Ingraham v. United States

• Citation: 39 L.Ed. 213,155 U.S. 434,15 S.Ct. 148
• Decision Date: 17 December 1894
• Docket Number: No. 379,379
• Parties: INGRAHAM v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

155 U.S. 434

15 S.Ct. 148

39 L.Ed. 213

INGRAHAM

v UNITED STATES.

No. 379.

December 17, 1894.

Charles H. Page, for plaintiff in error.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Whitney, for the United States.

Mr. Justice HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.

By the first count of an indictment in the court below it was charged that the plaintiff in error, Royal Ingraham, on the 11th day of December, 1890, within the district of Rhode Island, did knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully make and present, and cause to be made and presented, for payment and approval, to the third auditor of the treasury of the United States of America, a claim for payment and reimbursement to him of certain alleged expenses of the last sickness and burial of his mother, Freelove Ingraham, who in her lifetime had been a pensioner of the United States of America, under a pension issued to her, and who prior to the above date had died, leaving no widow or minor child surviving her, which claim it was alleged, was false, fraudulent, and fictitious, in that it was stated in it that the last sickness of the pensioner continued uninterruptedly from July 21, 1889, to the date of her death, on the 19th day of September, A. D. 1890, that he had actually paid to Perry Ingraham and Mary Ingraham, for board, nursing, and medicines furnished to the pensioner, the sum of $318, and to one Zylphia Ingraham, for services as nurse, the sum of $148.57, whereas, the last sickness of the pensioner was of only a few days' duration, and the defendant had not, at the time when he made his claim, paid to Perry Ingraham and Mary Ingraham any sum for board, nursing, and medicine so furnished, and to Zylphia Ingraham any sum for services as nurse; he then and there well knowing his claim to be false, fraudulent, and fictitious, and the third auditor being then and there authorized to approve and allow it.

By a second count in the indictment, it was charged that the plaintiff in error, on the 11th day of December, 1890, for the purpose of obtaining and aiding to obtain the payment and approval of the above claim, did knowingly, willfully, and unlawfully use and cause to be used a certain false affidavit, to wit, the affidavit of Perry Ingraham and Mary E. Ingraham, subscribed and sworn to on the 9th day of December, A. D. 1890, before Daniel H. Remington, a justice of the peace; he then and there well knowing that said affidavit contained the fraudulent and fictitious statement that on the 1st day of November, 1890, they (Perry Ingraham and Mary E. Ingraham) received from him the sum of $318 in payment of an account therein stated for board, nursing, and medicine furnished to the pensioner, Freelove Ingraham, in her lifetime, whereas they, or either of them, did not, at any time prior to the making of such affidavit, receive from him any sum in payment of an account for board, nursing, or medicine so furnished, or for any services rendered to said pensioner.

There was evidence before the jury tending to show that the accused presented to the third auditor of the treasury of the United States, and used and caused to be used before that officer, in the prosecution of his claim against the government of the United States, a certain paper, in the form of and purporting to be an affidavit signed by Perry Ingraham and Mary E. Ingraham, and purporting to be sworn to before Daniel H. Remington as a justice of the peace, and certified to that effect by him. But there was no further testimony tending to show that Remington was duly commissioned and qualified as a justice of the peace, and was authorized to administer oaths. Nor does the bill of exceptions state what evidence relating to other points was adduced before the jury.

At the conclusion of the evidence the prisoner...