Poulson

Appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff quieting her title to certain real estate.

The plaintiff was the wife of Peter Wilhelm Poulson, who died April 33, 1894, and the defendant Stanley is the administrator of his estate. The plaintiff claims title to the land in question by virtue of a conveyance alleged to have been made to her by her husband. The instrument was never recorded, and she was unable to produce it at the trial, claiming that it had been abstracted from her desk and destroyed. Testimony was given that a conveyance to the plaintiff of the property in question had been signed and acknowledged by her husband, and that such a conveyance had been in her possession subsequent to the time it purported to have been made. For the purpose of proving its delivery to her, the plaintiff was asked whether she had ever received a deed of the property from her husband. The defendants objected to this question upon the ground that under section 1880 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff is incompetent to testify as to any fact occurring be *657 fore the death of her husband—this being an action by her against his administrator upon a claim against his estate. The…