Cornells v. Shannon

• Decision Date: 10 September 1894
• Docket Number: 409.
• Citation: 63 F. 305
• Parties: CORNELLS, Judge, et al. v. SHANNON et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

63 F. 305

CORNELLS, Judge, et al. v. SHANNON et al.

No. 409.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

September 10, 1894

N. B Maxey (S. S. Fears and G. B. Denison were with him on the brief), for appellants.

G. W Pasco, for appellees.

Before CALDWELL, SANBORN, and THAYER, Circuit Judges.

CALDWELL Circuit Judge.

An act of the council of the Creek Nation entitled 'An act establishing quarantine regulations against foreign cattle and to prevent smuggling cattle into the Creek Nation,' approved October 29, 1891, makes it unlawful for any citizen of the Nation 'to introduce or invite into the Creek Nation cattle of any kind at any time,' except between the first day of January and the last day of March of each year, and declares that any citizen violating this provision of the act 'shall be fined a sum that will be the equivalent of three dollars per head for each and every head of cattle' unlawfully introduced. The act makes the judgment a lien on the cattle unlawfully introduced, and provides that, if the judgment is not paid in 30 days, the cattle shall be sold to satisfy it. In a proceeding instituted in the criminal court of the Muskogee district against George Shannon and James Willison, charging them with introducing 10,000 head of cattle into the Nation in violation of this act, that court entered the following judgment:

'Judge's Office, Muskogee Nation, Wellington, 18 Aug., '92.

'Muskogee Nation vs. George Shannon, James Willison.

'For Violating Creek Cattle Law of Oct. 29, 1891.

'In Case No. 111, the Muskogee Nation vs. George Shannon and James Willison, the court orders and adjudges that the sum of thirty thousand dollars be adjudged against George Shannon and James Willison to be well and truly paid, that sum being the amount of fines, to wit: Three dollars on each of ten thousand head of cattle introduced by them into the Creek Nation, and into the Muskogee district thereof. And it is further ordered that this judgment of thirty thousand dollars, by virtue of the statute made and provided, is made and become a lien upon all the cattle unlawfully introduced of the brand (brand here given). It is also ordered that the defendants, to wit, George Shannon and James Willison, be notified that judgment as aforesaid has been rendered against them; and that if the amount thereof, to wit, thirty thousand dollars, and the costs of the suit in which they are made defendants, be not paid in thirty days from this date, the said cattle of the brand (brand here given), or a sufficient number thereof, will be sold to pay said fine and costs of suit, as provided for by an act establishing quarantine regulations against foreign cattle, and to prevent smuggling cattle into the Creek Nation. Approved 29th of October, A.D. 1891.

'Temaye Cornells, Judge Muskogee District, M.N.'

After the entry of the judgment, process was issued to the captain of the light-horse company (an officer exercising duties similar to those of a sheriff) commanding him to collect the judgment, and not to permit the cattle to be removed from Muskogee district until the judgment was paid. The captain of the light-horse company took possession of the cattle, and thereupon Shannon and Willison, claiming to be the owners of the cattle, and Godair, Harding & Co., claiming to have a mortgage upon the cattle, filed this bill against Temaye Cornells, as captain of the light horse of the same district and Nation, alleging that 'plaintiffs, and each and every one of them, speaking for themselves individually and collectively, further say that said pretended judgment is unjust, utterly void, and of no effect as to them, because they have never, nor have any of them ever, introduced any cattle into said district, nor into any other portion...