Advances were made by the complainants, as they allege, to enable the respondent to fulfil a certain contract which he had previously made with the Postmaster-General to furnish to that department a certain number of mail locks and keys for the postal service of the United States.
Prior to the date of the contract, to wit, on the sixteenth of July, 1839, the respondent had obtained letters patent for the lock to be furnished, as a new and useful improvement, with the exclusive right to make, use, and vend the same, for the term of fourteen years, and on the first day of August following he received orders from the head of that department for two hundred locks and six hundred keys, to be constructed in accordance with his patent.
Before the respondent had filled that order, to wit, on the eighteenth of November of the same year, he received another communication from the Postmaster-General, informing his that he was authorized to make mail locks and keys for the Post-Office Department, of certain specified descriptions, and at certain specified prices, and that orders would be given for the quantities required from time to time, as they were wanted, payment to be made on the delivery of the articles, as ordered for the use of the government.
Wanting more means than he had at command, to enable him to perform his contract, the respondent applied to the bank for a loan, and the complainants allege that he agreed, in consideration that they would advance money for him on his drafts on the Postmaster-General, to give the bank a specific lien on the drafts and their proceeds, whenever the same should be realized, to secure and reimburse the corporation for the full amount of the advances so made or to be made, with interest until the principal should be repaid. Cash advances to the respondent were accordingly made by the bank, under and by virtue of that agreement, and the complainants allege that the advances so made enabled the respondent to fulfil his contract, and to supply the locks and keys for the postal service, as ordered by the department.
Drafts were drawn on the Postmaster-General for the contract price of the locks delivered; but the complainants allege that, for some reason unknown to them, they never received more than two hundred dollars of the proceeds, and that there still remains due and owing to them for the advances made by them, including interest, the sum of eight thousand and seventy-eight dollars and eighty-two cents; that on the second of December, 1852, the respondent entered into a written agreement with the corporation, that if they would make him further advances to enable him to prosecute his claim against the government, the debt dute by him to the bank, for the former advances, as well as the further advances to be made, should be first paid out of any sums he might realize for his claim for the breach of the contract, and that the whole amount of the debt due to the bank should be paid without any discount if the amount he realized of his claim exceeded by thirty-three and one-third per cent. the amount of his debt to the bank.
They also allege that the respondent, on the eighth of January, 1865, by a written instrument of that date, under his hand and seal, acknowledged all the advances so made to him, and renewed and revived his said indebtedness and obligations to the bank for the said advances.
Moneys were subsequently advanced by the bank for the respondent to the amount of one hundred dollars, and they allege that the Court of Claims awarded in his favor the sum of twenty-seven thousand dollars, in full satisfaction for the damages claimed by the respondent for the acts of the department in annulling his contract to furnish such locks and keys for the postal service, and that he neglects and refuses to pay his indebtedness to the bank, or to recognize their specific lien on that fund, but that he is seeking to appropriate the same to his own exclusive use, which, as they allege, is contrary to equity and in fraud of their legal rights. Wherefore they pray that the advances they made to the respondent may be decreed to be a specific lien on the amount recovered in that judgment, and they also pray for an account and for an injunction to restrain the respondent from receiving this amount from the treasury of the United States.