Putnam

— The real question involved in this action is, whether the one thousand dollars which the plaintiff alleges was paid by him to the defendant, and for the recovery of which the action was brought, was paid as a compromise and in settlement of differences existing between him and the defendant, or whether it was paid upon the representation and claim by the defendant that he had an interest in the purchase of certain lands in Oregon, and upon his agreement that he *233 would repay it if it should be subsequently ascertained that he did not have any interest therein. Underlying this question, however, is the question whether the defendant did in reality have any such interest, and whether, if he did not, he knew that he had no such interest; for if he knew that he had no interest in the land, his representation to the plaintiff that he had was false, and if made with a view of inducing the plaintiff to pay to him one thousand dollars therefor, was fraudulent. Inasmuch, moreover, as the defendant himself had been personally connected with all the acts and transactions culminating in the purchase of the land, he must be held, as a matter of law, to have known whether he had any…