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Opinion of the Court.

the government. It was no longer its property; it held the legal title only in trust for the holder of the certificate. Witherspoon v. Duncan, 4 Wall. 210, 218. When the patent was subsequently issued, it related back to the inception of the right of the patentee."

There is no conflict in the rulings of this court upon the question. With one voice they affirm that when the right to a patent exists, the full equitable title has passed to the purchaser, with all the benefits, immunities and burdens of ownership, and that no third party can acquire from the government interests as against him. The decision of the trial court was correct. The attempted relocation by Luttrell was void, and gave him no rights of possession or otherwise.

The only other question is as to the measure of damages. The trial court found that the value of the ores, at the time of their conversion by the defendant, was $11,716.65; that after the ores had been mined, and become chattels there had been expended by the defendant and others, in removing the ores from the mine, in assorting the same from the worthless rock, and in transferring the same to the smelter, the sum of $7985.83; and gave judgment for the difference, to wit, $3730.82, and interest. It also found that the entries and trespasses upon the Alta mine were with knowledge of plaintiff's ownership thereof, and that the defendant at the time it received the ores had knowledge that they came from the Alta mine, and were the property of the plaintiff; and there was testimony to support these findings. Walnut v. Wade, 103 U. S. 683, 688; Jessup v. United States, 106 U. S. 147, 150.

The contention of the appellant is, that there was error in not crediting it also with the cost of mining the ores. But as it received and converted them with knowledge that they belonged to the plaintiff, the ruling of the trial court was, within the decision in Wooden-ware Company v. United States, 106 U. S. 432, as liberal to the appellant as it had a right to expect.

The judgment is affirmed

Statement of the Case.

KISSAM v. ANDERSON.

ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.

No. 202. Argued March 11, 14, 1892. - Decided May 16, 1892.

The 3d National Bank in New York was the correspondent of the Albion Bank, a country bank. W., during part of the time in which the transac tions in controversy took place, was cashier, and during the remainder was president of the Albion Bank. During all the time W. practically managed that bank, and his co-directors and other officers had little or no oversight of its affairs. He was engaged in stock speculations on his own account in New York, and drew from time to time for his own purposes in favor of K. & Co., his brokers, on the bank balance with the 3d National Bank. K. & Co. from time to time returned to that bank sums to be credited to the Albion Bank. The latter bank eventually became insolvent, being ruined by fraudulent operations of W. who disappeared, and was put in the hands of a receiver, who brought suit against K. & Co. to recover the sums so paid to them by W. out of the balance to the credit of the bank with the 3d National. K. & Co. claimed to offset the return payments made by them to the 3d National; but the trial court ruled that they were not entitled to do it, and no question in respect of them was submitted to the jury. Held, that the defendants were entitled to have it submitted to the jury whether the other directors and officers of the Albion Bank might not, in the exercise of reasonable and proper care, have ascertained that these moneys had been deposited to the credit of the Albion Bank, and whether they would or would not have accepted such deposits as the return of the moneys to the bank.

THE case, as stated by the court, was as follows:

The First National Bank of Albion was organized under the national banking law December 22, 1863, with a capital stock of $50,000, consisting of five hundred shares of $100 each, with a privilege of increase, and in fact afterwards increased to $100,000. It was reorganized under the act of July 12, 1882, by amended articles of association filed January 12 and approved February 24, 1883. On August 21, 1884, it closed its doors, and the defendant in error was appointed receiver, and took possession August 28, 1884. On January 7, 1885, as such receiver he commenced this action against the plaintiffs in error in the Circuit Court of the United States for

Statement of the Case.

the Southern District of New York. On April 25, 1888, the case was tried before a jury, and a verdict rendered in favor of the plaintiff for $147,759.71. A judgment was rendered on the verdict, and to reverse such judgment defendants sued out this writ of error.

The proposition upon which this suit was maintained was that A. S. Warner, the cashier of the Albion Bank, wrongfully withdrew the funds of that bank for the purpose of a personal speculation in stocks; and that the defendants, Kissam, Whitney & Co., received those moneys with knowledge that they were thus withdrawn, and used them for the benefit of Warner in his stock speculations. The defendants, among other things, pleaded that the most of the money received from Warner had been returned to the bank; and herein lies the principal question for our consideration, and to a clear understanding of all that is involved in it, a detail of the facts is necessary.

Prior to March 29, 1879, R. S. Burrows was president of the Albion Bank; Alexander Stewart, his son-in-law, vicepresident; and Warner, cashier. At that date Burrows died. Stewart became president, and so remained until he died, November 20, 1881, Warner in the meantime remaining cashier. Thereafter Warner became president, and W. R. Burrows, a son of R. S. Burrows, cashier, and both continued as such until shortly before the failure of the bank. The bank really belonged to R. S. Burrows in his lifetime, he owning all but twenty shares. The directors, pending the transactions hereafter to be reviewed, were L. Burrows, Alexander Stewart, W. R. Burrows, Louise C. Burrows and Warner. With the exception of L. Burrows, who was a brother of R. S. Burrows, the other four were the executors and executrix of R. S. Burrows; Warner, as appears, being the managing executor as well as the real official head of the bank. Through his defalcations, which ran up into the hundreds of thousands, the bank ultimately failed, and a receiver was appointed. The firm of Kissam, Whitney & Co., the defendants, was formed in May, 1880. Prior to that time the firm of Chase & Atkins had been in existence for some years, and that firm had bought and sold

Statement of the Case.

stocks for Warner. Whitney and Washburn, who, with Kissam, composed the firm of Kissam, Whitney & Co., had been clerks in the employ of Chase & Atkins, and a few months before had received small interests therein as partners. Kissam had no connection with that firm. When Chase & Atkins sold out to Kissam, Whitney & Co. the latter took among other things the account with Warner. At that time, and among the assets transferred, were stocks to the amount of $348,086.19, held for Warner, and for which Kissam, Whitney & Co. paid Chase & Atkins. Thereafter, and between that time and August 26, 1881, Warner sent to defendants 12 checks, the dates and amounts thereof being as follows:

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These checks were drawn by him as "cashier," on the Third National Bank of New York City, the regular correspondent of the Albion Bank: the first checking being in this form:

"No.

NEW YORK, May 11, 1880. "Third National Bank of the City of New York pay to the order of Kissam, Whitney & Co. ten thousand dollars.

"$10,000.

A. S. WARNER,

"Cash. First Nat. B'k of Albion, N. Y.;

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Statement of the Case.

and the others substantially like it. The Albion Bank was a country bank, with, as heretofore stated, a capital stock of $100,000, and an average deposit of about $200,000. On these checks, Kissam, Whitney & Co. drew from the Third National Bank the sums named, and used the same in their customers' stock transactions. Afterwards, and from time to time, they returned to the Third National Bank certain sums of money, which were entered by that bank to the credit of the Bank of Albion, and notice thereof was sent in the regular course of business by the former to the latter bank; but by reason of facts hereafter to be noticed, not all of these deposits were entered on the books of the Albion Bank. The following is a statement of the details of such deposits:

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It will be noticed that three of these deposits were made before the last two checks were sent to defendants. It will be noticed, also, that the moneys represented by these various deposits were returned to the same place from which the

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