Morrison Waite

“ A statute of Texas provides that: 'Whenever a sale of the road-bed, track, franchise, and chartered powers and privileges [of a railroad company] is made, * * * the directors or managers of the sold-out company, at the time of the sale, * * * shall be the trustees of the creditors and stockholders of the sold-out company, and shall have full power to settle the affairs of the sold-out company, collect and pay the outstanding debts, and divide among the stockholders the money and property remaining in their hands after the payment of the debts and necessary expenses ”

“ The record shows that the suit was begun by Shirley, the appellee, a citizen of Texas, on the sixteenth of July, 1870, in the district court of McLennan county, Texas, against the Waco Tap Railroad Company, a Texas corporation, to recover a balance claimed to be due on a contract for the construction of the railroad of the defendant company. The company answered the petition on the twenty-fifth of November, 1870. ”