Carleton

In this action Melville B. Carleton sued his sister, Anna Bonham, and her husband, Lyman L. Bonham, and his sister’s five children and his own daughter Ruth Melrose Carleton, for the purpose of having set aside and canceled certain deeds made in favor of the several defendants by the mother of the plaintiff and his said sister. The plaintiff charges the defendants with having obtained the deeds by means of fraud and undue influence exerted and practiced by them upon the mother at a time when she was sick and incapable of transacting any business. The court found against plaintiff on all the material issues of the complaint and directed judgment in favor of the defendants, from which judgment plaintiff appeals.

It appears that the mother, Lydia E. Hildreth, was a widow of the age of seventy-two years at the time the deeds which are sought to be canceled were executed; that she was an invalid and had suffered greatly for many months prior to her death; that she was possessed of considerable property, located in the city of Brawley, California, worth approximately $25,000, and that she had lived for several years with her daughter, Mrs. Bonham, and her husband and children. Mrs.…