Douglas

Judgment was entered for the plaintiff on the pleadings, and the defendants appeal. None of the material averments of the complaint are denied by the answer, except in respect to the representations alleged to have been made by the defendants as to the effect of the mortgage on the rights of the plaintiff as a pre-emptioner. It is specifically denied that any such representations were made; and in the face of this denial, it cannot be assumed, on a motion by the plaintiff for judgment on the pleadings, that such representations were made. Omitting this averment as to the representation, the case, as made by the complaint, is that the plaintiff is a qualified pre-emptioner, and as such settled upon a quarter-section of public land with a view to pre-empt it; but one Rosencrans set up an adverse claim to the land under a State selection, and the plaintiff employed the defendants as attorneys at law to prove his pre-emption claim, paying them one hundred and fifty dollars in cash, and executing to them his promissory note for five hundred dollars, payable when he procured the title from the United States; and to secure the payment of the note, executed to them a mortgage on the land,…