Holker, John vs. John Edgar

Description:	This file contains an 8 page rebuttal, or answer, dated August 21, 1812, filed by the defendant John Edgar, who was being sued by John Holker. The answer of John Edgar, defendant, to the complaint of John Holker, plaintiff, begins by noting that there are errors and insufficiencies in the original and amended complaint. The defendant states that is was true that on January 9, 1794 articles were entered into between the plaintiff and Nicolas Victor Muhlburger on one part and the defendant on the other part. Holker and Muhlburger were to deliver to Edgar sundry goods and merchandise along with a whiskey and other articles bought from McClure, Zantzinger, and Paslner. The purchases were paid for by Holker and Muhlburger with a draft drawn on them by the defendant amounting to the sum of 37, 438 livers. Later the defendant claims that he received from Holker and Muhlburger by the hands of Mr. Fournier merchandise to the amount of 31, 901 livers, from which a quantity of gun powder was spoiled, leaving a balance of 30,031 livers. The goods actually received by the defendant at Philadelphia or elsewhere totaled 67,469 livers equal to $13,439.80. Edgar then states that he never received any good in his individual capacity, but that they were received on the partnership account of Holker and Muhlburger. The defendant next said that there were many outstanding debts from sales of the goods in the Illinois Territory, amounting to $7,000, which resulted from the deaths and insolvency of the debtors. Edgar notes that Fournier, the company clerk, had sent some of the partnership goods to Cumberland to be sold, but owing to the depreciation of the states (Maryland) paper money, the net returns were greatly reduced. Returns were made in skins, which were sent to Illinois and then to be sent to New Orleans and finally to France, according the the articles of the partnership. Here Edgar notes that the shipping costs reduced the companys proceeds from little to almost nothing. Edgar then states that while in Philadelphia, he was not notified of Muhlburgers bankruptcy and death, or which houses in New Orleans the goods were to be consigned. Edgar relates that In the spring or summer of 1796 he sent the goods to New Orleans in the care of Mr. Fournier, to then be shipped to Europe. Fournier informed Edgar that the plaintiff ordered the goods shipped to Philadelphia instead of Europe. Edgar said that he believe that if the goods had been sent to Europe as the articles stipulated, they would have brought a greater profit. Edgar insists that the loses incurred in Philadelphia should be borne by Holker alone. Edgar then states that he did not make any remittance for 2 years after receiving the goods, but set out immediately from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, where he found it too dangerous to decent the Ohio River for 3 months. Edgar states that he arrived at Kaskaskia in November 1794 and Fournier was sent out with the first returns, amounting to 52,000 livers in May 1796. In August 1796, by orders of the plaintiff, Edgar send good worth 37,181 livers with Michael Lacassagne to New Orleans. Soon after, by Holkers orders, another 18,403 livers worth of goods were sent to New Orleans, and both were to be shipped to Europe. The defendant states that the whole of the said remittance made amounted to 107,924 livers, equal to $67,469 in favor of the company, less debt and other expenses. Edgar then relates that he had heard that these items were shipped to France and sold, and that owing to the uncertain French paper currency, the company sustained great losses. Edgar said that he never refused to come to a settlement with Holker and Muhlburger. Edgar also denied being in needy circumstances, but on the contrary said he owned about $8,000 worth of land in Kentucky along with $15,000 in land since sold and used to purchase land in Illinois. Edgar also said he sold a schooner in Philadelphia to the house of Turnbull Marmie &; Company, of which the plaintiff was a partner. The defendant stated that he never converted the property of the company for the purchases of land in Illinois, except for a lot purchased in the company name. Edgar then states that at the time of entering into the partnership he did not know that Muhlburger was insolvent or dead, but that soon after arriving in Illinois, Muhlburger wrote Edgar that he was determined to push on with the trade. Nor, related Edgar, did he know Muhlburgers heirs or representatives. Edgar also noted that the companies transaction books were kept by Fournier. Edgar also noted that the goods sent to him for trade with the Indians were not fit for trade. Edgar denied that he charged peltries at enormous prices but said that all the peltries so charged were of good quality. but admitted that a considerable loss did occur to the company when skins were damaged by worms. Edgar relates that he had been informed that the plaintiff, sometime before 1800, had become bankrupt and had taken benefit of the insolvency laws of Pennsylvania. Edgar concluded his answer/rebuttal by stating that neither the plaintiff or his assignees had any right of action against the defendant. The rebuttal was signed by John Edgar. William Arundel, a justice of the peace for Kaskaskia, Illinois Territory, witnessed and signed the rebuttal on August 21, 1812. Robert Morrison, clerk of the General Court of the Illinois Territory, certified that Arundel was still a current justice of the peace.
Origin:	2019-02-07
Created By:	Indiana Territory. Circuit Court (Knox County);
Contributor(s):	Blackford, Isaac; Sullivan, Daniel; Raymond, David;
Source:	http://indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/ving/id/27876
Collection:	Early Vincennes, 1732-1835
Rights:	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Copyright:	No Copyright - United States
Subjects:	Illinois Territory Indiana Territory Northwest, Old Boats and boating -- Northwest Territory Circuit courts -- Indiana Territory Court records -- Indiana Territory -- Knox County Indians of North America -- Northwest Territory Judgments -- Indiana Territory Merchants -- Northwest Territory Real Property -- Northwest Territory Whiskey -- Northwest Territory Court Records

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