ERROR to the Circuit Court for the District of Columbia.
This was an action of assumpsit, brought by the defendants in error against the plaintiffs in error, on the following check:
No. 18. MECHANICS' BANK OF ALEXANDRIA.
June 25th, 1817.
Cashier of the Bank of Columbia,
Pay to the order of P. H. Minor, Esq., Ten thousand Dollars.
WM. PATON, Jr.
$10,000
This check was offered in evidence by the plaintiff below, and testimony to prove that the said Paton, before, at the time, and subsequent to the drawing of the said check, was cashier of the said Mechanics' Bank, and the said Minor the teller thereof; and in order to prove that the said check was drawn by the said William Paton in his capacity as cashier, and was so understood by him, and so understood by the said Bank of Columbia, their officers and servants; evidence was further offered to prove, that from the 5th of May, 1817, to the time of drawing the said check, there was kept in the said Mechanics' Bank, by the proper officer thereof, a book of printed checks in blank, for the purpose of being used by the cashier, in drawing his official checks; and that the check in question had been cut out of the said book: That the said Cashier, in his official character, had frequently used the blank checks out of the said book, in drawing upon other banks in the district, and there was no other difference between the checks so drawn, and the check in question, other than the letters 'Cas.' or 'Ca.' being superadded to the name of the said William Paton, Jun. in the checks so drawn upon the said other banks: That although the said check book was intended for the use of the bank, the checks in the same were sometimes used for other purposes: That the business of the said banks was sometimes managed through the medium of letters, and in such official correspondence, it was usual to subscribe the names of the cashiers, with the addition of some letters denoting their capacity of Cashier; but such form was sometimes omitted, and was in no case deemed indispensable, when, from other circumstances, such correspondence appeared to be official. The plaintiffs further offered in evidence two letters of the said William Paton, directed to William Whann, Cashier of the Bank of Columbia, each signed with the proper name of the said William Paton, without the addition of Cashier, or the letters 'Cas.' or 'Ca.' one of which letters related to the private concerns of the said William Whann, and the other to the concerns of the bank.
Evidence was further offered to prove that the check given in evidence as aforesaid, was, (together with a number of other checks, drawn by the said William Paton upon other banks, with the addition in his signature of the letters 'Ca.' and 'Cas.' and cut out of the official check book,) sent by the said Paton, on the 12th of July, 1817, by the hands of the said Philip H. Minor, then being teller as aforesaid, to Richard Smith, Cashier of the Office of Discount and Deposit of the Bank of the United States at Washington, to be paid in liquidation of a balance due from the said Mechanics' Bank to the said Office of Discount and Deposit: That the said letter was delivered by the said Minor to the said Smith, and the checks and moneys contained in the same were applied to the credit of the said Mechanics' Bank. That among the checks so sent, was one for $17,626 5, written upon, and cut out of the check book aforesaid, and in the words and figures following, to wit:
Mechanics' Bank of Alexandria, July 12, 1817. No. 32.
Cashier of the Branch Bank of the United States, Washington Pay to the order of Philip H. Minor, amount of discount made me, which I believe is seventeen thousand six hundred and twenty-six dollars and five cents.
WM. PATON, Jun.
That the said Richard Smith, about the 17th of July, 1817, did cause the same to be presented to the Bank of Columbia for payment, and the same was accordingly paid, and was thereupon immediately charged to the said Mechanics' Bank.
Evidence was further offered to prove that the said Richard Smith considered the said check as the official check of the said William Paton, and it was so paid by him; and that the Cashier of the Bank of Columbia also considered it as the official check of the said Paton, and it was so paid by him.