i 6   ·l'EDERAL REPORTER. '
` .S}wZt0n dc` Ofutcher, forieomplainants. l _ V
t Miller, Smith, do Hirschyifor defendants. ·
·¥ HILL, J. The bill, in substance, charges that the-complainants were,
before January, 1885, creditors of said Phil Gilbert; that at that time
said Gilbert was the owner of two stores in the city of Vicksburg, in
which were $24,000 worth of goods and merchandise, besides the one-
half owner of a stock of goods at Fitler’s landing, in Issaquena county;
that on the 21st day of January, 1885, said Gilbert, for the expressed
consideration of $8,739.45, and the agreement to pay certain taxes due
by said Gilbert, and other indebtedness, amounting to the sum of
$358.45, by an instrument in writing, purporting to be a bill of sale,
conveyed all of said goods, and the interest of said Gilbert in the store
at Fitler’s landing, to Baer & Bro. and others; that on the 10th day of
February thereafter said Baer & Bro.,-and others made a pretended sale
- of said stock of goods and merchandise, and the interest of said Gilbert
in the stock of goods at Fitler’s landing, to the defendant, Cecilia Gilbert,
wife of said Phil Gilbert, for the pretended sum of about $6,000; that
said Phil Gilbert remained all the time, and is still, in the possession
‘ of said stocks of goods and merchandise unsold, and is carrying on said
business in the name of his wife, butin fact for his own benefit; and
that said sales and transfers were made with a fraudulent purpose to de-
feat the complainants, and other creditors of said Phil Gilbert, in the col-
‘ lection of their debts, and are therefore void; and prays that the defend-
ant be declared a trustee for the complainants, and _other creditors of
said Phil Gilbert, as to said stocks of goods, and their proceeds, and for
a decree against said Phil Gilbert and wife for the amounts due them.
The answers deny all the fraud charged in the bill, which throws the
burden upon complainants to prove the same. I have considered the
evidence, and from it find that the sale made to Baer &Bro. and others,
` on the 21st of January, 1885, was in payment of debts due these cred-
itors, zmd the debts assumed by them, which amounted to more than the
value of the goods and merchandise in Vicksburg. The proof also shows
that the stock of merchandise in the store at Fitler’s landing was not of
suflicient value to pay the debts owing by that firm. I further find from
the evidence that when the purchase was made by Baer & Bro. and others,
` on the 21st of January, the purchasers went into immediate possession,
and by their agent continued to sell off the stock until the 10th of Feb-
ruary, when the sale was made to Mrs. Gilbert by the agent for one of
the creditor firms, who had before that time purchased the interest of
the others at a large discount; and that Phil Gilbert had had nothing to
do with the business after his sale until the purchase in the name of his
wife, so that I am satisfied that the sale from Phil Gilbert to these cred-
itors was a valid sale, and passed to them a good title, and there is no
evidence that there was any fraud on their part in the sale to Mrs. Gil-
bert. It is contended, however, on the part of complainants, that the
sale to Mrs. Gilbert was really a sale to Mr. Gilbert, and that the title
was taken in her name to defraud his creditors, and to prevent them from