Merrill v. Inhabitants of Gray

PETERS, District Judge.

This is an action by the receiver of a national bank to recover a stock assessment. The defense is (1) that the defendant town had no power to own the stock and that, its purported ownership being void, the assessment was void, and (2) that the town held money under a bequest as trustee and used a part of the funds to acquire the stock in question as an investment for the trust, which investment in the stock was illegal, both under the terms of the will by which it acquired the money and under the laws of Maine.

The case was heard by the court without a jury. I find the…