Hilmer

This is an action to recover $3,565 damages for the alleged unlawful conversion of a carload of butter and eggs. On a trial before the court without a jury the findings and judgment were in favor of defendants. The plaintiffs appeal from the judgment and from an order denying them a new trial.

Appellants attack the finding of the court to the effect that the plaintiff was not the owner of the goods in question and' was not entitled to the possession thereof. The facts are not in dispute but the question is, Do these facts show a sale of, the goods so far executed as to pass the title to Hilmer et ah, or was there a mere unexecuted agreement for the sale thereof? The facts are, in substance, as follows: In and prior to May, 1898, the plaintiffs were doing business as commission merchants and dealers in butter and eggs in the city of San Francisco. At the same time defendants Hills Brothers were dealing in the same kind of goods, and defendant Frank E. Booth was a broker dealing in like goods in San Francisco. For some time prior to May, 1898, the plaintiffs had been buying eggs and butter from one John Stewart, of Concordia, Kansas, through defendant Booth as a broker for…