Knight

This is an action brought. by the administrator of E. L. Cook, deceased, to recover personal property alleged to be the property of the estate, and which, if is charged, is wrongfully withheld by defendant. The answer denies that the property belongs to the estate, or that it belonged to the deceased at the time of her death, or that plaintiff is entitled to the possession thereof. Prom the evidence it appears that the property belonged to the deceased on the thirty-first of May, 1895, and that on that and the following day certain transactions were had which defendant claims constituted a gift of said property to bim, partly for his own use and partly in trust for others. Whether such was the effect of what was done is the question to be determined on this appeal. The findings and judgment were for the plaintiff, but subsequently a new trial was granted, and the plaintiff appeals from this order, claiming that the order cannot be sustained on any ground whatever.

It appears that Mrs. Cook had been a widow for about six years; that she was childless, and had an estate worth about $25,000, of which about $10,000 was personal property; and that she lived in her own house in…