Sebree

This is an appeal by plaintiffs from a judgment in favor of defendants in an action to quiet title.

Joseph McKinney, who was a resident of San Joaquin County, state of California, died there on April 8, 1893, leaving a will, by the terms of which he left his real and personal property to Olive Jennings. He was of negro blood, born in slavery, and was a half-brother of the plaintiffs in this action. They had scarcely remembered him and had lost trace of him. The defendant, J. H. Kyle, who was an attorney practicing in Missouri, having become aware of the terms of McKinney’s will and of the conditions of the estate, looked up his half-brothers ; and after having imparted to them the information he possessed concerning the estate, they and he entered into a contract by the terms of which he was to contest the probate of the will, and to receive for his services a certain specified amount provided he was successful. At the same time they executed to him a power of attorney, which vested him with certain authority concerning sales and conveyances of property, and the commencement and settlement of lawsuits. The will of McKinney had in the mean time been admitted to probate, and Kyle,…