Ryan v. United States

• Decision Date: 06 January 1914
• Docket Number: 1975.
• Citation: 216 F. 13
• Parties: RYAN et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

216 F. 13

RYAN et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 1975.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

January 6, 1914

On Rehearing, June 3, 1914. [Copyrighted Material Omitted] [Copyrighted Material Omitted] [Copyrighted Material Omitted]

The following are the instructions to the jury, given by Anderson, District Judge:

It is your duty to observe and follow the law as given to you by the court. * * * In order that you may the better understand the case and apply the facts established by the proofs to the law governing it, it is proper that the court should give you a brief explanation or definition of the offenses with which the defendants stand charged.

Section 5440 of the Statutes of the United States provides that if two or more persons conspire to commit any offense against the United States, and one or more of such parties do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, all the parties to such conspiracy shall be liable to punishment.

By acts of Congress in force during all the times mentioned in this indictment it was made an offense for any person to transport, carry, or convey any dynamite, gunpowder, liquid nitroglycerin, or other explosive, between a place in one state of the United States and a place or places in another state or territory of the United States on any vehicle of any description operated by a common carrier and engaged at the time in the transportation of passengers, unless such explosives so being transported consisted of small arms or ammunition, munitions of war, signal devices intended to promote the safety in operation of said car or train, or samples for laboratory examination.

By an order of consolidation the separate indictments and the various counts thereof have been consolidated into one indictment consisting of 52 counts. These counts are very lengthy, and it is only necessary that I refer at this time to the substance of them. You will have the indictment with you when you come to deliberate upon your verdict, and you can then examine the several counts upon which the defendants are on trial, so far as you may find it necessary to do so.

The counts of this consolidated indictment upon which the defendants are on trial, are as follows:

The first two counts, numbered 15 and 20, charge in different ways a conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. The remaining counts, numbered 63 to 96 both inclusive, and 113 to 128 both inclusive, each charge one or more of the defendants with the unlawful transportation of liquid nitroglycerin or dynamite from a place in one state to a place or places in other states of the United States in violation of law, and that the other defendants named in the indictment aided and abetted such unlawful transportation of explosives.

Count 15 charges in substance that the defendants on or about the 1st day of December, 1906, did conspire, combine, confederate and agree together and with certain divers other persons whose names are unknown to the grand jurors, to commit an offense against the laws of the United States defined and made punishable by the laws of the United States, to wit, to transport, carry, and convey explosives, to wit, dynamite and nitroglycerin, between a place in one state of the United States and places in other states of the United States, upon and in vehicles then and there used and employed in transporting passengers by land from state to state, said vehicles being then and there engaged in the transportation of passengers for hire, and said vehicles being operated by common carriers in the transportation of passengers by land; that said dynamite and nitroglycerin was not, nor was any part thereof, then and there intended to be small arms or ammunition, or fuses, torpedoes, rockets, or other signal device or devices intended to promote the safety of operation of said or any passenger car or train, nor was the same intended to be a sample for laboratory examination, nor was the same intended to be a munition of war by the defendants; that said conspiracy was continuously in existence throughout all the time from and after the 1st day of December, 1906, and at all times in the indictment mentioned, and particularly at the time of the commission of each of the overt acts in said indictment set forth. This count of the indictment then specifies as overt acts, or acts done in furtherance of the conspiracy and to carry into effect its object and purpose, the writing, mailing, and delivery of certain letters by various defendants, and various acts done by certain of the defendants aside from the actual unlawful transportation of explosives, which acts are charged to have been committed and done in furtherance of the conspiracy and to effect its object and purpose.

Count 20 is substantially the same as count 15, except that the specific places to and from which the explosives were to be illegally transported in pursuance of the conspiracy and the acts of Congress prohibiting such transportation are specifically named.

The next 34 counts, being counts 63 to 96 both inclusive, charge 17 separate and distinct transportations of liquid nitroglycerin in violation of the statute by Ortie E. McManigal, John J. McNamara, and James B. McNamara, or one or more of them, and all the other defendants are charged as aiders and abettors in such violations of the statute. The several acts of transportation are charged in separate counts in two different ways, namely: In 17 of the 34 counts it is charged that a passenger car was the vehicle upon and in which the liquid nitroglycerin was carried from state to state, while in the remaining 17 counts it is charged that the vehicle used was a passenger train.

The remaining 16 counts, being counts 113 to 128 both inclusive, relate to the transportation of dynamite, and charge in separate counts in two different ways, namely, upon a passenger car as the vehicle, and upon a passenger train as the vehicle, eight separate transportations of dynamite in violation of the statute, by Ortie E. McManigal, John J. McNamara, and James B. McNamara, or one or more of them, and all the other defendants are charged as aiders and abettors.

The charge in the first two counts of this indictment, as consolidated, namely, in counts 15 and 20, is such a conspiracy as is made punishable by section 5440, namely, a conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, which offense is the transportation of dynamite and nitroglycerin from state to state upon a vehicle operated at the time of such transportation by a common carrier in the transportation of passengers, contrary to the statute of the United States. The questions to be determined upon this branch of the case are: First, was the alleged conspiracy formed by any two or more of the defendants to willfully and unlawfully transport, carry, and convey dynamite and nitroglycerin upon passenger trains or cars operated by a common carrier, from a place in one state to a place or places in another state or states? Second, if such conspiracy was formed, did any or either of the parties thereto, with intent to effect the object of the conspiracy, do either or any of such of the acts charged in the indictment as constituting acts to carry into effect such object? Third, if you find that such conspiracy was formed, and that any one of the parties to the conspiracy intentionally did any act to effect its purpose and object, then the further question for you to determine is: What ones of the defendants now on trial, if any, were parties to the conspiracy either at the time of its formation, or became parties thereto at any time during the continuance of the conspiracy?

A 'conspiracy' is formed when two or more persons agree to do an unlawful act; in other words, when they combine to accomplish, by their united action, a criminal or unlawful purpose, or some purpose not in itself criminal or unlawful, by criminal or unlawful means; and the offense is complete when one or more of the parties so agreeing together does any act to effect the object of the conspiracy. If two or more persons agree together that they will commit a certain offense against the United States, as that of transporting, carrying, and conveying dynamite, and liquid nitroglycerin from one state to another upon passenger trains or cars engaged at the time in the carrying of passengers, contrary to the statutes of the United States, and one or more of the persons so agreeing does any act to effect the object of such agreement, they are all guilty of the offense of conspiracy.

To constitute a 'conspiracy' it is not necessary that two or more persons should meet together and enter into an explicit or formal agreement for an unlawful scheme, or that they should directly, in words or in writing, state what the unlawful scheme is to be, or the details of the plan or means by which the unlawful combination is to be made effective. It is sufficient if two or more persons, in any manner, or through any contrivance come to a mutual understanding to accomplish the common and unlawful design. Where an unlawful end is sought to be effected, and two or more persons, actuated by a common purpose of accomplishing that end, work together in furtherance of the unlawful scheme, such persons become conspirators, although the part which any one of them is to take in the conspiracy is a subordinate one, or is to be executed at a remote distance from the other conspirators.

In determining the question of the existence of a conspiracy you will take into consideration the relation of the parties to one another, their personal and business association with each other, and all the facts in evidence that tend to show what transpired between them at or before the time of the alleged combination as well as the acts...