 The plaintiff's original petition was filed in August 1877, and the amended petition and pleas were filed in April 1879.The cause was first tried in April 1879, and again in April 1880, and on both occasions the juries disagreed.Ayers then presented a petition for the removal of the cause to the circuit court of the United States, alleging that he was a citizen of the State of Mississippi and that the plaintiff was a citizen of Texas, and that there could be a final determination of the controversy, so far as he was concerned, without the presence of the other defendants as parties in the cause.