Conroy

M. J. Conroy, as trustee of Matanuska Coal Company, a corporation, bankrupt, defendant in error, was plaintiff in the court below; the defendant being the Bank of Anchorage, a corporation, plaintiff in error. A petition in involuntary bankruptcy was filed against the Matanuska Coal Company, alleged to be an Alaska corporation, on August 29, 1918, and on December 30, 1918, the coal company was adjudged a bankrupt. On January 25, 1919, plaintiff was appointed the trustee in bankruptcy of the bankrupt, and on January 27, 1919, he qualified as such trustee. He thereafter brought this suit against the bank to recover the sum of $17,352.64, which it was alleged was paid to the bank on July 19, 1918, by the Matanuska Coal Company, a corporation organized and existing under and *138 by virtue of the laws of the territory of Alaska, and that the payment constituted a preference in violation of section 60 of the Bankruptcy Act (Comp.St. § 9644). The defendant, in its answer, denied, among other things, that the Matanuska Coal Company was a corporation; denied that it had paid to the defendant the sum of $17,-352.64, or any sum whatever, or at all; and denied that said sum was a part of the…