Cole

This appeal is from a judgment entered on an instructed verdict. The complaint alleged that the decedent in her lifetime executed to plaintiff her promissory note for the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars, and that a claim based on such note was presented to the defendants, as executors, and rejected. In the answer defendants pleaded the relationship of physician and patient between the decedent and plaintiff, and that the execution of the note was procured by undue influence and without adequate consideration.

From the testimony of witnesses at the trial, it appears that decedent was a widow, about seventy-one years of age, and without business experience until after her husband’s death, when she administered his large estate, with the assistance of agents and attorneys. She was of a confiding and generous disposition, possessed of a strong will, and was bright, capable, and clear-headed. The plaintiff had been for many years her family physician, and a neighbor; but, though their relations were very friendly, there was nothing of a business nature between them prior to the execution%f the note in question, except with regard to his fees, which she had paid. In May,…