Delano v. Trustees of Smith Charities

This is an action of contract to recover for an alleged wrongful dismissal from the office of clerk of the defendant corporation. The defendant denies the plaintiff’s appointment, and excepts to the exclusion of oral testimony by the trustees that he was never elected or employed in fact. The plaintiff introduced a record of a meeting of the trustees on May 9, 1883, signed by himself as clerk, to the effect that “Luther Bodman of Northampton was chosen president, and Winthrop Delano clerk,” with a pencil line drawn through the last four words. A great part of the argument before us was…