Opinion
Judge below, Jesse J. Phillips. Attorneys, for appellant, Hr. Chas. S. Thornton and Mr. Wm. M. Stanley; for appellee, Messrs. Blum & Blum.
Reich v. Berdel, 20 Ill. App. 668 (1886)
Dec. 8, 1886
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Illinois Appellate Court
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No. 65—2461
20 Ill. App. 668
No. 65—2461.
Reich v. Berdel.
This was a bill in chancery, brought by appellee against appellant and others, praying for an assignment of dower in certain lands in Cook county. It was claimed that appellee had relinquished her dow'er in said premises by joining with her husband in the execution of a certain trust deed August 11, 1862. The record of said deed of trust, if it ever existed, was destroyed by the fire of Oct. 9, 1871, and the deed itself was not produced at the trial. An 'attempt was accordingly made to prove its execution and contents by secondary evidence. It was objected on behalf of the complainant, that no sufficient foundation had been laid for the introduction of evidence of that character, and the court is of the opinion that the objection was well taken. The loss or destruction of the deed are not satisfactorily shown. The evidence traces it into the hands of Elias Grecnebaum, and it does not appear that any search was made for it, Grcenebauin *669testifying merely that he does not know what has become of it; that if he retained it, it must have been burned up in the fire of 1871. Waiving that point, however, the court is of the opinion that there was a failure to prove the execution of said deed by the complainant, and especially to prove its contents sufficiently to show that it operated as a relinquishment by the complainant of her dower.
The decree in favor of appellee is therefore affirmed.
Opinion filed Dec. 8, 1886.