Noah v. United States

• Decision Date: 01 February 1904
• Docket Number: 962.
• Citation: 128 F. 270
• Parties: NOAH et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

128 F. 270

NOAH et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 962.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

February 1, 1904

The plaintiffs in error were convicted of perjury under an indictment which charged them with making a false oath to an affidavit which was to be used on behalf of Frances A. Moon in aid of her application to be placed on the pension roll of the United States as the widow of one Pardy Rosson Moon, late a soldier in the military service of the United States, in the War of the Rebellion. The indictment, after stating the circumstances under which the affidavit was made, sets forth the affidavit in the haec verba. It is entitled, 'In the Matter of Pension Claim No. -- for Pardy Rosson Moon, late of Co. F 116 Regt. Indiana Inft. ' Thereupon the affiants deposed as follows: 'We were well acquainted with Pardy Rosson Moon during his lifetime, and had known him for 9 or 10 years. We knew him for about 10 years before he was killed. We were living in San Bernardino county, California during all of that time. We do not think that Mr. Moon was ever married until he married the woman who is now his surviving widow, and, if he ever had been that year. We were both present at the wedding. ' The indictment then proceeds, acquainted with him, and often talked together about our early lives and experiences. We also know that Mrs Moon and her husband were never divorced, and that they lived together, and appeared to be happy together, up to the time of his death. They were married about the year 1889-- in the spring of that year. We were both present at the wedding. ' The indictment then proceeds, in proper form, to allege that the matters contained in the declaration were material in the premises, and that the affiants thereto took oath to the same on November 11, 1899, before a properly qualified officer named therein, and proceeds further to set up in detail the falsity of each statement contained in the affidavit. It charges that each of said affiants knew the same to be false at the time thereof, and did not believe any of said matters to be true, and that therein they committed willful and corrupt perjury. A demurrer was interposed to the indictment on the ground that it does not appear therefrom that any of the alleged false statements contained in the affidavit were material, or that they were made on behalf of the alleged application of Frances A. Moon for a pension, or that the affidavit was ever used for that purpose. The demurrer was overruled. After a verdict of guilty as charged had been returned against both the plaintiffs in error, they interposed a motion in arrest of judgment upon the grounds presented by the demurrer, which motion was also overruled. The rulings of the District Court upon the demurrer and the motion are assigned as error.

T. C. West, for plaintiffs in error.

Marshall B. Woodworth and Benjamin L. McKinley, for defendant in error.

Before GILBERT and ROSS, Circuit Judges, and HAWLEY, District Judge.

GILBERT Circuit Judge, after stating the case as above, .

We think it sufficiently appears from the indictment that the matters set forth in the affidavit were material to, and that the affidavit was made and sworn to on behalf of, the application of Frances A. Noon for a pension. It is true that in the heading to the affidavit, which was evidently a printed form, it appears that the name of the claimant for a pension was inserted as 'Pardy Rosson Moon,' instead of 'Frances A. Moon';...