Frank Brown v. Elliott No 201 Moore v. Elliott No 202
| Decision Date | 19 October 1911 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 201 and 202,s. 201 and 202 |
| Citation | 56 L.Ed. 1136,32 S.Ct. 812,225 U.S. 392 |
| Parties | FRANK W. BROWN, Appt., v. C. T. ELLIOTT, United States Marshal in and for the Northern District of California, et al. NO 201. E. C. MOORE, Appt., v. C. T. ELLIOTT, United States Marshal in and for the Northern District of California, et al. NO 202 |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. Henry F. Woodard and Arthur A. Birney for appellants.
Solicitor General Lehmann for appellees.
These appeals involve the action of the circuit court in dismissing petitions for writs of habeas corpus to discharge appellants from the custody of appellee, united States marshal for the northern district of California. Both appellants were held under a warrant of removal made by the district court of that district upon an order of commitment made by a United States commissioner in proceedings for the removal of appellants to the district court of Nebraska.
There was an indictment found against appellants in the district court of the Omaha division of the district of Nebraska for the crime of conspiracy, in which it was charged that they and others whose names, aliases, and the numbers by which they were designated as part of the means of effecting the scheme, and who in the indictment are called 'conspirators,' on the fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and seven, did then and there' conspire with Ernest Fenby and other persons to the grand jurors unknown 'to commit the acts made offenses and crimes by § 5480 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, as amended by an act of Congress enacted March 2, 1889 [25 Stat. at L. 873, chap. 393, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 3696], entitled, 'An Act to Punish Dealers and Pretended Dealers in Counterfeit Money and Other Fraudulent Devices for Using the United States Mails." And it is charged that appellants and other persons conspired in devising and intending to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud various persons out of their money and property, to be effected by means of the postoffice establishment of the United States, and particularly to defraud certain persons who were named. To avoid repetition, they are called in the indictment 'victims,' and they were to be defrauded of their money and property by the conspirators 'agreeing to organize, institute, conduct, and manage certain horse races and atheletic contests . . . as wagering contests upon which money should be bet,' at Council Bluffs, in Iowa, and in certain places in Missouri, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, and Washington, and other places to the grand jurors unknown, and 'at Omaha, district aforesaid.' The races and contests were to be conducted in a fraudulent, unfair, and dishonest manner, and to be controlled solely by the conspirators, so that the outcome was known in advance, with intention thereby to defraud the victims. The charge is made with much circumstance and detail which it is not necessary to repeat, except to say that the conspirators were to be represented as millionaires traveling through the United States making investments in municipal, county, and city bonds, and in other projects, and having with them horses and athletes for their private amusement, which they would match with those of strangers. One of the conspirators was to be represented to be the secretary to the others, and as having charge of the contests, which he had theretofore always managed with great financial profit and gain as well as to the amusement of his employers, but that he had become aggrieved at the treatment he had received, and would so manage the contests that the horses and athletes of the millionaires would lose, and that he was desirious of betting against them and thereby win their money for himself and for such other persons as would bet for him as his secret agents. Others of the conspirators were to represent themselves to the victims to be friends and relatives of the 'secretary,' and had been requested by him to produce men of financial standing to act as his secret agents in betting money against his employers, the millionaires, and it was to be represented that it was necessary for him to procure such persons of financial standing and respon- sibility to represent him and bet his money in order to conceal his disloyalty to his employers. Such persons were not to bet their own money, but the secretary's money, and be paid a percentage of the winnings. The victims were to be induced to bring letters of credit or negotiable paper for large sums of money, and thereby established credit in the bank of the town where the races and contests were to be conducted. And when they, relying on the fraudulent representations of the secretary, should bet and wager money furnished by him, they were to be informed that the money was not in fact his, but was his employers' money; that they, the employers, had or might become suspicious that the money was not that of the victims and the secretary not the stakeholder, and to prevent criminal prosecutions the races and contests would be called off; that therefore it would be necessary for the victims to come to his (the secretary's) rescue and bet their money for him and allay such suspicions and to insure the races and contests proceeding to a finish as arranged, the money to be returned after the races and contests. And it was to be represented that the races and contests terminated unfortunately through an unusual and deplorable accident, to wit, a serious injury to one of the jockeys or one of the athletes, and in such way that it would be unfair to declare themselves winners, and additional races and contests were to be conducted in the same manner and an opportunity afforded to win back the money lost. Finally it was to be represented to the victims that they had been engaged in a criminal transaction, which had resulted in a serious injury to a person, and to avoid arrest and criminal prosecution they (the victims) were to depart from the scene, and leave the money bet with the secretary, who was to convert it to the use and gain of the conspirators. And this was alleged to be fraudulent and done with intention to deceive, etc.
The manner of carrying out the scheme was alleged to be to rent a United States postoffice box for the delivery of the mail in the United States postoffice at Omaha, Nebraska, and in other cities throughout the United States where any of the conspirators should establish headquarters in furtherance of the scheme and artifice to defraud, and the conspirators were to assume and request to be addressed by the number of such boxes respectively, and carry on their correspondence with each other through and by means of the postoffice establishment of the United States by the use of such assumed title numbers without the use of their own proper names, and to assume other names and request their victims to address them by such assumed names through and by means of the postoffice establishment of the United States. And it is charged that the conspirators, in further execution of their scheme, were to take and receive letters so addressed from and out of the United States postoffice at Omaha and other places which were mentioned, and that they were to write and send letters to one another by means of the postoffice establishment, which were to contain and set forth their fraudulent and deceitful schemes, and were to be shown to the victims for the purposes of inducing the latter to turn over to the conspirators large sums of money. The conspirators, it is charged, also used the postoffice establishment to open correspondence with the victims and to procure them to open correspondence with two of the conspirators, whose names are given, in pursuance of the conspiracy.
It is alleged 'that the said wicked and corrupt conspiracy, combination, confederation, and agreement was originally formed and entered into by the said conspirators during the year 1905, the exact date whereof is to the grand jurors unknown, in the United States of America, the exact place and district whereof is to the grand jurors unknown, and until the 23d day of February, in the year 1909, continuously and at at all times during the four years next preceding the said 23d day of February,' it, the conspiracy, 'was continuously in existence and in the process of execution and operation, and including all of said times, and the said conspirators did knowingly, falsely, wickedly, and corruptly conspire, combine, confederate, and agree together as aforesaid, and with said Ernest Fenby and said divers other persons to the grand jurors unknown, as aforesaid.'
Overt acts are alleged, one of which is the renting by one of the conspirators under an assumed name of a postoffice box at Omaha, Nebraska, and the receiving and sending of letters to the 'victims,' which set forth the scheme in detail by which the 'millionaires' were to be imposed on, and the ease of its accomplishment and assurance of success displayed. The indictment contains copies of the letters.
The second count of the indictment alleged the conspiracy to have been formed on the 1st of April, 1907, and the scheme of fraud and deception was set forth in a more general way. The use of the postoffice establishment was alleged, as in the first count.
The original formation of the conspiracy was alleged, as in the first count, to have been in a place and district to the grand jurors unknown, but was continuously in existence and in process of execution for four years next preceding the 23d of February, 1909. The overt act alleged was the depositing of a letter by one of the conspirators in the postoffice at Omaha, Nebraska, which letter concerned the scheme and artifice to defraud and to effect the object of the conspiracy.
It will be observed that it is charged that appellants and...
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