Mullan Brothers Company and Defaults during Recession

Original Digitized Document (partial)

Case: H. S. Jacobs v. Mullan Bros. (1861)

Document Location: Washington State Archives, Cheney, WA

Subject: Collections, Business

Synopsis: Businesses defaulted on promissory notes sometimes. The economy was in a recessionary phase during the Civil War. Mullan Brothers, of Mullan Road fame, operated on the credit system as much as most businesses and sometimes defaulted on the payment of hundreds of dollars for goods received. The plaintiff almost always won and this case was no exception.

Transcription:
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District Court of
Walla Walla County

H. S. Jacobs
vs
John Mullan
Lewis A Mullan +
Charles N. Mullan

The plaintiff complains of the Defendants and alleges that said Defendants are copartners in business doing business under the firm name and style of Mullan Bros, and by such name executed and delivered or value received their certain promissory note of which the following is a copy $400 ½. On demand we promis[e] to pay H. S. Jacobs the sum of four hundred $400.00 dollars with interest at the rate of two and half (2 ½) per centum from the twenty sixth (26th) April 1861 of April eighteen hundred & sixty one until paid.
(signed) Mullan Bros

Walla Walla W.T.
Aug. 6, 1861
And the plaintiff states that there is due to plff then on from said Defendants the 26th day of April 1861 at the rate of two and one half percent per month. The plaintiff further says that payment of said sum has been only demanded before the commencement of this action, and the payment thereof [refused].
Wherefore plaintiff pay judgment for said sum of $400-- and interest thereon from the 26th day of April 1861 at the rate of 2 1/2 percent per moth and costs of this action
J. G. Sparks, Atty for Plff

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Key
[word] = probably the original word
plff = plaintiff
atty = attorney

Example of a Digitized Primary Source and Transcription

This is a digitized image of the original court document (top portion of page 1 of 2, a sworn oath) written by Clerk B. N. Sexton regarding H. S. Jacobs v. Mullan Brothers. 

The first sentence after the header reads:

"W. A. George being duly sworn in from his oath says that he is one of the attorneys for the Plaintiff in the above entitled Cause, that on the 30th day of April AD 1862 said Plff had received a Judgement in said Court against said Deft for the sum of Five hundred and twenty one & 32/100 dollars and $35.05 costs of suit and that said Judgement bear interest at the rate of 2 1/2 per cent per month."

Source: Washington State Archives-Eastern Branch, Cheney, WA

Collections Rendered through Public Auction

Many collections cases were between companies, but some were between individual citizens. The sheriff's office held public auctions to satisfy some Court judgments on collections cases. The following example is between individual citizens. According to the Washington Statesman (January 3, 1862):

"on execution issued out of the district court of Walla Walla county, [...] founded on a judgment rendered in said court [...] in favor of Christ Kirtz and against John Buseanger and Henry Brown, for the sum of twelve hundred dollars and costs, taxed at one dollar, and interest, the following property, to-wit: Lot No. seven (7) in block No. four, (4) according to the plat of survey of the town of Walla Walla, and all buildings and improvements thereon."

In cases where the defendant lost, the Court ordered the sale of the defendant's property to satisfy the debt owed to the plaintiff. The stakes were higher for individual citizens because of their personal liability. Subsequently, flight risk increased, not least because of the rarity of a successful defense in collections matters. In A. H. Whitley v. John Monroe (1861), the defendant was accused of failing to pay for goods purchased on credit. Monroe hired law firm Cain, Bridges, & Gates. They cleverly argued that the case should be dismissed from the Court Docket because of a technicality of jurisdiction, and because "the Complaint is vague and uncertain." The Court rejected the defense firm's argument and ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Once again, the plaintiff won another collections case. If the defendant did not pay according to the Court order, then he may face the loss of his personal assets, as the newspaper article above denotes.

Incidentally, Sheriff James Buckley features prominently in frontier Walla Walla. His signature is found on many documents served to defendants, including the Mullan Brothers cases. So, the sheriff was intricately involved in collections cases, from the summons of appearance to the auctioning of property if the defendant continued to default.

Mullan Promissory Cases

Mullan Brothers was sued by H. S. Jacobs for failure to pay a promissory note (Case #268 FJR, 1862). The Court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, as usual, and awarded a sum of $521.32 plus court costs for a total of $648.49. The court documents were hastily written, however. The Clerk misspelled Mullan as "Mullen." Nevertheless, the Alias Execution features a list of the judgment against Mullan Brothers, to include the main judgment amount, interest, miscellaneous costs, "accruing clerks fees" and "sheriffs premium."

The Mullan brothers included: Lewis A. Mullan, Charles N. Mullan, and John Mullan. This famous surname in Pacific Northwest history appears in several collections cases.