Perkins v. Wright

37 Ind. 27
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1871
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 37 Ind. 27 (Perkins v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Perkins v. Wright, 37 Ind. 27 (Ind. 1871).

Opinion

Downey, J.

The appellee sued the appellants, the owners of the steamboat Mollie Norton, as common carriers, for the value of a carpet sack and contents, which, it is alleged,-were shipped at Henderson, Kentucky, to the plaintiff at Evansville, in this State, and never delivered. The complaint commences, “Prince A. Wright, an infant, who sues by Edward H. -E. Wright, as next friend, complains,” etc. The second paragraph commences thus: “The said plaintiff further complains of the said defendant,” etc.

[28]*28The first paragraph, states that the defendants promised in consideration that the plaintiff delivered to the said defendants the goods; and the second paragraph alleges that they promised in consideration of a reasonable reward, to be paid by the plaintiff The defendants demurred to the first and second paragraphs of the complaint, for the reason that neither of them stated facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. This demurrer was overruled, and the defendants excepted. This is the first error assigned. We need not stop to consider whether the first paragraph is defective, as contended by counsel for the appellants, or not; for conceding that it is, and that the second is good, as is admitted, we must hold that the demurrer was a demurrer to both, and was properly overruled if either paragraph was good. This is not like the cases where the party demurs to each paragraph in a complaint, answer, or reply, and where it has been held that the demurrer may be taken distributively, and sustained to some and overruled as to others, as in Fankboner v. Fankboner, 20 Ind. 62; Parker v. Thomas, 19 Ind. 213.

The introductory part of the complaint was sufficient to show that the plaintiff sued by his next friend; and the commencement of the second paragraph must be held, by reference to the first, to be sufficient also in this respect.

The remaining question in the case is as to the sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the finding of the court, which arises out of the motion for a new trial in the court below, and the refusal of the court to grant the same, which refusal is assigned for error.

It was admitted at the trial of the cause that the defendants were the owners of the steamboat Mollie Norton, and that they were common carriers, as alleged in the complaint.

It was also admitted that by depositions taken and lost it sufficiently appeared that a carpet sack belonging to the plaintiff had been sent from Madisonville, Kentucky, to the wharf-boat at Henderson, Kentucky, to be sent from there by boat to plaintiff, at Evansville, Indiana, about the time the goods mentioned in the complaint are alleged to have been lost.

[29]*29The plaintiff) Prince A. Wright, testified as follows: “ I was the owner of the carpet sack, sent from Madisonville, Kentucky, as admitted at the beginning of this trial; it was the same as this suit was brought for; it was a carpet sack, containing clothing, papers, and books, as specified in the bill of particulars with the complaint; the articles were worth the money charged for them in the bill of particulars; I was the owner; my father paid for them; I had no money of my own; had never been in business for myself; was a minor and lived with my parents; my father paid the price for said articles, as shown by the bill of particulars; they were all as good as new.”

Cross examined. “ I had worn the shirts two or three times; there was a new suit, consisting of the doeskin pants, seventeen dollars, blue frock coat, thirty-five dollars, and the satin vest, twelve dollars and fifty cents, which had never been worn; these were in a box, and not in the carpet sack; the balance were in the carpet sack; the sack coat had been worn considerable, also the hat; I had gone over to Madisonville to get into business, but failed to get the place, and came back home, and ordered my clothing sent back to Evansville to iñe; the clothing has been lost, and I have never seen it since; I left it at Madisonville, Kentucky; I am now a few weeks over twenty-one years old.”

E. H. E. Wright testified as follows: ‘'‘Plaintiff is my son; I live in Evansville, Indiana; I bought and paid for the articles mentioned in the complaint for my son, and paid the price shown in the bill of particulars; I bought them for my son and gave them to him; he was going to Madisonville, Kentucky, to get into business; he went over, but was disappointed and came back home; the clothing belonged to the plaintiff; the defendant, Perkins, admitted that the carpet bag had been on his boat; I went down to see him on the Mollie Norton, and he said he believed the porter had stolen the clothes; he said the men at the wharf boat at Henderson had told him that they gave it to the porter of ’the Nor[30]*30ton; the goods have been lost and never delivered to the plaintiff.”

Cross examined. “I paid for the goods; I always pay for my children’s clothing who are under age; the plaintiff was a minor, had been living at home, had never been in business for himself; I gave him his clothing just as I did to my other children, except that he had better clothes, because I had sent him from home to college. When I first went to the Norton to see about the goods, Perkins declared that he knew nothing about them, and they were not on the boat, and he had no knowledge of them; told me to wait and he would make inquiry about them; I saw him a few days after, and he admitted that my son’s carpet sack had been on the boat, but said he could not find it; believed his porter had stolen it; he sent for my son to come down and see whether the pants which his porter was wearing were his pants; he never admitted that it had been received or properly delivered on his boat, but admitted that it had been on his boat, and he believed his porter had stolen it.”

Nathan Groves, a witness for defendants, testified: “I am a clothing merchant in Evansville; clothing which has been worn two or three weeks would not be worth more than twenty-five to fifty per cent, of cost price; no satin vest is worth twelve dollars and fifty cents; from six to eight dollars is a good price for a good satin vest.”

Cross examined. “ Clothing worn two or three weeks would be worth more than twenty-five to fifty per cent, of cost price to the owner, but would not bring more than that if put up for sale. Shirts worn but twice would be worth about as much to the owner as when hew.”

Charles G. Perkins. “ I am one of the defendants to this action; I was the master of the Mollie Norton at the time referred to; do not think that I ever admitted to Mr. Wright that the goods were on my boat; I have no recollection whatever of making any such admission; I ani certain that I never admitted that they were delivered on rhy boat, or received by any officer having authority to receive them; there were [31]*31no facts upon which I could make such an admission; when Mr. Wright first came to the boat, I told him I knew nothing about them, and never had heard of them; I looked at the freight book in which all freight is entered, and could find nothing of it; I told Mr. Wright to come down again, and in the meantime I would make inquiry about it; I looked through the boat, looked into every state room, and made diligent inquiry, and could never find or learn that the goods had been on my boat; I may have told Mr.

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

Related

Campbell v. Missouri Pacific Railway Co.
111 N.W. 126 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1907)
Puterbaugh v. Puterbaugh
33 N.E. 808 (Indiana Court of Appeals, 1893)
Wyant v. Wyant
38 Ind. 48 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1871)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
37 Ind. 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/perkins-v-wright-ind-1871.