Woodruff

This action was brought by the trustee of the estate of the Golden State Gem Company, a corporation, bankrupt, to secure possession of certain property alleged to belong to the bankrupt but in the possession of the appellant, Leonard J. Woodruff, under claim of ownership, based upon a-purchase by him of the property at an execution sale in pursuance of the foreclosure of a chattel mortgage executed by the bankrupt, as mortgagor, to the appellant as mortgagee. The trustee in bankruptcy by his, action challenges the validity of the mortgage, the indebtedness purporting to be secured thereby, and the validity of the mortgage foreclosure and sale, upon the ground that the mortgage ■ was fraudulent and void as to creditors, and that the decree of foreclosure was procured by collusion between the bankrupt and the appellant. Although the trustee claimed in his petition that the indebtedness alleged to be secured by the chattel mortgage was fictitious, the evidence shows and the special master found as a fact that there was a bona fide indebtedness at the time of the execution of mortgage owing from the bankrupt to the appellant for $18,000. It appears that this indebtedness was at the…