In re Wright

LOWELL, District Judge.

In this case the county of Worcester sought to prove as a preferred debt against the bankrupts’ estate a claim for money due by the bankrupts as the price of the labor of convicts in the county’s house of correction. The trustee contends: First, that the debt was provable only by the master of the house of correction, being owed to him individually, and not to the county; and, second, that, even if provable by the county, it is not a preferred debt, under the present bankrupt law.

1. Was the debt in question owed to the county of Worcester, and provable by it? Clearly…