United States v. Harts

• Decision Date: 30 June 1904
• Docket Number: 1,635.
• Citation: 131 F. 886
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. HARTS.

131 F. 886

UNITED STATES v. HARTS.

No. 1,635.

United States District Court, N.D. California.

June 30, 1904

Benj. L. McKinley, Asst. U.S. Atty.

Wright & Lukens, for defendant.

DE HAVEN, District Judge.

This action is prosecuted by the United States under section 2802 of the Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1873). It is alleged in the declaration that the defendant came from Japan to the port of San Francisco on the United States transport Thomas, bringing with him certain baggage, and that in making entry of the same before the collector of customs he did not mention certain dutiable articles contained therein of the value of $657.04, and by reason thereof judgment is demanded against him for the sum of $1,971.12, three times the alleged value of the goods, with interest and costs of suit.

It appears from the evidence that the defendant is a captain in the engineer corps of the United States army, and on July 10 1903, arrived at the port of San Francisco as a passenger on the United States transport Thomas, with his baggage. Part of this baggage was brought by him from Manila, and a part was purchased at Nagasaki, Japan, and there placed on board the Thomas for shipment to San Francisco. Upon his arrival the defendant was furnished by the customs officers with a printed form entitled, 'Baggage Declaration and Entry,' and was requested to fill out and sign the same. This form contained the following clause:

'That all the articles in said baggage or on my person, or that of the members of my family accompanying me, that have been purchased abroad, or in any other manner procured or obtained abroad, are fully set forth and described in the annexed entry, together with cost price for each item, or the actual market value if obtained by gift or otherwise than by purchase.'

These words were struck out by the defendant, and he made no detailed list of any articles contained in his baggage. The declaration and entry, however, as made out and delivered by him, truly stated that he had with him, belonging to himself and members of his family, 'six trunks, three bags or valises, one box, and one other package, making a total of eleven pieces,' and that no article contained in his baggage or upon his person or that of those accompanying him was intended directly or indirectly for sale, or for the use of any person other than himself and the members of his family. The defendant testified that he did not at the time have any memorandum by which he could fully set forth and describe the articles purchased abroad and the cost price of each, and for that reason did not specifically mention them in his declaration; and that he was ready and willing at all times to pay the duties legally chargeable thereon. After the baggage was landed upon the wharf, the defendant requested the proper officer to examine it, and in doing so made no suggestion that the examination should not be careful and thorough, but he made no mention of the fact that any dutiable articles were in his baggage. The baggage was then examined in his presence, and it was found that many dutiable articles, such as pieces of silk in the original fold or bolt, had been placed in skirts of dresses in such a way that they could not be seen until the skirts were unfolded. It is insisted upon the part of the government that this was done for the purpose of concealment, and with the expectation that the silks would not be discovered by the customs officers and thus the payment of duty thereon be avoided; that such was the intention of defendant in failing to mention to the officer that merchandise of that character was in his baggage. But I am not inclined to adopt that view. The trunks were packed by the wife of the defendant, and her testimony to the effect that the silks were folded in the dress skirts as a matter of convenience in packing, and also for their protection, seems reasonable. But, independently of this consideration, a conclusive answer to the contention of the government on this point is that the articles referred to were not packed in such a way as to prevent their being seen upon a proper examination of the baggage, and they were in fact discovered as a result of the usual examination which is given to baggage coming from foreign ports; and not only was there no attempt at concealment of the trunks, but, as before stated, the defendant himself requested the customs officers to make an examination of their contents. In view of this action, which is certainly not consistent with an actual intention on his part to defraud the government of its revenue, and upon consideration of all the evidence in the case, and giving due weight to the presumption of innocence, my conclusion is that it has not been shown that defendant intended to avoid the payment of duties upon such articles as were dutiable.

The question for decision, then, is whether the failure of the defendant to mention to the proper officers, at the time of making entry of his baggage, the dutiable articles contained therein, was a violation of section 2802 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1873), and rendered him liable to the penalty prescribed by that section. The section is as follows:

'Whenever any article subject to duty is found in the baggage of any person arriving within the United States, which was not, at the time of making entry for such baggage,

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