Booth v. United States

• Decision Date: 23 March 1932
• Docket Number: No. 453-459.,453-459.
• Parties: BOOTH v. UNITED STATES, and six other cases.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

57 F.2d 192 (1932)

BOOTH v. UNITED STATES, and six other cases.

Nos. 453-459.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

March 23, 1932.

J. B. Dudley, of Oklahoma City, Okl. (D. L. Clement, of Tecumseh, Okl., James H. Mathers, of Oklahoma City, Okl., and W. L. Chapman, of Shawnee, Okl., on the brief), for appellants.

William Earl Wiles and D. E. Hodges, both of Oklahoma City, Okl. (Herbert K. Hyde, of Oklahoma City, Okl., on the brief), for the United States.

Before LEWIS and COTTERAL, Circuit Judges, and KENNAMER, District Judge.

KENNAMER, District Judge.

Appellants and several other defendants were convicted upon an indictment charging a conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Act. The indictment charged, and the proof presented on the trial of the case under the indictment established, that a conspiracy was formed on or about the 1st day of October, 1926, in Pottawatomie county, Okl., and continued without interruption until September 20, 1929. The purposes of the conspiracy so entered into and understood were the unlawful trafficking in intoxicating liquor in Pottawatomie county, Okl. Twenty-six overt acts were charged to have been committed involving the unlawful sale, transportation, and manufacture of intoxicants. A number of the defendants charged in the indictment were not apprehended; there were dismissals as to others; many of those charged have pleaded guilty; and the jury returned a verdict of guilty as to the appellants.

Separate and distinct appeals have been taken on behalf of seven of those convicted in the court below. The same propositions are relied upon by each of the appellants for reversal of the case, and the appeals will be treated in a single opinion; the several appeals having been lodged upon a single record.

The evidence disclosed that soon after the discovery of oil in Pottawatomie and Seminole counties, Okl., and in the latter part of the year 1926, Pottawatomie county attracted numerous persons. Many were engaged in employments in the oil fields within the county; and many persons became engaged in criminality. The officials of the county and of the oil field town, Earlsboro, set out upon a plan of organized crime for the purpose of enriching themselves personally by promoting the traffic in intoxicating liquors upon a most gigantic scale. One of the chief promoters of the scheme was the sheriff of Pottawatomie county, who was convicted in this case and who is not prosecuting an appeal. Homer Knappenberger, the mayor of the town of Earlsboro, a boom oil field town, located in Pottawatomie county, was another. He was convicted in the trial of the case and is not prosecuting an appeal. Deputy sheriffs, constables, sheriffs, and mayors, as well as other officers, were all involved in this scheme and orgy of vice and crime. Decent citizenship was betrayed by trusted officers for more than three years, resulting in a most appalling condition of criminality. By reason thereof crimes were committed; the liquor business was engaged in in open defiance of the laws of the state and nation. The record shows that the dark blight of their unlawful business was so notorious as to be common knowledge of all within the confines of this territory.

The evidence shows that Homer Knappenberger was one of the originators of the conspiracy, which continued until it was terminated by federal officers in the year 1929. Knappenberger was the mayor of Earlsboro. He entered a plea of guilty in the case and testified as a witness for the government. His testimony reveals that he served as mayor of Earlsboro for something like ten years, being a resident and an official of the town during the year 1926, which was the year of the discovery of oil near Earlsboro. The chief of police of Earlsboro, Marion Fuller, a defendant in this case, died about ten days before the trial. Knappenberger entered into an agreement with Fuller, the chief of police, for the handling of what the witness termed "joints" in the town of Earlsboro. Fuller suggested to Knappenberger that money could be obtained from the joints, without any one knowing about it. In pursuance of the arrangement, the chief of police generally collected from $5 to $10 from each place where intoxicants were handled for protection against arrest so far as city police were concerned. The chief of police raided all other places and persons engaged in the liquor traffic who refused to pay a sum of money which was satisfactory to him. Those who paid the required sums were not raided, arrested, or molested. When this conspiracy and agreement was entered into between the mayor and the chief of police of Earlsboro, there were only three joints or places where intoxicants were being sold on the "line" who paid the required sums to the chief of police and mayor, but the number increased very rapidly.

One of the appellants, Bob Keys, operated a drug store in Earlsboro where intoxicants were sold, and the testimony as to Keys reveals that appellant Keys paid the required sum to the chief of police and mayor for protection.

Knappenberger further testified that he was advised by Fuller, chief of police, in December, 1926, that there was a county "line" which the witness defined as places where liquor was being sold and handled who were paying sums of money to county officials for protection against arrest and raids. Upon obtaining this information, a discussion of the subject was had with Frank Fox, the sheriff of Pottawatomie county; the chief of police having also discussed it with one Motley, a deputy sheriff. Sheriff Fox advised Knappenberger that Motley was a deputy sheriff who was employed by the sheriff and Randall Pittman, county attorney of Pottawatomie county, to collect sums of money from those engaged in handling intoxicating liquors. An arrangement was made by which Motley and Fuller were to collect all sums of money for this unlawful purpose and they were assisted in the collection by one Skinny Grace, who was introduced into his work by Deputy Sheriff Motley. The evidence showed that these three collectors were so diligent in their efforts that tribute was exacted as many as three or four times a week from the bootleggers, or from the joints or places where intoxicants were handled. In fact, collections were so frequent that the situation became alarming to Chief of Police Fuller, and he was compelled to take the matter up with Mayor Knappenberger to ascertain what could be done, because the chief of police feared that the bootleggers were not going to stand for the exaction of so much money very much longer. This resulted in the chief of police engaging Deputy Sheriff Motley to arrange a conference with Sheriff Fox. The conference was held between the sheriff and the chief of police and deputy sheriff, and it was agreed that a new schedule of payment was to be employed, by the terms of which the town of Earlsboro officers were to receive $1 on each case of beer and $1 on each gallon of whisky, and the county officials of Pottawatomie county were to obtain similar sums upon all whisky and beer handled within the county.

The mayor further testified that numerous sums of money were collected from parties engaged in the sale of intoxicating liquors, as well as gambling and other crimes. Because of the extent of vice and crime Pottawatomie county became notorious; its citizens were helpless; its local government, because of corrupt officials, was ineffective to cope with the situation. An appeal was made to the Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma, resulting in the Attorney General sending one Oscar Gordon, an Assistant Attorney General of the State of Oklahoma, to Pottawatomie county to investigate the town officials of Earlsboro, including the mayor and chief of police, and this investigation was conducted during the month of August, 1927. At the suggestion of the County Attorney Pittman, the mayor of Earlsboro paid Gordon, a member of the Bar of Oklahoma and an assistant in the Attorney General's office in this state, certain sums of money to protect the town officials from prosecution. Part of the agreement with Gordon was that Fuller, chief of police, would resign. Fuller complied with the arrangement by resigning and one Bill Rigney, another defendant in this case, was appointed to fill the vacancy. Rigney served in that capacity for about five months. During his regime as chief of police the manner of collecting the money from the joints was changed, in that it was collected as fines and was paid to the town of Earlsboro.

About June 20, 1928, Clarence Burdette, a defendant in this case, was appointed chief of police. About the time of his appointment, Gordon came back to Pottawatomie county and demanded $1,000 in addition to what he had theretofore been paid. This demand resulted in a conference between the mayor and chief of police of Earlsboro and Mr. Gordon was paid the sum he had demanded. Mayor Knappenberger included in his testimony that Chief of Police Burdette was engaged in the operation of a still on the mayor's farm south of the town of Earlsboro and that the chief of police moved about one thousand gallons of whisky to a gin as a place of storage; the mayor having a financial interest in the gin.

Chief of Police Burdette testified on behalf of the government that he went to Pottawatomie county about March 16, 1927, during the time his uncle, Knappenberger, was mayor; that he went to Pottawatomie county for the purpose of engaging in the liquor traffic; that prior to the time of his going to Pottawatomie county, he had been engaged in the liquor traffic in Grady county, Okl., for about four years. He had made an agreement with Deputy Sheriff Motley, Chief of Police Fuller, and Mayor Knappenberger to furnish liquor for Pottawatomie county. This arrangement was made before Burdett became chief of police and while Fuller held that position. The witness advised the officials that he had about four thousand gallons...