Castro

This is an action against the city and county of San Francisco and a large number of individuals to declare that the city and county of San Francisco, and those claiming under it, are trustees of the plaintiffs as to the property described in the complaint, and for an accounting of the rents, issues and profits of the same. The appeal is from an order of the superior court dismissing the action. The ground of the motion for a dismissal was want of ordinary diligence in prosecuting the action. The affidavit of the defendant Barkley showed that the action was commenced on the nineteenth day of June, 1889, but that he was never served with process until the seventeenth day of November, 1891; that no diligence had been exercised to serve him prior to said seventeenth day of November; that he had for several years prior thereto continuously resided on the premises described in the schedule, and had for two years been employed as a bookkeeper for the Pacific Bridge Company, at No. 4 California street, in the city and county of San Francisco, where he could have been found at any time during business hours. The affidavit further stated that plaintiffs’ claim was a *501 “shadowy cloud in…