Howell v. Sherwood

112 S.W. 50, 213 Mo. 565, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 200
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedJuly 3, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 112 S.W. 50 (Howell v. Sherwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Howell v. Sherwood, 112 S.W. 50, 213 Mo. 565, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 200 (Mo. 1908).

Opinion

WOODSON, J.

This is a suit in ejectment for the possession of a tract of some ten acres of land, situate in the city' of Springfield, Greene county.

The petition was in the usual form, and the answer of defendant Sherwood was a general denial of all the allegations of the petition except the one of possession, and that of defendant Blakey was a disclaimer of all interest in the premises exeept as a tenant of his co-defendant.

The cause was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury, which .resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff, and defendant duly appealed to this court.

Charles Carlton was the common source of .title; and after the introduction of all the evidence, the defendant requested and the court made a special finding of facts, which, omitting formal parts, is as follows:

“Comes now the defendant in the above-entitled cause and requests the court to make the following finding of facts herein, to-wit:
“1. The court finds that the testimony of the defendant, Thomas A Sherwood, given in this case, is true, and that the facts concerning which he testified are as they were by him stated.
“2. The court finds that on the 30th day of January, 1861, a judgment was rendered in the circuit court of Greene county, Missouri, in favor of Peter Hayden and Pollock Wilson as plaintiffs against [570]*570George A. Taylor as defendant for the snm of $922.81 debt and $64.35 costs. That upon this judgment an execution was issued on the 14th day of February, .1861, and that the clerk’s execution docket, upon which the issue of this execution is noted, and upon which all executions in said cause were required by law to be noted, contains no memorandum of the issue of an} other execution in the cause of Hayden and Wilson against George A. Taylor, nor is there any evidence that such other execution was ever issued.
“That said execution is missing from the files in said cause and has disappeared from the office of the clerk of the circuit court of Greene county, Missouri, and cannot be found by the clerk after thorough and diligent search therefor, but that in other respects the files in said cause of Playden and Wilson against Taylor appear to be intact.
“That the only return that was contained or ever appeared upon said execution,was as follows: ‘Executed the within writ by summoning Charles Carlton as garnishee.’ This was in substance and effect the language of the return, and was signed by Thos. A. Reed as sheriff; but the return did not inform Charles Carlton where and when he was to appear. Nor did said return contain any recital that the sheriff declared to said Carlton that he seized or attached in his hands, any debts, moneys, or credits due or owing by said Carlton to said George A. Taylor, defendant in said execution. Nor did said Carlton appear to the. action either personally or otherwise, nor file any answer to the interrogatories filed against him as garnishee; nor were there any interrogatories filed in said cause against said garnishee until the August term, 1862, of said circuit court; nor was any judgment purporting to be an interlocutory judgment entered against said Carlton until the August term, 1862, of the Greene County Circuit Court. And the court further finds in this coñ[571]*571nection that it- was a custom of the sheriff who received the execution in question, and his deputies, to make returns in garnishment proceedings similar to the said return bn the execution in the ease of Hayden & Wilson v. George A. Taylor, without reciting in such returns the fact that such officer declared to the party summoned as garnishee, on account of debts due and owing by him to the execution or attachment defendant, that the officer did attach in his hands all debts due from him to the defendant, or so much thereof as should be sufficient to satisfy the debt and interest or damages and costs.
“That final judgment on the 10th day of February, 1863, was rendered against the garnishee for $682, but no judgment for costs.
“That upon this judgment so rendered against said Carlton, execution issued on the 20th day of February, 1863, and was levied upon other property than that in controversy herein on March 11, 1863, and that as shown by the sheriff’s return, dated August 11, 1863, the land so levied upon was sold for the sum of $695' under said execution, a part of which was applied on the costs, leaving a balance of only $661.94 to be credited on the execution which was credited thereon.
“The court further finds that the return to the above-named execution contains upon its face evidence of alteration and amendment, and that the same was made in pursuance of an order of court dated September 30,186*3, and contained in Book F'., page 200, of the records of the circuit court of Greene county, Missouri, and that the same is the amendment to which reference is made by the court in its said order permitting the sheriff to amend his return upon his execution in said cause, and that said order had no reference to the return on the original execution in the case of Hay[572]*572den & Wilson v. Taylor, nor did it contemplate an amendment thereof.
“The court further finds that said Sherwood took possession of the land in controversy in September, 1897, and has remained in possession ever since, and upon taking possession, paid all taxes due on said property at that time, and for five years previous thereto, and ever since has paid the taxes on the same, and sold off land for three streets, and conveyed the same to the city of Springfield; and has sold off and conveyed to A. N. Hanson a portion of said land for a lot. That H. E. Howell, or his co-plaintiffs, made no objections to such sales and conveyances, which were made after said Sherwood took possession.
“That said Sherwood was unaware he had acquired title to said land in question until informed he had title thereto by Major Mead, whereupon he also bought said land from C. B. Holland, and took and put to record a deed therefor, and immediately took possession of said land, which was then vacant, and paid all taxes then due as aforesaid. That he had been in possession of said land for over six years, and H. E. Howell and his co-plaintiffs never brought suit nor questioned the title of said Sherwood to said land, until statutory proceedings were instituted against them to compel them to do so, by said Sherwood, under the provisions of section 647, Revised Statutes 1899‘, and then they instituted the present action of ejectment.
“That said H. E. Howell never took possession of said land except of small portions thereof, °at long intervals apart, and no such possession as would give title or semblance to title to said land.
“That from the time of his purchase of said land in 1882, said H. E. Howell never paid any taxes on said land for sixteen years after that date, and not until said Sherwood had taken possession of said land and; paid all taxes due thereon, when said Howell paid [573]*573taxes for two years on said land, which, taxes were no longer due on said land, having run ont.
“Nor did his co-plaintiffs pay any taxes on said land, nor did co-plaintiffs of said H. E. Howell ever take possession of said land. Nor did H. E.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State Ex Rel. Specialty Foam Products, Inc. v. Keet
579 S.W.2d 650 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1979)
State ex rel. Associated Transport Corp. v. Godfrey
464 S.W.2d 776 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1971)
Fulkerson v. Laird
421 S.W.2d 523 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1967)
Blackburn Motor Co. v. Benjamin Motor Co.
340 S.W.2d 155 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1960)
C. Rallo Contracting Company v. Blong
313 S.W.2d 734 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1958)
State Ex Rel. Shaw State Bank v. Pfeffle
293 S.W. 513 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1927)
Skelly v. the MacCabees
272 S.W. 1089 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1925)
Federal Truck Co. v. Mayer
270 S.W. 407 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1925)
Eaker v. Harvey
179 S.W. 985 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1915)
Hamm v. United Railways Co.
167 S.W. 1070 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1914)
Norton v. Reed
161 S.W. 842 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1913)
Howell v. Sherwood
147 S.W. 810 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1912)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
112 S.W. 50, 213 Mo. 565, 1908 Mo. LEXIS 200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/howell-v-sherwood-mo-1908.