Wyeth v. Walzl

Stewart, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. ■ The plaintiff, a witness for himself, testified that under the written authority (which was produced and read in evidence,) given him by the defendant, he made a written contract, (which was read in evidence,) with Wm, McKennedy, for the purchase of his farm, for the defendant, — that his wife, on his account, paid to McKennedy, on the purchase, two hundred dollars, and took from him the following receipt : Chancellorsville, Ya. Received of Aug. A. Walzl, wife of J. H. Walzl, agent for H. C. Wyeth, the sum of two hundred dollars, as earnest money, on the sale of my place as described. |200. Wm. McKennedy. ⁴³¹ Tlie defendant's counsel objected to the reading of the receipt to the jury.

The objection was overruled, and that is the ground of the first exception. The plaintiff himself had proved the payment of the two hundred dollars, and the mode of its payment was not material, and the production of the receipt on the part of the plaintiff was unnecessary, and a majority of the Court think it was not admissible in that stage of the trial; but when the payment of the amount testified to by the plaintiff, was denied in the further progress of the case, by McKennedy, the defendant’s witness ; all of the Court are agreed, it would have been competent for the plaintiff to have offered the receipt, by way of rebutting the defendant’s testimony. Although there was error, in its admission at the time it was offered, it is the unanimous opinion of the Court, no injury was done to the defendant, and furnishes no ground for the reversal of the judgment. In the second exception, the plaintiff testified he had authority from the defendant to purchase the farm of Mahoney, and that he wrote to the defendant at the City of New York, that he could purchase it at $12 per acre, and desired to know, if this would be satisfactory — defendant’s letter in reply was then read to the jury, to prove his approval.

Plaintiff then offered to testify, that the said letter was an answer to his letter concerning the Mahoney property ; defendant’s counsel objected to the admissibility of defendant’s letter, and the statement of the witness, that that letter was in answer to his about the Mahoney property. His testimony had already gone to the jury, as to his having written a letter to which defendant’s letter was an answer, and defendant’s letter had been read to the jury. Under such circumstances, it was too late to make the objection. We do not see that there was any necessity of further proof on that subject, on the ⁴³² part of the plaintiff, or that the defendant was injured by the ruling, or any ground for reversing the judgment, on that account.

The defendant produced witnesses to impeach, the plaintiff as a witness. Plaintiff was then called to prove that he had a personal difficulty with the witnesses about the building of some houses, which resulted in a law suit. The defendant’s counsel objected to its admissibility, but the Court admitted the proof; and this is the