Kellogg

This is an action brought on the official bond of defendant Crippen, given by him as sheriff of the county of Mariposa. The other_ defendants are his sureties. The breaches assigned are neglect on the part of Crippen to sell certain personal property, on an execution in his' hands, which execution, as the complaint alleges, was issued upon a *162 judgment rendered in favor of one Knox against the Merced Falls Mining Company, and which judgment, on or about the 11th of February, 1862, came to the plaintiff by assignment from Knox; and making a false return upon the execution that he had on the 8th of February, 1862, three days before the assignment of the judgment to the plaintiff, sold the aforesaid personal property, at public outcry, to Knox, the original creditor on the execution. The complaint further avers that plaintiff notified Crippen on the 26th of February, 1862, that the judgment had been assigned to him. The alleged neglect to sell in pursuance of the plaintiff’s instructions as assignee, as well as the alleged false return of Crippen that he had sold before the date of the assignment under which plaintiff claims, constitute the gravamen of this action.

The answer…