Suerken

The defendant and her stepmother, Annetta R. Johnson, and her brothers, Everett F. Johnson and Charles B. Johnson, were the heirs at law of James P. Johnson, deceased. At the time of his death, James P. Johnson was indebted to the plaintiff bank in a sum approximating fifteen thousand dollars, for which the bank held his unsecured promissory notes. The decedent had been in the furniture business in his lifetime, and the heirs, desiring to continue the business, organized a corporation known as the Johnson Furniture Company, the sole incorporators of which were the said heirs. This corporation then took over, and thereafter operated, the furniture business. After the organization of such company the four heirs, including this defendant, executed to the Johnson Furniture Company their joint notes for a sum covering the amount of the notes of the decedent held by the bank, and the Johnson Furniture Company indorsed these notes over to the bank. This transaction was had at the request of the plaintiff bank.

The whole controversy in this case is as to whether the defendant, Lena M. Suerken, joined in the execution of these notes without consideration, as an accommodation maker, or was…