Orr v. Pickett

26 Ky. 269, 3 J.J. Marsh. 269, 1830 Ky. LEXIS 37
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJanuary 14, 1830
StatusPublished

This text of 26 Ky. 269 (Orr v. Pickett) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Orr v. Pickett, 26 Ky. 269, 3 J.J. Marsh. 269, 1830 Ky. LEXIS 37 (Ky. Ct. App. 1830).

Opinion

Judge Uisderwood

delivered the opinion of the Court.

These casos have been brought up, upon the same record. They were tried at the same time, in the court below, and originated in connected transactions, so that the evidence in one, was applicable tb most, if not all the rest. They will therefore be considered together here. The facts out of which these suits grew, arc these. Alexander D. Orr, being embarassed, conveyed his estate, to James Hughes, in part, for the benefit of his, Orr’s creditors. Judgments were obtained against Hughes, in bis own right,and as trustee. Executions which issued thereon, were levied on sundry slaves, which Orr, had conveyed to Hughes, as part of the trust property. These slaves were sold by the sheriff, under executions, on the 14th of October, 1817, upon a credit of three months, for the sum of $2058, and John Pickett and Baldwin B, Stith executed sale bonds for the amount, Pickett as principal, and Stith as surety. Before the sale took place, A. D. Orr was solicitous, that Pickett and Stith should befriend him, and his family, so far as to purchase the slaves, for the benefit of Orr’s family. It seems at first, to have been agreed by the parties, that Stith should become the purchaser, and Pickett enter himself as surety, in the sple bonds, but upon considering the probability, that the slaves might not be so safe, in case Stith purchased them, owing to the existence of some large claim against him, it was determined that Pickett should become the purchaser, and Stith enter as surety. A. D. Orr, relied on his brother Benjamin G. Orr, of Washington City, to furnish the money, with which to discharge the sale bonds, and thus to secure thr [270]*270slave?, for the use of A. D. Orr’s family. But in case ^rr to furnish the money, in time to discharge the sale bonds, then Pickett- was to sell the-slaves; and least they might [jrove insufficient, A. D. Orr, gave Pickett a lien on Dennis, a slave not sold by the sheriff, to make up any deficiency.

Stith, (who was acting as the agent, of B. G. Orr*. in collecting a large debt, which he had against Do-byns,) received a letter, from B. G. Orr, dated 13th November, 1817, by which Stith was authorized to use the money, due by Dobyns, for the “redemption of the negroes,” provided the possession be given, and title be made, in trust to lieutenant John D. Orr, for the benefit of his mother and her daughters, Mary and Norah, so that no possible claim can be set up by' the creditors of Colonel Orr,” (meaning Alexander D. Orr.) Another part of the letter, says, “I pray you to apply this money, to no other purpose, than the one designated, and to be particular,, in having the title properly vested, in J. D. Orr, in trust as aforesaid.

Stith collected from Dobyns, only $1200. Stith also received §400 which a Mr. Linton of New-Or« leans had forwarded to Mary B. wife of A. D. Orr, to aid her. These sums, amounting to §1600, were applied by Stith, in part discharge of the sale bonds-executed by him-and Pickett.

To meet the balance due on the sale bonds, the sum &f §500 was borrowed by Pickett, as principal, with A. D. Orr as surety, from Jacob Slack, and the bonds were discharged; at which time, Stith says it was agreed and understood by Pickett and himself, that the whole of the slaves belonged to Mary B. Orr, wife of A. D. Orr, and her daughters Mary and Norah, but that Pickett and himself had a lien on the slaves, for the $500 borrowed of Slack, but for no other purpose. Stith states that Pickett had seen and read the letter from B. G. Orr before the money was paid in discharge of the sale bonds. Part of the slaves were sold in the town of Washington, and part on the farm where A. D. Orr lived. Those which were sold in Washington returned to the farm, and the whole there remained with the family of A. D. [271]*271Orr. Who controled them, and who should be considered as possessed of them, are questions involved in •perplexity, in consequence of the contradictory of the evidence.

■It is proved that A. D. Orr, both claimed and disclaimed them. It is proved that his wife and one of his daughters exercised acts of ownership over a part of the slaves, as their separate property. It is proved that Jno. t). Orr, the person designated as the trustee by Ben. G- Orr, within less than five years after the sale of the slaves by the sheriif, took possession of them, and that he controled them as trustee, for his mother, Mary B. the wife of A. D. Orr, and his sis* ters, Mary and Norah, whilst all this is disproved by said Jno. D. Orr, as positively as it can be.

The statements on this subject, by the relations and members of the family, present contradictions well calculated to obscure the truth. They exhibit, in glaring colors, the bad feeling which seldom fails to distort every thing in family quarrels. Some of the neighbors regarded the slaves as possessed by and subject to the control of A. D. Orr, even after the date of the sale by the sheriff, while others looked upon them as the separate property of his wife and daughters. The slaves were never conveyed to John D. Orr, in trust, as required by the letter of Ben. G. Orr. It does not appear that Pickett ever relinquished to any one, the title which he acquired by his purchase at the sheriff’s sale.

In this condition of the negroes, judgments were obtained against A. D. Orr, and on the 10th of June, 1823, four executions issued, one in favor of John Pickett, two in favor of E. Gill, and one in favor of. D. Perrine, all of which were levied on Bill, one of the slaves purchased by said Pickeit, at the sheriff’s sale as aforesaid, and he was sold by the sheriff and purchased bv William B. Orr, who executed a sale bond, with William Payne his surety.

The land on which A. D. Orr and his family resided, had been conveyed to John Chambers, in trust, to secure the payment of a debt due Russell. Henry Ree paid Chambers $620, in part of the debt, on the .1st of July, 1813. and the balance, amounting to $418, [272]*272ohthc20thof January, 1814. At which last date, Chambers executed to Lee an instrument of writing, promising to sel! the land in one year, and pay over the proceeds (o Lee, not exceeding, however, the money and interest advanced by Lee, or to release the land to James Hughes, (from whom Chambers had received the title, said Hughes being trustee for Orr and his creditors, as already mentioned; as Lee might direct, within the year. After'the year expired, Chambers was at liberty to release to Hughes, without Lee’s interposition, regarding Lee’s payment as a payment by Hughes. If, before Lee gave any directions, Hughes tendered the debt, to secure which, the trust was created, Chambers was to receive the money and pay it over to Lee. Chambers did not sell the land, nor did he release the title to Hughes, within the year.

Some years thereafter, at the request of A. D. Orr, and Jno. D. Orr, Chambers sold the land and conveyed it to John D. Orr, he being the purchaser at the sale; Lee having, in the meantime, transferred Chambers’s obligation toN. Warfield, who had transferred the same to John D. Orr. Lee states that he received the $620, which he first paid Chambers, from A. D. Orr, who stated that part of it was his and the balance was furnished by Ben. G. Orr, who intended to furnish enough to secure the land for Mrs. Orr, the wife of A. D. Orf, Soon after the payment of the $620, by Lee to Chambers, B. G.

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

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 Ky. 269, 3 J.J. Marsh. 269, 1830 Ky. LEXIS 37, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/orr-v-pickett-kyctapp-1830.