Dingley

This is a suit which includes several actions consolidated into one, to recover judgment against the defendant McMeekan for the sum of $4,784.71, and to enforce mechanics’ liens as security for its payment, upon the premises described in the complaint as the property of the defendant Greene.

It appears by the record, that on the 22nd day of September, 1875, the defendant McMeekan made a contract with his co-defendant Greene to build for her several houses upon her land in the city of San Francisco for the sum of $24,000, payable in nine installments, from time to time, as the work progressed; and it was part of the contract that the houses were to be completed on or before the 11th day of February, 1876; that McMeekan was to furnish all labor and material necessary and proper to finish the work, and if he failed to complete the buildings within the time stipulated, he was to forfeit $35 a day for every day over the contract time. McMeekan commenced the *335 work, and worked upon the houses until November 12th, 1875, when he abandoned the contract, after having received five installments of the contract price, and absconded from the State, leaving the plaintiffs and others, as his…