In re Harris

The material facts of this case are as follows: On the eighteenth day of May, 1883, certain creditors of James H. Harris fibd in the superior court of Monterey County a petition, asking that he be adjudged an insolvent. The petition alleged, among other things, “that the respondent has committed an act of insolvency, in that he did, heretofore, to wit, on or about the thirtieth day of March, 1883, being insolvent, and in contemplation of insolvency, .... make a payment and transfer of property, consisting of money, to the amount of about one thousand dollars, then and there belonging to said respondent, unto one Charles Harris, brother to said respondent.” Harris filed an answer to the petition, in which he denied “that on the thirtieth day of March, 1883, or at any other time, he, the said Harris, made a payment of one thousand dollars, or any greater sum than five hundred dollars, to Charles Harris.”

The court made an order adjudging Harris to be an insolvent debtor, and directing the sheriff of the county to take possession of all his estate, real and personal, *352 except such as was by law exempt from execution, and of all his deeds, vouchers, books of account, and papers,…