United States v. Booker

• Decision Date: 06 May 1897
• Citation: 80 F. 376
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. BOOKER.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of North Dakota

80 F. 376

UNITED STATES v. BOOKER.

United States District Court, D. North Dakota, Southeastern Division.

May 6, 1897

Tracy R. Bangs, U.S. Atty.

John D Benton and Alexander Hughes, for defendant.

AMIDON District Judge.

The defendant has demurred to an indictment drawn under section 5209 of the Revised Statutes, charging him, as president of the Grand Forks National Bank, of Grand Forks, N.D., with making false entries in reports of the condition of that bank to the comptroller of the currency. There are nine counts in the indictment, which are substantially the same in form varying mainly as to the party whom it is charged the defendant intended to defraud or deceive by the false entry. After alleging the incorporation of the bank under the national bank act, and that it had been engaged in business for a period of more than one year preceding the 25th day of July, 1894, the indictment alleges: That the Grand Forks National Bank on that day made to the comptroller of the currency a report of the condition of the association at the close of business on the 18th day of July, 1894, according to a form theretofore prescribed by the comptroller. That the report was one which it was the duty of the association by law to make to the comptroller, being one of the five reports required by law to be made in each year by every such association. That the report was verified by the oath of the defendant, Booker, president of said association, and attested by the signatures of three of the directors. That said Booker, so being president of the association unlawfully, knowingly, and wilfully did make certain false entries in the report; that is to say, a false entry to the effect that at the close of business on the 18th day of July 1894, the amount due the said association from approved reserve agents was $60,042.01, in the words and in figures following, that is to say:

Dollars. Cts.

12. Due from approved reserve agents, subject to check (see

schedule)............................................... 60,042 01

That said entry was false, in this: that said association did not at said time have due from approved reserve agents the sum of $60,042.01, or any part thereof, except the sum of $25,042.01, as the said Booker then and there well knew. That said Booker at the time of making said false entry thereby intended to defraud and injure said Grand Forks National Bank, and divers other persons, whose names are to the grand jurors unknown. The demurrer to each of the counts is in the following language:

'Defendant demurs to the first count of said indictment for the reason that the report in which the false entry is charged to have been made is not set forth in full; because there is no proper description of said report; and for the reason that such indictment contains no allegations from which it can be determined whether the report in which said false entry is charged to have been made is in the form prescribed by the comptroller of the currency of the United States, or as to what class of reports required by the statutes of the United States it belongs, or as to whether the report charged to have been made is such a report as is required by the statutes of the United States.'

It was also urged upon the argument of the demurrer that, inasmuch as the false entry refers to a schedule, the schedule itself should have been set out in the indictment. All the questions thus raised will be solved by a correct answer to the following question: Is it an ingredient of the offense of making a false entry in a report of a national bank, under section 5209 of the Revised Statutes, that the report should be one which it was the legal duty of the association to make? If it is essential that the report should be of that character, then a false entry in any other report would not constitute the offense; and it would therefore be necessary that the indictment should, by apt averments, show that the report in which the false entry is charged to have been made possessed all the elements specified in the statute. Among other things, in addition to the specifications contained in the indictment in this case, it should be averred that the report had been called for by the comptroller, and that he had specified the day in respect to which the report was made as the one for which the report should exhibit in detail the resources and liabilities of the association. But, on the contrary, if it is only necessary that the report should be one that was made in the due course of the business of the association,...