Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/281

iN BB BA8SETT. 267 �sales of stock, as needed, but no account was kept by either, party of the sums thus appropriated, or of their piirchases and isalea. Moet of theii' purchasec weire paid for at the time, either in cash or by their joint notes, not Using any firm namea ; and at the time of filing their petition to be declared bankrupts they w«re thus jointly indebted for over $3,700, nearly the -whole of -which was for cattle, sheep, and other stock, and they -were entirely without assets. It is claimed that, by reason of their business as butchers, they were tradesmen ■within the bankrupt act. �The bankrupts were examinfed before the register, These exami- nations are the only evidence produced 'against them. Neheniiah, in answer to interrogatory 1 , which was, "What business transactions were you engagea in during the years 1876 and 1877?" says: "Buy- ing and selling cattle, butchering, and farming, some." In reply to second interrogatory, he givee the names oi various parties from whom they purchased stock m 1877, with the ainounts paid tiiein, aggre- gating $1,257, and adnaits that they also purchased other' stock that year fromthe same, as well as.ii'om other, parties, but is unafele to give the amount of such purchases. , J. E. Bassett, in ans^ei to inter- rogatory 85, says "the amount'of their firm busineffi was $2,000 to $3,000 per year, or thereabouts, for the last two or three years they were together." The firm also bought and s51d cattle on the foot, and were engaged in shipping eggs to Boston, and for one or two seasons in catching fish in the Penobscot river, near their farm. The meat from the animais slaughtered by them was usually sold to the store- keepers in Bucksport, and other places in that Vicinity. At times considerable quantities were sent to Boston for sale, frequently re- sulting in a loss. �At the hearing before methe bankrupts -^ere again examined, and they then insisted they were farmers ; that the tradiug in stock by them, and their business as butchers, were merely casual and occa- sional transactions, the purchases being made for th,e purpose of having the stock consume the hay product on the farm, and, after fattening them, couvert them into money by slaughtering and dis- posing of the product; and that their purchases thus made were only from $500 to $1,000. per year, or, to use J. R. Bassett's langaage, "We were farmers, and once in a while would buy stock and fatten them to kill." The explanation thus given by them, after the emergency had arisen as to the nature and extent of their business, is inconsistent with these examinations, and the court must, therefore, rely on their original statement, as being in all probability the most trustworthy; ��� �