Statement by Mr. Chief Justice FULLER:
Moran Bros. filed their bill of complaint against William Wright, A. A. Watkins, Jerry Schooling, and others, in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Nevada, alleging that the Union Trust Company of New York was the mortgagee in trust of the Nevada & Oregon Railroad Company for the benefit of the holders of certain bonds of the said company, and had brought suit in that court to foreclose the trust deed or mortgage, which suit was then pending therein; that the complainants were holders of 310 of some 600 bonds, of $1,000 each, certified and issued by the trustee under said deed, and that the defendants each claimed to hold some of them; that the company had no right to issue the bonds to the defendants; and that, as between complainants and defendants, the former were entitled to priority in the distribution of the proceeds of the sale of the mortgage bonds. The bill prayed for an injunction against the transfer of the bonds held by defendants, and a decree that the defendants were not entitled to participate or share in the money realized from the sale of the road. In the mean time the property was sold under the foreclosure suit, and bid in by Moran Bors. Defendants answered, and on final hearing a decree was passed as prayed for in the bill, and applying the proceeds on the complainants' bonds only. From that decree the defendants appealed to this court, which at October term, 1889, dismissed the appeal as to some of the appellants, affirmed it as to others, and reversed it as to Wright, Watkins, and Schooling, and remanded the case to the circuit court for further proceedings to be had therein consistent with the opinion. McMurray v. Moran, 134 U.S. 150, 10 Sup. Ct. 427. Thereafter, Schooling died, and Hagerman, his administrator, was substituted.
The mandate of this court was issued July 19, 1890, and was filed in the circuit court November 3, 1890, and on February 2, 1891, the circuit court entered a decree in the cause, wherein it was adjudged that complainants holding the 310 bonds, and Wright, Watkins, and Hagerman, administrator, holding 31 bonds, 'are entitled to have, and do have, their three hundred and forty-one bonds, mentioned in said bill of complaint, and the answer on file herein, paid out of the proceeds arising from the sale of the mortgaged premises, described in the said complaint, if the proceeds so arising are sufficient; and, if such proceeds are not sufficient, then that said complainants and said defendants, A. A. Watkins, and J. C. Hagerman, as administrator of the estate of Jerry Schooling, deceased, and John Wright, as administrator of the estate of James Webster, deceased, with the will annexed, share in the proceeds of said sale in proportion to the amount of bonds held by them, respectively, and upon terms of equality with complainants.' The decree then described how the 310 and the 31 bonds were held, and further adjudged that the said 341 bonds 'were negotiated and sold to bona fide purchasers for value, and are valid and subsisting obligations, and are unpaid, and a valid and subsisting charge and lien upon the railroad and property described in said bill of complaint, and are entitled to be paid out of the proceeds arising from the sale of said mortgaged property.'