This is a bill in equity, filed January 27, 1882, in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Texas, by John W. Hanner, Jr., James D. Park, and John S. Park, Jr., against Lewman G. Moulton, M. C. Moulton, C. R. Beaty, Clement R. Johns, J. C. Kerby, Flavius Everett, W. Von Rosenberg, and the corporation of C. R. Johns & Co., to establish the title of the plaintiffs to three several tracts of land in the state of Texas, one of 586 acres in Ellis county, one of 640 acres in Falls county, and one of 250 acres in Clay county. The bill prayed that the deeds under which the defendants claimed title to such land might be declared null and void. The plaintiffs asserted title to it as devisees under the will of Thomas Park, who died in the state of Tennessee, where he resided, on September 4, 1866, leaving a last will and testament, executed March 20, 1866, one clause of which was as follows: 'I will to John W. Hanner, Junior, James Park, and John Park, Junior, my tract of land, containing near fifteen hundred acres first-rate land, lying, I believe, in Ellis county, Texas. My papers are in the hands of J. A. N. Murray and William H. Gill, of Clarksville, Texas, who must account for all papers of mine found in the hands of William A. Park's widow at his death All other lands I may own, and not disposed of by will, may be given to Dr. Jas. P. Hanner.' The testator did not own at any time any land in Ellis county, Tex., and the defendants insisted that he did not own any other land in Texas to which the devise referred or could refer; but at the time of his death he owned what was called a head-right certificate for one-third of a league, or 1,476 acres, of land, issued by the republic of Texas, May 3, 1838, to William H. Ewing; Ewing having conveyed to the testator, by deed dated April 9, 1846, all his right, title, and interest to the land which had been or might be located and surveyed by virtue of such head-right certificate, the deed warranting to the grantee the peaceable possession of the land against all claims to be made under the grantor. By a codicil to his will, executed August 25, 1866, the testator appointed James P. Hanner his executor. The will was admitted to probate in the probate court in Tennessee, and letters testamentary thereon were issued to James P. Hanner. Subsequently, and on July 8, 1867, at the instance of the Tennessee executor, Clement R. Johns, one of the defendants in this suit, applied to the county judge of Travis county, in the state of Texas, sitting as a probate court, praying that letters of administration might be issued to him on the estate of James Park, with the will annexed, and produced a certified copy of the will, with satisfactory evidence of the probate thereof in Tennessee; and it was admitted to probate in Texas, and letters of administration with the will annexed were granted to Johns, at the July term, 1867. At the same term he presented to the probate court of Travis county an inventory of the estate, which did not include the 1,476 acres, but stated that there were other lands in the state claimed by the heirs, which would be reported by him as soon as a knowledge of the same could be obtained by him sufficient to identify them. On January 1, 1869, Johns filed in the probate court a supplemental inventory, which stated that, since filing the original inventory, he had found a land certificate belonging to the estate, for one-thir of a league, or 1,476 acres, granted to W. H. Ewing, and transferred by the latter to James Park, and which was appraised January 1, 1869, by appraisers appointed by the court, at the value of $200; and that that was all the additional property to which title had been discovered. He further stated that, the certificate being lost, he had obtained a duplicate of it, and asked for an order to sell it, to pay the expenses of administration and the expenses of looking up the estate, which then amounted to over $100. The court thereupon made an order that he proceed to sell the land certificate, for cash, on the first Tuesday in February, 1869, after giving due notice. On the 26th of February, 1869, on the representation of the administrator to the court that by accidental omission the sale had not taken place, it made an order that he sell the certificate for cash on the first Tuesday in April, 1869, on giving due notice, and that he return an account of sale to the court. On the 3d of June, 1869, he reported to the court that on the first Tuesday in April, 1869, he had sold the certificate, as the property of the estate, to J. C.