Summary
Dunham & Keareoot, of Baltimore, were indebted on two lotes, amounting to about $8000, to Dali, Gibbons & Co. of ;he same place, but were insolvent and did not pay. In this iondition of things, Dali, Gibbons & Co. hearing that a house n Rogersville, Tennessee (Simpson, Duff & Co.), which was lolvent, owed money to the insolvent debtors just named, at Baltimore, set themselves at work to get payment, by attaehnent, from it. Addressing his letter to Rogersville, Teniessee, Mr. Cocke, their attorney in Baltimore, accordingly vrote — first on the 16th of March, 1858, and then on the ,7th — to a cousin of his, Mr. Jones, a professional gentle-nan, who had been residing at Rogersville, but who was low in Florence, Alabama, a place three or four hundred niles away; from which place, however, it seemed that he ras ready to return when any business worthy of so long a ourney made it worth his while to do so; Mr. Cocke, who rrote the letters, being a member of the law firm of G. W. Howard & Co., at Baltimore, and the letters having been put under an envelope stamped externally with the business card of that partnership. Cocke was, moreover, a cousin of Mr. Simpson’s wife. The letters were of such a character that Mr. Jones “ might have felt authorized, if not directed, to consult Simpson & Co., whose debt he was requested to attach, in relation to the business.”
On what exact day these letters reached the Rogersville post-office did not appear. The regular course of the mail would have brought them there about the 19th or 20th of March; but if they happened to drop into a distributing-office by the way — “ a thing which very often happened”— they would have been delayed till the 21st or 22d. There was, of course, also,.the ordinary chance of other accidents. When they did arrive, however, at Rogersville, they were put, as it turned out, into the post-office box of this very firm of Simpson, Duff & Co. Prom the' post-office the letters went to the counting-house of this firm. Here Mr. Duff, a member of the firm, opened and read them; and perceiving their contents, mentioned the fact of his having opened them and of what was in them to his partner Simpson, the senior and active partner of his firm. He then re-sealed them, and in a letter post-marked the 29th March, though dated the 27th, transmitted them in a friendly letter to Mr. Jones, at Florence ; not telling him, however, that he had opened the letters or waspossessed of their contents.
On the receipt of the letters, which got to Florence on the 1st of April, Jones came hastening up to Rogersville, getting there, perhaps, on the 4th. ■ In the meantime, however, the Baltimore creditors having heard that Mr. Jones no longer resided at Rogersville, wrote, on the 25th of March, to another lawyer there, Colonel McKinney, placing the matter in his charge, and directing him to get the letters from the Rogersville post-office. Going to the post-office, he learned that the letters had been put into Simpson, Duff & Co.’s box. Following the matter up to Duff, he was told on the 29th that the letters had been forwarded to Mr. Jones, at Florence, “several days before.” He then inquired of Simpson as to the state of their account with Dunham & Kearfoot, the insolvent firm at Baltimore; a matter which Simpson “ did not know about exactly,” — “ would look at his books for,” — inviting Colonel McKinney “to call the next day.” On the next day Colonel McKinney called, and learned that, on the 26th preceding, they had remitted $2000 of their debt to their creditor house at Baltimore. They still owed, apparently, about $3100. On the 7th of April an attachment was issued; but it was too late to profit the persons for whom it was issued; for, on the lsi April preceding, Simpson & Co. had remitted the whole balance to their creditors at Baltimore; sending various negotiable notes for $1600 of it, and their own negotiable note for the remaining $1500. A receipt was returned on the 5th; two days, of course, before the attachment issued.
In the meantime, and perhaps, as already said, about the 1th April, Mr. Jones presented himself at Rogersville. The first thing he did was to go to Simpson, Duff & Co., to consult vith them about their debt, which he had been requested ;o attach. He showed to Mr. Simpson the two letters which íe had received, and “asked Simpson’s counsel in the preñases.” Simpson, without informing him that he was already apprised of what the letters contained, informed him hat the claim had been “ turned over” to another attorney, dolonel McKinney, who was now “ trying to get an attachnent on the amount his firm might owe Dunham & Kearoot;” and informed him also of the fact, more important to lis principals, that the debt had all been paid. Mr. Simpson dded, that he had felt himself under special obligation to ■ay the debt, as Dunham & Kearfoot had been good friends f his firm; that he had been repeatedly written to by them ) pay up the amount due; that he had been trying to get xchange; that he had been waiting till the return of a cerlin debtor, whom he named; and for the payment of some ther debts, so as to get exchange cheaper; and “ that he iped the attachment of McKinney would not catch what e had sent on to Baltimore.”
Jones finding out otherwise that his letters had been opened, re-sealed, and that he had not been told of this, and apparently put out at losing a piece of business that might have been remunerative, declared himself “ astonished.” And the Baltimore firm of Dall, Gibbons & Co., conceiving that they had lost their debt wholly from Duff’s having got possession of the letters, and in consequence of the knowledge which he had acquired by opening and reading what was not intended for him, now sued his firm, Simpson, Duff & Co., of Rogers ville.
The declaration set out the existence of the debt, the writing of the two letters, that Duff, a member of the firm, “ took the same from the post-office without any authority for so doing, and opened and read them, and had thus illegally, wrongfully, and.fraudulently acquired a knowledge of their contents, and communicated the same to the other members of his firm.” And it averred, that after the firm had in this way obtained information of the intention of Dall, Gibbons & Co. to attach the debt, the said Simpson, Duff & Co. wrongfully, illegally, and fraudulently detained the letter's aforesaid, and illegally and fraudulently failed, for eight days, to forward or to deliver the same to the said Jones; with the purpose, design, and intention of preventing them,the plaintiffs, from obtaining payment of the notes due them, and for the purpose of favoring Dunham & Kearfoot aforesaid. By means of which tortious act and several grievances, and by reason of the insolvency and bankruptcy of the said Dunham & Kearfoot, which occurred soon after, they, the plaintiffs, had lost the whole amount of their debt.
Mr. Duff, however, for himself and his firm, had also an account to give of the transaction. This account appeared partially in the testimony of Mr. Cocke, the attorney in Baltimore, who had written and sent the letters, partially in the testimony of Mr. Jones himself, and partially in a letter of Duff’s own, written in reply to one which Mr. Jones had written to him, complaining of what Duff had done about the letters, and which letter of Duff’s, in vindication of himself, Jones had made evidence by referring to.
Mr. Cocke, the attorney, stated that the claim had been sent to Mr. Jones, “ because- his intimacy and relationship with Simpson, Duff & Co. would enable him to ascertain from them the amount of their indebtedness to Dunham & Kearfoot.”
Mr. Jones gave more full particulars. He testified that before studying law he had been a clerk in the house of this same Simpson, Duff & Co.; that Simpson had married his first cousin, and that he and Duff had “always, for years, been upon the most intimate terms of friendship;” — one evidence of which be signalized in the fact mentioned by him, that while he was at college “ he had carried on a correspondence with a young lady through the defendant Duff, and had authorized Duff to read his letters before giving them to the young lady” lie mentioned, also, the fact, that after the occurrence about the letters, he, Jones — as yet knowing nothing about it — had seen Duff constantly, and “ for a part of the time slept with him at night.” He stated, also, that Duff had “ for years been authorized to take his letters out of the post-office at Eogersville, and to forward them to him when absent;” though he declared solemnly that he had “ never authorized him to open his business letters during, his absence.”
The postmaster, too, of Eogersville, testified that it was his general.practice, and had been for years, to put Mr. Jones’s letters into the box of Simpson, Duff' & Co. ;■ that Duff' boarded with him, the postmaster; and Jones himself ;estified, that had he been in Eogersville when the letters 3ame, he would have gone directly to Mr. Simpson and told aim about them; adding, “ I think this from my intimacy with him, and from some directions to that effect in the etters themselves.”
The letter of Duff to his friend of so many years was. thus, ,n substance and material parts, expressed:
Eogersville,. 8th July, 1858*.
Dear Jones:
Tours is to hand; and but for my absence from home, at the ,ime of its arrival, should have had an earlier notice. I have only to say, it is true I opened the letter referred to. In so doing I was actuated by none other than pure motives. The letter was from a place I believe you had no private correspondence with, and at the time, it occurred to my mind that it might be a business letter, and one that demanded prompt and immediate attention. This was the only reason I had for the act. Owing to the very friendly relations that had always existed between us, and feeling a lively interest in your welfare, I thought I might safely take this liberty, and in taking it I was prompted alone by the feeling of doing what I supposed would be of service to you in your absence. Wlien I found that the letter was connected with our business, I mentioned it to Colonel Simpson, your relation, and my partner, who expressed himself very sorry that it had been opened. I then resealed' and forwarded it to you at once. If I committed an error, it was in not then informing you what I had done; this, however, was an error of omission only. Before opening the letter, I had no knowledge or intimation of its contents. You say you are “astonished” at it. I am surprised that you should express astonishment, in view of our long intimacy, and in view of the fact that I have for so many years taken out your letters from the post-office at your request, and forwarded them to you, when you were absent from Bogersville, as you were when I opened the letter. I sincerely thought I was doing right, and for the promotion of your interest. It distresses me to learn, from the disapprobation implied in your letter, that you condemn an act, which, had it been done by yourself under similar circumstances, I would not have censured. The fact that I opened the letter, did you, I trust, no harm, nor your client. I forwarded it at once, on finding, as I did, most unexpectedly, that the letter contained claims sent out in behalf of Dali, Gibbons & Co., against Dunham & Kearfoot, which they desired to secure by attaching a debt due from us to the house last named. When I first saw the letters, I did not know how long they had been in the store — and seeing two letters with the name of G. W. Howard & Co. stamped on the envelopes, it occurred to me that they were business letters of importance, and required immediate attention; knowing that Howard & Co. did a considerable business in this section of the country, and not for one moment supposing that the business could have any connection with our house, as we at the time did not owe them anything. I knew, also, that Mr Cocke, a member of tbe firm of G-. 'W. Howard &, Co., was a relation of yours, and it was natural for mo to suppose that business from them would be placed in your hands, when they needed an agent at this point.
I have reason to believe that Dall, Gibbons & Co., hearing that you had removed to Alabama, engaged the services of Colonel McKinney, and that he was at Knoxville, endeavoring to obtain an injunction as you came up from Alabama with the claims. If the business was transferred into his hands before you reached Rogersville, and when, as a citizen of Florence, you could not be expected to attend to it, I am really at a loss to perceive how my intended kindness can have operated to your prejudice, as we were making arrangements, and using every effort to settle our indebtedness to Dunham & Kearfoot, before we had any intimation of Dall, Gibbons & Co.’s claims. I- repeat, however, that I am sorry this thing has occurred, and hope that this explanation will prove satisfactory, and that our former friendship may still remain unchanged. I trust I shall hear from you soon.
Your friend, truly,
J. M. Dufp.
To sustain tbe plaintiff’s case it was necessary, of course, to prove that tbe two letters bad been written. Mr. Jones proved that be bad received two letters inclosing tbe notes; describing tbe letters. Tbe record then went on in substance thus:
“ On the witness being asked to produce the letters, he stated that when he left Florence, a few days before this trial — for the purpose of attending as a witness — he looked over his papers for all such documents as related to this case. The letters were not among his papers. The witness recollects thinking about the two letters during the time he was looking over his papers; but being under the impression, that when the declaration was filed in this ease, he had left them with J. R. Cocke, the plaintiffs’ attorney, he did not make any special search for them more than for the other documents.
“ The attorney, Cocke, being then introduced by plaintiff, testified that he had had the letters in his possession, while he was drawing the declaration in this case, but was under impression that he had returned them to Jones. The witness had not* examined his files of letters before the commencement of this term of the court, in getting his papers together for the trial, and had not found said letters; and not finding them among the other papers in his possession, he had supposed the witness Jones had them.
“ Upon this testimony the court permitted Mr. Jones to go on and testify as to his recollection of the contents of the letters; to which action of the court, in allowing secondary evidence while the existence of better evidence was shown, the defendants except.† The witness Jones then went on to testify that one of the letters was dated Baltimore, 16th March, 1858, and the other, Baltimore, 17th March, 1858; that one of them contained two notes, drawn by the firm of Dunham & Kearfoot, dates and amounts not recollected; that one of the notes was due at the time it was sent to witness; that the other note was not due, but would shortly fall due. In one of the letters there was a statement of the amount due from Dunham & Kearfoot to the plaintiffs, Dali, Gibbons & Co. But the amounts and particulars of that statement the’ witness, was unable to remember.”
By the statutes of Tennessee, it should here be said, the property in Tennessee, of debtors non-resident within the State, is allowed to be attached only w’hen such “ non-resident debtor shall be removing, or about to remove, his property beyond the limits of the State.”‡
The record went on in substance thus:
“ The court, among other things not excepted to, charged the jury in effect, as respects material parts, as follows:
“ 1st. That this debt was property within the meaning of the statutes of Tennessee; and that if the defendants were about to remove their property beyond the limits of the State, the plaintiffs would have had the right to attach it; that if the defendants, by arrangement with insolvent creditors, intended to pay portions of their debts, and convert other parts into negotiable securities, so as to defeat the power of the plaintiffs to collect their debts from such insolvent non-resident creditors, who were plaintiffs’ debtors, such conduct would amount to a removal of the property from the limits of the State, and if such measures were in contemplation, the plaintiffs would have the right to attach such indebtedness, to prevent its removal and secure their debt.
“ 2d. That authority to forward a letter is not an authority to break it open; that if, even with good motives, the defendants broke open the plaintiffs’ letter to their attorney without authority, it was a violation of the legal rights of plaintiffs.
“3d. That if the defendants detained the letters thus broken open, with the view and purpose (as charged in the declaration) to enable them to use the information so illegally obtained, and pay the debt and convert it into negotiated securities, befirre the plaintiffs could issue their attachment and secure their debt, such detention, with such motives, was an illegal, wrongful, and fraudulent violation of the rights of the plaintifis, for which a right of action exists.
“4th. That in the event of the jury finding that the plaintiffs lost their debts by reason of the fraudulent conduct of the defendants, as above stated, and the insolvency of Dunham & Kearfoot, they would be entitled to recover the amount of their lebts, such debts being not more than the amount due from limpson, Duff & Co.
“ 5th. That all the partners who knew how the information was llegally and wrongfully obtained, and concurred in the subse[uent acts to defeat the plaintiffs’ attachment by payment to he insolvent debtors, were liable for the damages, and none but hose who did.”
A motion was afterwards made for a new trial, and tbe ecord went on in these words:
“ The court overruled the motion for a new trial; to all which ction of the court the defendants except, and tender this their bill f exceptions, which is signed and sealed by the court, and ordered ) be made a part of the record in this ease.”
1. That secondary evidence of the contents of the letters ad been improperly received; there having, as he argued, een no sufficient proof of search for the originals.
2. That the charge was wrong; and that Simpson, Duff & Co. were under no obligation to withhold from their creditor a debt which they justly owed him, and which he was pressing for, merely because they had accidentally become possessed of intelligence that somebody else wanted it held back for their benefit. Suppose they had accidentally or even designedly overheard a conversation instead of seeing a letter. Does any one think that in law they would have been bound to hold back payment?
1. Before passing to either of the objections, we note that no errors are assigned on this record. The plaintiffs in error say in this bill that they “ except ” to the decision of the court admitting secondary evidence of the contents of the letters; but it does not appear that any exception was taken when the decision was made and the trial was in progress. On the contrary, exception seems to have been first tendered after the motion for a new trial was overruled. Exception so taken cannot be availed of here. It is a well-settled principle that no bill of exceptions is valid which is not for matter excepted to at the trial. The original authority under which bills of exception are allowed, has always been' considered to be restricted to matters of exception taken pending the trial and ascertained before the verdict. It need not be drawn out and signed before the jury retire; but it must be taken in open court, and must appear by the certificate of the judge, who authenticates it, to have been so taken. This was fully admitted in Hutchins v. King,* where the rule was only not insisted on through a clerical mistake. Nor is this a mere formal or technical provision. It was introduced and is adhered to for purposes of justice. For if it be brought to the attention of the court that one of the parties excepts to his opinion, the judge has an opportunity of reconsidering or explaining it more fully to the jury.
2. The counsel for plaintiffs in error has raised a question upon the ruling of the court in admitting secondary evidence of the contents of two letters.
No general rule can be laid down upon this subject applicable alike to all cases. The proof necessary to establish the loss of a writing, so as to let in secondary evidence of its contents, must depend upon the nature of the transaction to which it relates, its apparent value, and other circumstances. If suspicion hangs over it, and there is any reason to believe that it is designedly withheld, a rigid inquiry should be made into the reason of its non-production; but if there is no such suspicion, all that ought to be required is reasonable diligence to obtain the original — in respect to which the courts extend great liberality.* In this case, the search for the originals might have been more thorough and rigid; but reasonable diligence was used, and there is no reason to suspect they were intentionally withheld.
But however this may be,' the evidence of their contents was given to the jury without objection, and the question of its admissibility cannot now be raised here.
3. Objection is made to the charge of the court. Is the charge really open to censure ?
Mr. Jones testifies that he never gave Duff authority to open his business letters. There is no evidence that Duff had such authority. What a college boy chose or did not choose to do a half century perhaps ago, and on one of those occasions when it is not given to men to be wise, is a small affair; of no pertinence to the case. If certain letters were submitted to him open, it does not follow that he had a right to break open others not submitted. No purpose that Duff in his letter states as having animated him was to be answered by opening and reading the letters instead of forwarding them. He saw the card of Howard & Co. on them, and could have replied to them that the letters were forwarded. He pretends to wish to serve his friend, and does it by depriving him as fast as possible of a valuable piece of business.
But the gravamen of our charge is less here than in that Duff communicated Ms irregularly obtained knowledge to Simpson, the leading and senior member of his firm. He had assuredly no authority to do that. Duff’s duly, when becoming accidentally possessed of information not intended for him, was to forward the letters as fast as possible, with an explanation to Mr. Jones, and to keep profound silence as to everybody else. If under those circumstances Simpson, or the firm generally, had gone on to pay the debt before an attachment bound it, we might, perhaps, have less to say. But here the debt was discharged in the way that it was, and with the haste that it was, obviously, in consequence of the information given by Duff to his co-partner. Dates show this. Mr. Simpson is “ very sorry” to hear that the letters had been opened, and shows his extreme sorrow by profiting as fast as possible of the knowledge that through their being opened he had acquired. He went to work immediately to defeat the attachment; sending all the cash and drafts that he had, and then to make short, clear, clean, and conclusive work of it, the firm’s own negotiable note for a balance that he could not pay in cash. The note did not pay the debt; and the only purpose of sending it was to put the debt in a form not susceptible of being attached.
As matter of fact, there is no doubt at all that it was in consequence of Duff’s opening and reading of the letter, and consequent communication of its contents to Mr. Simpson, that our claim was lost.
Mr. Jones’s statement of what he might, could, or would have done, if he had been at Rogersville — he not having been there — is of no value. It is based on a hypothesis non-existent, and is more than any man ought, perhaps, to state on his oath. In fact, Jones says that he only “thinks this.” Certainly, as a professional man, it would have been •the least prudent thing that he could have done. It is not to be presumed of him that he would have so acted.
The instructions of the court, then, were substantially • right. Taken as a whole, they presented the case fairly on both sides, and could not have misled the jury as to the issues they were to try, or the principles by which they were to be governed.
But it is a sufficient answer to say that no exception was taken to them when given, and that, therefore, this court will not review them.
The bill of exceptions, we may admit, is not well drawn; but it is plain enough that the exception was taken before the witness was examined. It says, indeed, that the plaintiffs “ except” to the action of the court in allowing the secondary evidence. But it proceeds straight to add, “the witness, Jones, then went on to testify;” showing that the exception was taken before the testimony was given; ánd that though, in a present tense, the term relates to a past transaction. All that this court cares for is the fact; if it was properly taken, the omission to state it in the best way is not important.*
Syllabus and headnotes are prepared by the reporter or publisher, not the court, and are not part of the opinion.
