Locke

— Appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff, and from an order denying defendants’ motion for a new trial.

The complaint was in ejectment to recover certain, lands therein described, alleging ownership in fee for five years last past. A general demurrer to the complaint was properly overruled.

The defendants answered, and set up three separate defenses: 1. Denied plaintiff’s ownership and right of possession, admitted the possession of S. M. McCloud, *24 denied that it was unlawful, and denied that either of the other defendants were in possession. 2. Alleged that defendant Moulton was the owner in fee of the demanded premises from April, 1870, to May 15, 1890, and during that time was in possession; that on October 2, 1885, Moulton executed and delivered to plaintiff what purported to be a grant, bargain, and sale deed, which was duly acknowledged and recorded, and which, although in form a deed absolute, was executed and delivered as, and was intended to be, a mortgage to secure the payment of $6,127.50, with interest at ten per cent per annum, in which sum Moulton was then indebted to plaintiff; that Moulton was then in possession of said land, and so…