George Sneer, a citizen and taxpayer of the city of Des Moines, applied to me to bring a suit to test the validity of this last bond issue of $130,000, informing me that the bonds had been placed in the hands of B. F. Allen, then a banker of the city of Des Moines. I informed him I was willing to take the case provided that the suit should be maintained in good faith, that I was satisfied that the bonds were absolutely void whether in the hands of Allen or any other person, being issued in plain violation of the constitution of the state, and that every person purchasing any evidence of indebtedness against the city was bound to take notice of the existing indebtedness of the city and was charged with knowledge thereof, as it was a matter of record and easily ascertained. Mr. Sneer informed me that he desired the question of the validity of the bonds tested in good faith, and that if I undertook the case I might prosecute it to the end. He contracted to pay me the sum of two hundred dollars for my services, and I accordingly prepared the bill for a perpetual injunction against the city council, city treasurer, and B. F. Allen. No one was made defendant to the petition except Allen and members of the city council and the city treasurer. Answers were filed by Mr. Withrow for B. F. Allen and by Seward Smith, his partner, for the city of Des Moines and members of the city council, and the case was submitted on bill and answer. There was no denial of the facts set forth in the petition in regard to the indebtedness of the city, nor did anyone appear in the case claiming to be bona fide purchasers of the bonds, but the answer of Allen was to the effect that he acted as agent for the city and had sold the bonds to one George P. Opdike & Co. of New York City. Maxwell was judge of the district court, and to my surprise entered the following decree in the case: