Fratt

In January, 1887, James S. Meredith was adjudged to be an insolvent debtor, on petition of his creditors; and thereafter S. B. Smith, the plaintiff herein, was duly elected and appointed assignee of his estate. Smith qualified as such assignee, and the clerk of the court, by an instrument in writing, assigned and conveyed to him all the estate, real and personal, of the debtor. Afterward Smith, as *822 such assignee, commenced this action to recover from the defendants the value of a stock of drugs and medicines alleged to have been sold and transferred to them by Meredith on December 9, 1886. The action was based upon the theory that, at the time of the transfer, Meredith was insolvent, and that it w'as made with a view on his part to give a preference to the defendants, who were then his creditors, and to prevent the property from coming to his assignee in insolvency, and being distributed ratably among his creditors, and that defendants, when they accepted the transfer, had reasonable cause to believe that he was insolvent, and that the transfer was made with a view to prevent his property from coming to his assignee in insolvency, and being distributed ratably among his…