APPEAL from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio.
The case presented by this record is in substance as follows:
On the 17th of November, 1870, Abram A. Moore conveyed certain lands in Clinton County, Ohio, to John Milner, Jr. This conveyance, it is claimed, was made to hinder and delay creditors, and is therefore, as to them, void. Dec. 20, 1870, C. M. Walker commenced suit against Moore in the Court of Common Pleas of Clinton County, upon a contract made June 28, 1870; and at the same time caused an order of attachment to be issued under the laws of Ohio, by virtue of which he claimed to have attached as the property of Moore the lands conveyed to Milner. On the 2d of January, 1871, Thomas H. Long sued Moore in the same court, and claimed also to have attached the lands on the 10th of the same month. Jan. 19, 1872, Milner reconveyed the lands to Moore, who thereupon mortgaged them to Milner to secure the payment of a note for $8,295.89, payable, with interest, Dec. 25, 1872, and also to save him harmless against certain specified liabilities which he, as surety for Moore, had incurred. This mortgage was recorded in Clinton County Jan. 22, 1872. Subsequently to this time, sundry judgments were rendered against Moore which are liens upon his equity of redemption in the lands, and, July 13, 1870, he executed a mortgage on them to one Shepherd.
Nov. 23, 1872, Moore was adjudged a bankrupt in the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio, and, Dec. 23, 1872, William M. Meek was duly appointed his assignee. On the 7th of December, 1872, leave was granted by the bankrupt court to Walker and Long, to proceed to judgment in their suits in the State court, for the purpose of ascertaining the amount which might be proven against the estate. Dec. 31, 1872, the assignee was, on his own application, made a party defendant to each of these suits; and, after trials, judgments were rendered against Moore in both actions.
March 10, 1873, Meek, the assignee, filed in the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio a petition, as follows:--
'In the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Ohio.
'In the Matter of ABRAM A. MOORE, Bankrupt. In Bankruptcy.
'William M. Meek, assignee of the estate of Abram A. Moore, a bankrupt, respectfully represents that the said Abram A. Moore was declared a bankrupt Nov. 23, 1872; . . . that the assets of said estate consist of the following described real estate:' (here follows a description of the lands conveyed by the bankrupt to Milner and reconveyed by Milner); 'that upon certain parcels of the land [describing them] the following liens are claimed to exist.'
The liens as claimed are then set out specifically, as follows:
'1. Taxes.
2. Walker's attachment and judgment.
3. Shepherd's mortgage.
4. Long's attachment and judgment.
5. Mil er's mortgage.
6. Judgment in favor of Silas Routh.
7. Judgment in favor of Samuel J. Moore.
8. Judgment in favor of William W. Moore, Jr.
9. An agreement in favor of William Moore, Sen.
10. Judgment in favor of Thomas C. Moore.
11. Judgment in favor of James Patton.'
A statement is then given of the general creditors who have proven their claims, and the whole concludes with a prayer, as follows:--
'Your petitioner, therefore, prays that C. M. Walker, H. A. Shepherd, T. H. Long, John Milner, Jr., J. Silas Routh, Samuel J. Moore, William W. Moore, Jr., William Moore, Sen., Thomas C. Moore, James Patton, . . . [and all the general creditors, naming them], may be made defendants hereto, and that the defendants may be called upon to answer, and that your Honor will order proper steps to be taken for the adjustment of the liens, and that your petitioner may be ordered to sell real estate upon such terms as in the judgment of your Honor seem best for all creditors, and such other relief as may be proper.'
Process in the form of a subpoena was thereupon issued, and served upon all the parties named as defendants; and, April 8, 1873, the court ordered that the petition be referred to one of the registers of the court, with instructions, among other things, 'to hear the testimony adduced by the parties and arguments of counsel, and to determine the priority of liens among the creditors of said bankrupt, and to make a full report to the court of all his findings, together with the evidence produced by the parties on the hearing, and of all such matters transpiring in the premises as might seem to him proper for the investigation of the court.'