Cunning

The plaintiff had judgment against the defendants in the trial court upon an action instituted to obtain a peremptory writ of mandate commanding the said defendants to pay certain claims against the county of Humboldt theretofore passed upon and allowed by the board of supervisors of said county. Prom this judgment the intervener appeals.

The facts of the case as disclosed by the transcript, in substance, are as follows: That for some considerable period of time prior to the beginning of this case the district attorney of the county of Humboldt, under and by virtue of the provisions of section 4307 of the Political Code, had employed certain persons to perform services as therein authorized and specified, and that those persons had assigned their respective claims to the petitioner in this action. On the part of the respondent it is claimed that the assignors of the respondent were employed for the purpose of detecting crime and gathering testimony or evidence showing the persons guilty of criminal offenses in the county of Humboldt, such testimony to be used and which was' used by the district attorney in the prosecution of certain offenders in said county. On the part of the…