W ATKINS v. WORTHINGTON.—2 BLAND. 491

The trustee appointed to make the sale, reported that he had?
on the 4th of April, 1829, made sale of the real estate as directed
*by the decree, in several parcels, by the acre, amounting
to $6,352.63; which sales were, on the 10th of August, 1829, 513
finally ratified and confirmed; and that he had also, as directed,
given notice to the creditors of the deceased to bring in their
claims.

After which, about forty creditors filed the vouchers of their
claims. It appeared from the evidences of the claim of James
Deale, that it was upon a note drawn in favor of, and endorsed by
the deceased; and from those of the Fanners Bank, that they
were notes drawn by William Warfield in favor of, and endorsed
by the deceased; or by John W. Clagett, in favor of, and endorsed
by the deceased; or by D. Ridgely & Co. in favor of, and endorsed
by the deceased. In relation to these claims, the affidavit of John
W. Duvall, was taken and filed, in which he states, that from his
own knowledge, William Warfield, then deceased, was insolvent;
that he verily believed, and had so understood from others, that
William Warfield, then deceased, David Kidgely, and John W.
Clagett, who composed the late firms of Warfield & Eidgely, and
I). Eidgely & Co. were insolvent, and unable to pay their debts;
and that he verily believed, and from general reputation, the above
mentioned firms, and the individuals composing them, have been
considered as utterly insolvent, and were still so. And also, the
affidavit of Robert Welch, of Ben., in which he stated, that from
his own knowledge, and from what he had understood from others,
he verily believed, that William Warfield, then deceased, David
Kidgely, and John W. Clagett, who composed the late firms of
Warfield & Ridgely, and D. Ridgely & Co. were insolvent and
unable to pay their debts; that all process of writs of fieri facias
against the said firms, and the individuals composing them, which
came into his hands as sheriff of Anne Arundel County, were re-
turned nulla bona; that he was a creditor to a large amount, of
which he had never received one cent; and that from general
reputation, the firms, and the individuals composing them, as
above stated, have been considered as utterly insolvent, and were
still so.

On the 25th of September, 1829, the auditor filed his report,
made up to the 23d instant, in which he says, that he had stated
all the claims which had been exhibited against the estate of the
deceased; that he had also stated an account between the said
estate and the trustee, in which the proceeds of sales were applied
to the payment of the trustee's allowance for commissions and ex-
penses, the * costs of survey and of suit, and dividends on
all the claims so stated. But that the account was stated. 514
subject to the following objections to particular claims. James
Deale's, No. 3, and the bank's, No. 26, were founded on notes