Hassey

This action was brought in the district court of the fourth judicial district in and for the city and county of San Francisco, state of California, on the twelfth day of November, 1868, to foreclose a mortgage upon certain lands in South San Francisco. Defendants filed their answer on the first day of August, 1870, setting up facts wdiich, if true, constituted a defense to the action. The case was transferred to the superior court in and for said city and county, and on the ninth day of April, 1892, was, on motion of counsel for defendants, dismissed for want of prosecution. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment of dismissal, and fortifies his appeal by a bill of exceptions.

The motion to dismiss the cause was noticed for hearing on the third day of January, 1890, and was based upon the pleadings and affidavits on file, and the affidavit of H. F. Williams, one of the defendants, which was served with the notice. The motion was not heard until March, 1892.

The affidavit of Williams, in addition to a defense to the action, tended to show that, from the date of the answer in 1870, plaintiff had taken no steps to bring the cause to trial, or evinced any desire so to do, and that no…