The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1893-12-19
About a Mortgage.

Sheriff Townsend, on Tuesday, served
papers upon ex-County Clerk Charles I.
Parker and his bondsmen, Hon. j. How
ard Pugh and Charles Ross Grub, on
suit to recover $3.50. amount of mort
gage discharged by Mr.. Parker during the
first week of his occupancy Of the Clerks
Office.
During his lifetime the late William
Bishop, of Burlington, held mortgage
against property owned by the late Joseph
Vandegrift, in that city. This mortgage
was assigned by Mr.. Bishop to Caleb
Gaskill, and at the death of the latter it
went to his heirs. The assignment was
made in 1860.
In 1883 Amos K. Ashby desired to pur-
chase some of the Vandegrift property in
which was the piece covered by this mort
gage. The United Security Life and
Trust Company held blanket mortgage
on the property, but that organization
agreed to release It's claims on being
given a portion of the purchase money.
Just then the Bishop mortgage was found
on record in the Clerks Office.
Henry S. Haines, acting for Mrs Van
degrift, and George A. Atkinson, for
Ashby, looked into the matter, but no
body was able to discover the original
paper. The executors of William Bishop
could not find it in their batch of securi-
ties and presumed that it must have been
paid, as it was executed in 1913. Acting
upon this idea they followed the pro-
visions of statute intended to cover the
cancellation of lost mortgages, and exc
cuted warrant authorizing the County
Clerk to cancel the mortgage. This
warrant was duly recorded.
The assignment of the mortgage, by
virtue of letters of trusteeship, came into
possession of Mark r. Sooy, who notified
Ashby that there had not been any in
terest paid upon the mortgage for some
time, and demanded payment of princi-
pal and interest. Ashby, of course, de-
INJURED, and claimed that the debt had
been satisfied. The case went into liti-
CATION and Ashby was compelled to SETTLE
and finally decided to bring suit against
the clerk and his sureties. Mark r. Sooy
will represent Mr.. Parker, and ex-Judge
David J. Pancoast will look after the in
terests of Mr.. Ashby.
The questions which will arise in this
suit will be very interesting. The main
one will be who was to blame. Were the
executors of William Bishop remiss in
/ failing to go back in their search of the
records to discover whether there had
been an assignment of the mortgage or
was it the clerk s duty to be certain that
the executors were right in issuing the
warrant? The latter idea would seem to
be absurd. The duties of clerk are
merely ministerial. II properly -execut-
ed warrant is handed to him, directing
him to do certain things, he certainly is
not required to satisfy himself as to the
authority of those issuing the warrant
If he was required to do this, he would be
compelled to keep one man on the go al
the time. On that principle, he would be
under the necessity of being personally
sure that the person presenting mort
gage for cancellation. had given thu
proper consideration to allow the seals t.
be torn off and the paper discharged from
record.
The points involved are strictly ques
tions OF law. This is the first time tina
, such a suit has been brought and the out
come will he watched with interest