency of this suit, brought for the purpose of securing its payment. ”

“ If these statements were true, they would go far to remove the imputation of fraud in the proceedings complained of; for there would have been no motive for fraud if the just rights of the heirs precluded the possibility of a surplus for the general creditors. The matter will be better understood, however, by a short history of Oliver J. Morgan's estate. His wife, Narcissa Deeson, had died in 1844, leaving two children by him, namely, Julia and Ann. Julia married, first, one Keene, by whom she had several children ”

“ If other sufficient available assets of said estate to pay the said debt be not found in the hands of said Johnson, dative executor as aforesaid, the said master is authorized and required to sell so much of said lands in proper parcels as may be necessary to pay and satisfy said debts ”

“ But they rely upon faithlessness to trusts and common obligations, upon combinations against the policy of the law, and fraudulent, and upon confederate and successful efforts to deprive them wrongfully of property in which they had a large interest, for the benefit of persons in w om they had a right to place confidence. ”

“ And such is the doctrine of the supreme court of Louisiana. In a late case, Renshaw v. Stafford, 30 La. Ann. 853, the subject was very fully discussed, and it was held that the acknowledgment of a succession debt suspends the prescription of it as long as the property of the succession remains in the hands of the executor under administration. The court say: 'We think it manifest that the law never contemplated that a creditor whose debt has been formally acknowledged should bring a suit to establish his claim. The policy of the law discourages such proceeding ”

“ The following order was thereupon made by the judge:
'The foregoing petition being considered, it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the prayer of the petition may be granted; that a commission to take an inventory be directed to the recorder of the parish; that the lands of said estate be sold in subdivisions, in such manner as the said executor may direct, and in other respects according to law ”