This suit was commenced by a creditors' bill filed by William Gay, a citizen of Kentucky, on behalf of himself and all other creditors of Oliver J. Morgan, late of Louisiana, deceased, against Oliver T. Morgan, his testamentary executor, John A. Buckner, Ferdinand M. Goodrich, Edward Sparrow, and J. West Montgomery, citizens of Louisiana. The bill alleges that Oliver J. Morgan, at the time of his decease, (which occurred in October, 1860,) was indebted to the complainant and to divers other persons; that he owed the complainant $33,250, for which he had given him three drafts of bills of exchange,-one for $ 3,000, dated January 7, 1860, payable 12 months after date; one for $10,250, dated February 2, 1860, payable January 13, 1861; and one for $10,000, dated February 10, 1860, payable January 25, 1861; all of which were unpaid at maturity, and were duly protested; and that on the twenty-third day of December, 1870, the complainant obtained judgment in the circuit court of the United States for the district of Louisiana against the succession of the deceased, for the amount of the drafts and interest thereon, which judgment it is alleged has never been paid. The main object of the bill is to set aside as fraudulent and void certain sales of the testator's lands made by the testamentary executor in January, 1869, to the defendants Buckner, Montgomery, and Goodrich, and to have the said lands resold in due course of administration for the purpose of paying the debts of the complainant and the other creditors, and for an account of assets and debts, an injunction, and a receiver.
It is alleged in the bill, among other things, that, at the time of his decease, Oliver J. Morgan was the owner of a large estate, valued at nearly a million of dollars, consisting mostly of lands, abundantly sufficient, if honestly applied, to pay all his debts; but the bill charges, in substance, that the defendants have fraudulently combined to defeat the claims of the creditors by procuring the sale which is sought to be set aside. It is stated that this sale was made under an order of the probate court of the parish of Carroll, (where the lands are situated,) on application of Buckner, as guardian of his daughter, and of the executor; the petition bing signed by the other defendants as attorneys, and untruly representing that the lands were unproductive, and that it was necessary to sell them all to pay the debts of the estate. It is further stated that a simultaneous order was made, on the application of Oliver T. Morgan as executor of the will of Julia Morgan, (adverse to and irreconcilable with his duties and trust as executor of Oliver J. Morgan,) for the sale of three-fourths of the same lands as belonging to the estate of Julia Morgan; and that the sale was made under both orders. It is also stated that, before the sale, the confederates procured a false and fraudulent appraisement of the lands to be made at $2.75 per acre, reducing the whole value thereof to $43,205.25, instead of $947,153.80, at which they had been correctly appraised in the inventory. It is further stated that, at the sale, Buckner became the purchaser of 9,171 acres of the lands at $3 per acre; Montgomery, of 5,040 acres, and Goodrich, of 1,500 acres, at the same price; and it is charged that this price was grossly inadequate, and that the sale was a sham sale, intended as a means of securing the lands to the benefit of the family, and of cheating and defrauding the creditors. Various allegations are contained in the bill tending to establish the charge of fraud.