man on a train of the railroad which was running through the city of Aguadilla at a high rate of speed and contrary to an ordinance of the city, in consequence of which speed and a defect in one of the wheels of the car the body of the car left the tracks and was thrown to the ground, crushing the deceased beneath it, and thus causing instant death.

It is alleged that a proper inspection of the wheel would have disclosed the defect in it, and, further, that if the train had been running within the limits of the requirements of the law, the train might and would have been stopped before the accident occurred.

At the time of his death it is alleged that the deceased was 47 years of age, was receiving $42 per month, was a skilled and efficient railroad employee and was in vigorous health and strength. And it is alleged that his death was caused without negligence on his part and while he was in the faithful discharge of his duty.

It is declared that the "action is based upon an act of Congress entitled 'An act relating to the liability of common carriers by railroads to their employees in certain cases,' approved April 22, 1908."

It is alleged that Ernest Victor Birch was poor in health and frail in body, and was dependent upon deceased for support.

Damages were prayed at $10,000.

The railroad company denied the specific allegations against it of speed and failure to inspect the wheels, alleged that they were inspected, and that no defects were visible or could be ascertained. It also put in issue the allegations of the complaint in regard to Ernest Victor Birch.

The answer alleged that no administration proceedings had been had on the estate of deceased, and that neither of the plaintiffs has been declared his heir as required by law. It is also alleged that Ernest Victor Birch was over the age of 21 years, and that deceased was under no legal obligation to support him.

The case was tried to a jury upon evidence conflicting upon certain of the issues. There was no conflict as to the circumstances of the accident, the death of Birch in the line of duty, and that the accident was caused by a broken wheel, and that the train was not equipped with air brakes, but only with the ordinary hand brakes. There was conflict as to the speed of the train and as to whether the engineer in charge of the locomotive could see signals to stop or whether he disregarded them.

Supreme Court of the United States.

VALDES v. CENTRAL ALTAGRACIA, INCORPORATED.

CENTRAL ALTAGRACIA v. VALDES.

Appeals from the District Court of the United States for Porto Rico. (225 U. S., 58.)

Nos. 193, 196. Submitted March 6, 1912. Decided May 13, 1912.

SYLLABUS.

The record in this case shows that the court below did not err in bringing this case to a speedy conclusion and avoiding the loss occasioned by the litigation to all concerned.

A litigant can not, after all parties have acquiesced in the order' setting the case for trial and the court has denied his request for continuance, refuse to proceed with the trial on the ground that the time to plead has not expired, and when such refusal to proceed is inconsistent with his prior attitude in the case.

The granting of a continuance is within the sound discretion of the trial court, and not subject to be reviewed on appeal except in cases of clear error and abuse; in this case the record shows that the refusal to continue on account of absence of witness was not an abuse, but a just exercise of discretion. Under the circumstances of this case, and in view of the existence of an equity

of redemption under prior transfers: Held, That a transfer of all the property of a corporation to one advancing money to enable it to continue its business was not a conditional sale of the property but a contract creating security for the money advanced, and on liquidation of the assets the transferee stood merely as a secured creditor.

The mere form of an instrument transferring property of a debtor can not exclude the power of creditors to inquire into the reality and substance of a contract unrecorded although required by law to be recorded in order to be effective against third parties.

Under the general law of Porto Rico, machinery placed on property by a tenant does not become immobilized; when, however, a tenant places it there pursuant to contract that it shall belong to the owner, it becomes immobilized as to that tenant and his assigns with notice, although it does not become so as to creditors not having legal notice of the lease.

In this case: Held, That the lien of the attachment of a creditor of the tenant on machinery placed by the tenant on a sugar central in Porto Rico is superior to the claim of the transferee of an unrecorded lease, even though the lease required the tenant to place the machinery on the property.

5 Porto Rico Fed. Rep., 155, affirmed.

Opinion by White, Chief J. No dissenting opinion.
Affirmed.

These cases were consolidated below, tried together, a like statement of facts was made applicable to both, and the court disposed of them in one opinion. We shall do likewise. Stating only things deemed to be essential as shown by the pleadings and documents annexed to them and the finding of facts made below, the case is this: Joaquin Sanchez owned in Porto Rico a tract of land of about 22 acres (cuerdas) on which was a sugarhouse containing a mill for crushing cane and an evaporating apparatus for manufacturing the juice of the cane into sugar. All of the machinery was antiquated and of a limited capacity. The establishment was known as the central altagracia, and Sanchez, while not a cane grower, carried on the business of a central-that is, of acquiring cane grown by others and manufacturing it into sugar at his factory. On the 18th day of January, 1905, Sanchez leased his land and plant to Salvador Castello for period of 10 years. The lease gave to the tenant (Castello) the right to install in the plant "such machinery as he may deem convenient, which said machinery at the end of the years mentioned (the term of the lease) shall become the exclusive property of the lessor, Sanchez. The tenant was given one year in which to begin the work of repairing and improving the plant, and it was provided that "upon the expiration of this term, if the necessary improvements shall not have been begun by him (Castello), then this contract shall be null and void, and no cause of action shall accrue to any of the contracting parties by reason thereof." Further agree

ing on the subject of the improved machinery which was to be placed in the plant, the contract provided:

Upon the expiration of the term agreed on under this contract, any improvement or machinery installed in the said central shall remain for the benefit of Don Joaquin Sanchez, and Don Salvador Castello shall have no right to claim anything for the improvements made.

The rental was thus provided for:

After each crop such profits as may be produced by the Central Altagracia shall be distributed and 25 per cent thereof shall be immediately paid to Don Joaquin Sanchez as equivalent for the rental of said central and of the 22 cuerdas of land surrounding the same. The remaining 75 per cent shall belong to Don Salvador Castello, who may interest therein whomsoever he may wish, either for the whole or part thereof.

It was stipulated, however, that in fixing the profits no charge should be made for repairs of the existing machinery or for new machinery put in, as the entire cost of these matters was to be borne by the lessee, Castello. The lease provided, moreover, that in case of the death of Sanchez the obligations of the contract should be binding on his heirs, and in the case of the death of Castello, his brother, Gerardo Castello, should take his place "and be a contracting party if he so desired. Otherwise the plantation, in such a condition as it may be at his death, shall immediately pass into the possession of its owner, Don Joaquin Sanchez." In June, 1905, by a supplementary contract, the lease was extended without change of its terms and conditions for an additional period of 10 years, making the total term 20 years. Although executed under private signature, this lease, conformably to the laws of Porto Rico, was produced before a notary and made authentic and in such form was duly registered on the public records, as required by the Porto Rican laws.

On the 1st day of July, 1905, Salvador and Gerardo Castello transferred all their rights acquired under the lease, as above stated, to Frederick L. Cornwell for "the corporation to be organized under the name of Central Altagracia, of which he is the trustee." This transfer bound the corporation to all the obligations in favor of the original lessor, Sanchez, provided that the corporation should issue to Castello a certain number of paid-up shares of its capital stock and a further number of shares as the output of sugar from the plant increased as the result of its enlarged capacity consequent upon the improvement of the machinery by the corporation. The lease further provided for the employment of Castello as superintendent at a salary, for a substitution of Gerardo Castello, in the event of the absence or death of his brother Salvador, and, for this reason, it is to be assumed, Gerardo made himself a party to the transfer of the lease. This transfer of the lease to the corporation was never put upon the public records. The corporation was organized under the laws of the State of Maine and under the transfer took charge of the plant. The season for grinding cane and the manufacture of sugar in Porto Rico usually commences "about the month of December of each year and terminates in the months of May, June, or July of the year following, according to the amount of cane to be ground." Central factories in Porto Rico usually "make contracts with the people (colonos) growing cane so that growers of cane will deliver the same to be ground, and such contracts are usually made

and entered into in the months of June, July, and August." In other words, on the termination of one grinding season, in the months of June or July, it is usual in the ensuing August to make new contracts for the cane to be delivered in the following grinding season, which, as we have said, commences in December. The contract transferring the lease to the Central Altagracia, incorporated, was made in July, 1905, at the end, therefore, of the grinding season of that year. To what extent the corporation contracted for cane to be delivered to it for grinding during the season of 1905-6, which began in December, 1905, does not appear. It is inferable, however, that the corporation began the work of installing new machinery to give the plant a larger capacity within the year stipulated in the lease from Sanchez to Castello. We say this because it is certain that in the fall of 1906 (October) the corporation borrowed from the commercial firm of Nevers & Callaghan in New York City the sum of $25,000 to enable the corporation to pay for new and enlarged machinery which it had ordered and which was placed in the factory in time to be used in the grinding season of 1906-7, which began in December, 1906. While such grinding season was progressing, on April 11, 1907, the corporation, through its president, under the authority of its board of directors, sold to one Ramon Valdes all its rights acquired under the lease transferred by Castello. This transfer expressly included all the machinery previously placed by the corporation in the sugar house, as well as machinery which might be thereafter installed during the term of redemption hereafter to be referred to and which, it was declared, conformably to the original lease "shall be a part of said factory for the manufacture of sugar." The consideration for the sale was stated in the contract to be $35,000 received by the corporation, $25,400 whereof had been paid prior to this act (of sale) and to its entire satisfaction, and the balance of $9,600 shall be turned over to the vendor corporation by Señor Valdes immediately upon being required to do so by the former." This sale was made subject to a right to redeem the property within a year on paying Valdes the entire amount of his debt. There was a stipulation that Valdes assumed all the obligations of the lease transferred by Castello to the company.

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The undoubted purpose was not to interfere with the operation of the plant by the corporation, since there was a provision in the contract binding Valdes to lease the property to the corporation pending the period of redemption. This sale was passed in Porto Rico before a notary public, but was never put upon the public records. At the time it was made there was a very considerable sum unpaid on the debt of Nevers & Callaghan. This fact, joined with the period when the sale with the right to redeem was made, that is, the approaching end of the sugar-making season of 1906 and 1907, coupled with other facts to which we shall hereafter make reference, all tend to establish that at that time, either because insufficient capital had been put into the venture or because the business had been carried on at a loss, the affairs of the corporation were embarrassed, if it was not insolvent. A short while before the commencement of the grinding season of 1907-1908, in October, 1907, in the city of New York, the corporation, through its president, declaring himself to be authorized by the board of directors, sanctioned by

a vote of the stockholders, apparently made an absolute sale of all the rights of the corporation under the lease and all its title to the machinery which the corporation had put into the plant. This sale was declared to be for a consideration of $65,000, which the company acknowledged to have received from Valdes, first, by the payment of the $35,000 cash, as stated in the previous sale made, subject to the equity of redemption, and $30,000, which "the company has received afterwards in cash from Valdes." There was a provision in the contract to the effect that as the purpose of the previous contract of sale, which had been made subject to the equity of redemption, was accomplished by the new sale, the previous sale was declared to be no longer operative.

A few days afterwards, likewise in the city of New York (on November 2, 1907), Valdes sold to the company all the rights which he had acquired from it by the previous sale, the price being $65,000, payable in installments falling due in the years 1908, 1909, 1910, and 1911, respectively. This transfer was put in the form of a conditional sale which reserved the title in Valdes until the payment of the deferred price and upon the stipulation that any default by the corporation entitled Valdes ipso facto to take possession of the property. Neither this act of sale from Valdes to the corporation nor the one made by the corporation to Valdes was ever put upon the public records.

Prior to the making of the sales just stated, or about that time, the corporation defaulted in the payment of a note held by Nevers & Callaghan for a portion of the money which they had loaned the corporation under the circumstances which we have previously stated, and that firm sued in the court below the corporation to recover the debt.

The grinding season of 1907-1908 commenced in December, 1907, and was obviously not a successful one, for the debt of Nevers & Callaghan was not paid, and in May, 1908, a judgment was recovered by them against the corporation for about $17,000 with interest, and in the same month execution was issued and levied upon the machinery in the sugar house. Previous to or not long subsequent to the time Nevers & Callaghan commenced their suit, the precise date not being stated in the record, the heirs of Sanchez, the original lessor, brought a suit in the court below against the corporation. The nature of the suit and the relief sought is not disclosed, but it is inferable from the facts stated that the suit either sought to recover the property on the ground that there was no power in Castello to transfer the lease, or upon the ground of default in the conditions as to payment of profits as rental which the lease stipulated. It would seem also at about the same time either one or both of the Castellos brought a suit against the company, presumably upon the theory that there had been a default in the obligations assumed in their favor by the corporation at the time it took the transfer of the lease. In the meanwhile also, probably as the result of the want of success of the corporation, discord arose between the stockholders and a suit growing out of that state of things was brought in the lower court.