Faulkenstein Township v. Fitch

43 P. 276, 2 Kan. App. 193, 1895 Kan. App. LEXIS 231
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedJanuary 17, 1896
DocketNo. 144
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 43 P. 276 (Faulkenstein Township v. Fitch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Faulkenstein Township v. Fitch, 43 P. 276, 2 Kan. App. 193, 1895 Kan. App. LEXIS 231 (kanctapp 1896).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Dennison, J. :

In the determination of this case there seem to us to be two questions that present themselves for our consideration : (1) Do the records disclose such a state of facts as entitle a bona fide holder of the bonds to recover thereon? (2) Is the township estopped from defending against the bonds by reason of the recitals contained in the bonds?

The defendants in error introduced in evidence the contents of pages 81, 82 and 83 of the record, which were copied from a typewritten paper brought to the meeting held at the cleric’s house on the 7th day of February, 1890, by Pitzer and Stein, and which purport .to be signed by the township cleric. The contents of said pages 81, 82 and 83 are as follows :

“That afterward, on the 3d day of December, 1889, an election was held in Faullcenstein township, in pursuance with the above notice, and such election being conducted in all things according to law, and after the polls were closed said officers of said Faullcenstein township did meet at the office of said township cleric, in the township of Faullcenstein, county of Stanton and state of Kansas, for the purpose of and did then and there canvass' the votes cast at said election held on the 3d day of December, 1889, as the law requires ; and said officers did then and there find that there had been 24 votes cast at said election, and that 21 votes were cast for said proposition, and that three votes were cast against said proposition; and whereupon it was duly ordered and declared by the [204]*204honorable trustee, the clerk and the treasurer of said township of Faulkenstein, in the county of Stanton and state of Kansas, that said proposition to refund the said outstanding indebtedness by issuing 16 bonds of said township of Faulkenstein, of the denomination of $1,000 each, due 30 years after July 1, 1889, with interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, payable semiannually, on July and January 1st of each year, was duly declared' carried. That afterward, on the 4th day of December, 1889, all and each of said officers of said Faulkenstein township being present, and duly assembled, John Rambo appeared before said township officers and then and there surrendered to said township officers of the said township of Faulkenstein, in the county of Stanton and state of Kansas, all and each of the outstanding indebtedness, indicated by certain scrip which he was the holder and owner of, amounting to $16,000, and the said township treasurer of the said township of Faulkenstein, in the presence of the other members of the township board, did accept from the said John Rambo the said township scrip, aggregating $16,000, and then and there destroyed said scrip by burning the same ; and the said J. E. Tucker, trustee, W. B. Ward,.clerk, and L. C. Manson, treasurer, of said township of Faulkenstein, in the county of Stanton and state of Kansas, did then and there make, execute and deliver unto the said John Rambo, in lieu of the said $16,000 of the township scrip that had been destroyed, 16 bonds of said township, of the denomination of $1,000 each, due in 30 years from July 1, 1889, dated on February 7, 1890, and bearing interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum, payable-semiannually, and both principal and interest made payable at the fiscal agency of the state of Kansas in the city of New York, and said interest being evidenced by 60 coupons attached to each of said bonds, 59 of said coupons each being for the sum of $30. each, and one of said coupons being for the sum of $8.50, and each of said bonds, together with the coupons thereto attached, having been duly signed by J. E. Tucker, trustee, attested by W. B. [205]*205Ward, clerk, and countersigned by L. 0. Manson, treasurer, of said township of Eaulkenstein, in the county of Stanton and state of Kansas. No further business appearing, the board adjourned. — W. B. Ward, township clerk of the township of Eaulkenstein, in the county of Stanton and state of Kansas.”

This entry upon the record is claimed by the defendants in error to show the regularity of the action of the township officers, and, being a part of the records of the township and made by its officers, it is claimed that the township is estopped from denying it. This recites, in effect, that on December 4, 1889, John Rambo surrendered his scrip or warrants which were destroyed in his presence, and that the officers did then and there execute and deliver unto the said John Rambo, in lieu thereof, 16 bonds of $1,000 each, due in 30 years from July 1, 1889, dated February 7, 1890, etc. The court, in its findings of fact, finds that the signature of the clerk to this record is genuine; therefore the township is bound by it. The evidence seems clear that the typewritten paper of which this is a copy was never seen by any of the township officers until the meeting at Ward’s house, on February 7, 1890, and that it was brought there by Pitzer. However, it seemed to Pitzer and Stein that these things should appear in the records to have occurred on December 4, 1889, in order successfully to rob the taxpayers of the township out of the $16,000, and as the township officers have seen fit to adopt it as their record, the township is estopped from denying its contents, and for the purposes of this case the statements therein contained will be taken as true. Fortunately,however, the records of the township made on December 21, 1889, on page 70 thereof, had apparently escaped their notice. The bonds had been executed and delivered to John Rambo, the alleged township cred[206]*206itor, on December 4, 1889, so says the record introduced by the defendant in error. "What was next done with the bonds? The record, at page 70, tells us. The portion thereof which relates to the bonds reads as follows :

“December the 21st, 1889. J. E. Tucker and W. B. Ward met at Mr. Haas’s bank, being the Stanton County Bank, and receiving the sugar bonds there on deposit, then and there did destroy by burning, in the presence of Lewis Haas and N. R. Lyons.
W. B. Ward, Cleric.
J. E. Tucker, Trustee.”

■ Now, let us stop and recapitulate and see the condition of things on December 21, 1889. Warrants had been issued to Rambo ; Rambo had agreed to compromise for refunding bonds ; an election had been held, and a majority had voted in favor of issuing the refunding bonds. The warrants had been surrendered by Rambo and destroyed. The refunding bonds had been executed and delivered to Rambo. The bonds had been destroyed by burning and Rambo ratified their destruction. This is a complete transaction. The township now owes nothing to Rambo, and, so far as the records are izz. evidence, it has no outstanding indebtedness. The defendants in error in their petition allege that the bonds in this suit were executed on or about February 7, 1890, and have provezr that they were executed at that time’at Ward’s house. On February 7,1890, the township had no indebtedness to fund. There was no offer to compromise. There was no electiozi and no record of any by which any bozids could have been issued other than those which had been issued on Decezhber 4, 1889. Of course if there had been valid proceedings for the issuance of bonds on December 4, 1889, and for any reason the issue thereof had been postponed until February 7, 1890,. [207]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
43 P. 276, 2 Kan. App. 193, 1895 Kan. App. LEXIS 231, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/faulkenstein-township-v-fitch-kanctapp-1896.