Lineker

By the Court,

On the 12th day of February, A.D. 1849, Carsten, Spitzer & Co., and Shelpnor, Lomer & Co., two mercantile firms of Liverpool, shipped on the British ship “ Antelope,” then lying at Liverpool, and of which the defendant was master, certain merchandise for the port of San Francisco. There were two bills of lading signed by the defendant, in one of which the firm of Carsten, Spitzer & Co. appear as the shippers, and in the other, the firm of Shelpnor, Lomer & Co., and both bills call for the delivery of the goods mentioned therein “ unto order or to assigns,” and acknowledge the payment of the freight in Liverpool. On the one bill of lading is the following endorsement: “Deliver the within to Thomas H. Lineker or order,” (signed) “ Carsten, Spitzer & Co.” ; and on the other is a blank endorsementof Shelpnor, Lomer & Co., and then a special endorsement by Carsten, Spitzer & Co. in the same words as the endorsement first above mentioned. On the arrival of the ship at San Francisco, the defendant refused to deliver the contents of the bills of lading to Lineker, claiming to hold them on behalf of the assignees in bankruptcy of *77 the shippers, and Lineker accordingly…