Beasten v. Hendrickson ex rel. Hendrickson

Robinson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellee, a married woman, sues the appellants, on their promissory note, of five hundred and fifty dollars, payable to her one year after date. Beasten, one of the defendants below, sets up the following defence : Being an endorser on a note of the appellee’s husband, and feeling some uneasiness about its payment, he called on^he appellee, for the purpose of making ⁶¹⁶ some arrangement about its settlement. After some conversation, in which he expressed his doubt as to the ability of her husband to pay the note, and that his failure to do so, would leave him, Beasten, in a critical condition, the appellee said, “You hold on to that money, and I will see it paid out of that money which you hold, if John don’t pay it.” That the defendant Beasten, went away satisfied, and the appellee and her husband shortly afterwards left the State, and when the husband’s note became due, he, Beasten, paid it out of the money due by him on the note to the appellee.

This defence rests entirely upon the evidence of Beasten, and is contradicted in all material points by the appellee. Conceding, however, for the purposes of this case, that the agreement made with the appellee is such as is sworn to by the defendant, it is liable to two objections. In the first place, it is a mere voluntary parol agreement, made without any consideration to support it; and secondly, it is a promise to pay the debt of another, not reduced to writing, and therefore not binding upon her. Wyman vs. Gray, 7 H. & J., 415 ; Elliott