In this Supreme Court case, William M. Gwin was the late marshal and Jacob S. Yerger and Robert Hughes were his sureties (guarantors). They brought a suit against C.T. and A Barton for failing to pay their debt of $1,000 plus interest that had been due since 1845 as part of an agreement between them all in which Gwin was acting as a middleman for the sale of certain goods from Yerger & Hughes to Barton & Co.. The court found that there was no evidence presented by either party showing any payment or promise made on behalf of the defendants so they ruled in favor of Gwin et al., awarding them damages amounting to $1,500 with interest from 1845 until paid off in full.

In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a surety on an official bond of a United States marshal could be held liable for any debts incurred by the marshal in excess of his salary. The majority opinion found that such liability did not exist and dismissed the suit against them. However, Justice McLean dissented from this decision. He argued that since it was common practice for sureties to provide bonds when officials were appointed, they should be held responsible if those officials exceeded their authority or acted negligently while in office. Furthermore, he noted that Congress had passed laws which allowed suits against sureties on public officer's bonds and thus these individuals should not be exempt from responsibility simply because they are providing security for government officers. In conclusion, Justice McLean believed that allowing sureties to escape liability would create an incentive for negligence among public officers and ultimately lead to abuse of power within government offices.