Opinion of the Court. be sold by them on account of such advances, and that the cattle were to be delivered on board of the cars at Randall, Kansas; that the cattle in question were delivered to the defendants at Randall on board of the cars; that four cars thereof were consigned to the defendants as per the bill of lading; that no bill of lading was issued for the two cars shipped by Guthrie; that all of the cattle, at the time they were delivered to the defendants, were their property and in their possession before the bill of lading was delivered to the plaintiff; that Lyons and Guthrie accompanied the cattle from Randall to Kansas City and remained with them while in transit; that when the cattle reached Kansas City the defendants took them from the cars with the knowledge and authority of Lyons and Guthrie, and with like knowledge and authority sold the cattle and applied the proceeds in payment of the amount so advanced to Lyons; that the bill of lading was never endorsed to the plaintiff, and the latter had no right or authority, by virtue of its corporate power, to receive the same or take any title to it or the property represented by it; that the defendants had no knowledge or notice that Lyons had drawn any draft on them until the cattle had been received and sold by them and the proceeds applied as aforesaid; that the draft was not drawn with the knowledge, consent or authority of the defendants or any one of them; that, as to the two cars of cattle, no bill of lading was issued by the railroad company, and no delivery thereof, symbolic or otherwise, was made to the plaintiff; that the plaintiff did not have possession of any of the cattle at any time; and that the defendants had no notice that the plaintiff claimed to have any interest therein or lien thereon. The case was tried before a jury, which was directed by the court to render a verdict for the plaintiff for $6681.55. The defendants objected and excepted to such direction, and prayed the court to submit instructions to the jury on the pleadings and evidence, which prayer the court refused, and to such refusal the defendants excepted. The verdict was rendered accordingly, and a judgment was entered thereon in favor of the plaintiff against the defendants for $6681.55. The defend Opinion of the Court. ants made a motion for a new trial, which was denied; and then the court signed a bill of exceptions containing all the evidence offered or received on the trial. The defendants then sued out from this court a writ of error. The evidence shows the following state of facts: Patterson owned the 98 head of cattle, which Lyons desired to buy, but he did not have the means. Lyons, in company with Patterson, applied to Bramwell, the cashier and agent of the plaintiff, to borrow from it $6700 to pay for the cattle and the expense of their shipment, until they could be sold at Kansas City. The plaintiff, after its cashier had examined the cattle and become satisfied that they would be sufficient security, agreed to pay the purchase price of them to Patterson, on the express condition that the plaintiff should have a lien upon, and a pledge of, the cattle as its security for making the advance, until they were shipped to and sold by the consignee at Kansas City. To that end, it was agreed that delivery of the cattle should be made by Patterson to the plaintiff, which was done, and that the plaintiff should have the title to, and right of possession of, the cattle until they were sold by the consignee and the plaintiff was reimbursed from the proceeds. Patterson, at the request and as the representative of the plaintiff, was to go with the cattle to Kansas City. The defendants' firm was selected as the consignee to receive and sell the cattle, which were shipped accordingly, on September 14, 1887, in six cars of the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, accompanied by Patterson, Lyons and Guthrie. Guthrie desired to get a pass to Kansas City, and Lyons had arranged with him to go with the cattle. As under the rules of the railroad company, only two persons could get passes on account of a single shipment or billing of cattle, four of the cars were to be billed as shipped by Lyons, and the other two as shipped by Guthrie. A bill of lading for the four cars was issued by the company in the name of Lyons; but as Guthrie had not yet arrived, no bill of lading was issued to him for the two cars, but they were billed to him in his absence. Lyons transacted that part of the business with the agent of the railroad company, Bramwell being then at the bank. The VOL. CXLVI-40 Opinion of the Court. cattle were started on September 14, 1887, and reached the Kansas City stock-yards about 9 o'clock A.M. on September 15. After they were unloaded into the chutes of the StockYards Company, they were delivered to the defendants, and between 2 and 3 o'clock P.M. on September 15 were sold by them to the Armour Packing Company for $6133. At the time of the arrangement for the advance of the purchase money by the plaintiff, it was agreed that a draft for the amount advanced should be drawn by Lyons against the shipment on the defendants, to be accepted by them and paid out of the proceeds of the sale of the cattle. The draft was drawn and was endorsed and delivered by Lyons to the plaintiff, together with the bill of lading which had been issued for the four car-loads. On September 14, 1887, the plaintiff forwarded this draft, with the bill of lading attached to it, to the Bank of Commerce, its correspondent at Kansas City, for collection. It was received by that bank early on the following morning, and was given to its messenger for presentation and collection at the office of the defendants, which was in the Live Stock Exchange Building, at the stock-yards. Between 10 and 11 o'clock A.M. of the same day, and more than three hours before the defendants sold the cattle, the draft and bill of lading were presented by the messenger at the counter of the defendants, to their agent in charge of their office, who, after examining those papers, returned them to the messenger and told him to leave them at the Stock-Yards Bank, this being the custom at the stock-yards with respect to drafts which the messengers of other banks failed to collect on presentation. Between 2 and 3 o'clock P.M. of the same day, the draft was presented by the collector of the Stock-Yards Bank at the office of the defendants for payment; and between 3 and 4 o'clock P.M. of that day, it was presented by the cashier of that bank, and formerly protested by him for nonpayment. The defendants converted the proceeds of the sale of the cattle to their own use and refused to pay the draft, giving as their reason for so doing that Lyons was indebted to them on an old account, and that they had a right to apply those proceeds thereon. Opinion of the Court. There was no dispute about the foregoing facts. In addition, Patterson and Lyons testified that on the morning of September 15, 1887, the day when the cattle reached Kansas City, one of the defendants was notified personally that the plaintiff had paid for the cattle, and that a draft therefor had been drawn on the defendants and delivered to the plaintiff. No money was paid by the defendants, and the only justification attempted by them was their claim of a right to apply the proceeds of the cattle on their old account against Lyons. It is very clear that the furnishing by the plaintiff of the purchase money for the cattle, on the faith of the agreement by Lyons that they and their proceeds would be security for the amount, and that a draft would be drawn therefor on the consignee against the cattle, with the further agreement that a bill of lading was to be obtained and turned over to the plaintiff, constituted a lien upon and a pledge of all the cattle, so far as the defendants were concerned, they having acquired no new rights, and not having changed their position in any essential respect, on account of the transaction, even though the bill of lading issued did not by its terms include the two car-loads shipped in the name of Guthrie. As to the four car-loads named in the bill of lading, that instrument represented the cattle; and the transfer of the ownership as well as of the right of possession was made as effectually by the transfer of the bill as it could have been by a physical delivery of the cattle. Conard v. Atlantic Ins. Co., 1 Pet. 386, 445; Dows v. Nat. Exchange Bank, 91 U. S. 618. When the bill of lading was transferred and delivered as collateral security, the rights of the pledgee under it were the same as those of an actual purchaser, so far as the exercise of those rights was necessary to protect the holder. Halsey v. Warden, 25 Kansas, 128; Emery v. Bank, 25 Ohio St. 360; Dows v. Nat. Exchange Bank, 91 U. S. 618; Bank v. Homeyer, 45 Missouri, 145; Bank of Green Bay v. Dearborn, 115 Mass. 219; Bank of Rochester v. Jones, 4 Comstock, (4 N. Y.) 497; Holmes v. German Security Bank, 87 Penn. St. 525. A bank which makes advances on a bill of lading has a lien to the extent of the advances, on the property in the hands Opinion of the Court. of the consignee, and can recover from him the proceeds of the property consigned, even though the consignor be indebted to the consignee on general account; and the consignee cannot appropriate the property or its proceeds to his own use in payment of a prior debt. Conard v. Atlantic Ins. Co., 1 Pet. 386; Gibson v. Stevens, 8 How. 384; 3 Parsons on Con tracts, 487. As to the two car-loads shipped or billed in the name of Guthrie, for which no bill of lading was issued, Guthrie had no interest in them, and the shipment in his name was merely to procure for him a pass from the railroad company. What took place between Lyons and the cashier of the plaintiff, at the time when the draft and the bill of lading were delivered to the plaintiff, amounted, as to the two car-loads, to a verbal mortgage or pledge of the cattle in those two cars to the plaintiff, to secure its advance, and on the faith of it the advance was made. There is no conflict of testimony on this subject. There was a verbal mortgage or pledge of all the cattle to the plaintiff as security for its advance. Patterson delivered all the cattle to the plaintiff, and, at its request and as its agent, he was placed in charge of and accompanied the shipment. Guthrie, if representing any one, represented Patterson and through him the plaintiff. Patterson arranged with Guthrie that the latter should go. As the verbal mortgage or pledge included all the cattle, and was accompanied by a delivery, it was good, at least as against the defendants, irrespective of any question of notice. The defendants were chosen as factors, they having before acted for the same parties in similar transactions, where drafts had been drawn on them against the shipments. They did not advance any money on account of this shipment, they parted with no interest, relinquished no legal right, and stood in no better position to dispute the validity of the mortgage or pledge than did Lyons himself. It was perfectly valid as against Lyons, and he could not have been heard to dispute it. But the defendants had notice that the draft had been drawn by Lyons against the cattle and had been endorsed to |