United States v. Lair, 3,497.

CourtUnited States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
Citation195 F. 47
Docket Number3,497.
PartiesUNITED STATES v. LAIR.
Decision Date27 March 1912

195 F. 47

UNITED STATES
v.
LAIR.

No. 3,497.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

March 27, 1912


[195 F. 48]

McCabe Moore, Asst. U.S. Atty. (H. J. Bone, U.S. Atty., on the brief), for the United States.

Marshall B. Woodworth, for appellee.

Before ADAMS and SMITH, Circuit Judges, and REED, District Judge.

REED, District Judge.

The appellee, Henry Lair, who will be called the defendant, was on February 1, 1909, convicted in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, and sentenced to imprisonment in the United States penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., upon an indictment which charged him with having knowingly and unlawfully imported into the United States at Chicago within said district an alien woman, a citizen of the Republic of France, for the purpose of prostitution, and unlawfully detaining her in a certain house in said city for such purpose, and duly committed to the prison pursuant to such conviction and sentence. June 7, 1909, he petitioned the United States District Court for the District of Kansas for a writ of habeas corpus to be released from such imprisonment. [195 F. 49]

The writ was issued, to which the warden of the penitentiary made due return, and upon the hearing thereof the defendant was discharged. 177 F. 789. The government prosecutes this appeal. The indictment upon which the defendant was convicted was returned December 15, 1908, and is in four counts. The first count, omitting the formal parts, is as follows:

'That one Henry Lair, otherwise called Henry Loir, * * * and one Mrs. Henry Lair, otherwise called Mrs. Henry Loir, * * * at Chicago, aforesaid, in the division and district aforesaid (Northern District of Illinois) unlawfully, willfully, and knowingly did import into the United States for the purpose of prostitution, and unlawfully did knowingly and willfully hold, to wit, from the first day of January, 1906, until and on the fifteenth day of July, 1907, in pursuance of such illegal importation, in their certain house of prostitution there situate, to wit (describing it) in the said city of Chicago, * * * a certain alien woman, to wit Marie Peuroy, otherwise called Georgia Davis, * * * who was then a citizen of the Republic of France, within three years after she, the said Marie Peuroy, * * * had entered the United States, and that the said Marie Peuroy * * * came to and entered the United States, within three years prior thereto; against the peace and dignity of the said United States and contrary to the form of the statute of the same in such case made and provided.'

The second and third counts charge the defendant with unlawfully holding said woman in the city of Chicago in the house described in the first count for the purpose of prostitution, in pursuance of an illegal importation.

The fourth charges the defendant with unlawfully keeping, harboring, and supporting said woman in said house for the purpose of prostitution.

To this indictment the defendant first pleaded not guilty; but later withdrew such plea, and entered a plea of nolo contendere, whereupon he was adjudged guilty as charged in the indictment, and sentenced to be imprisoned in the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kan., for and during a period of two years, and adjudged to pay a fine of $2,500 and costs.

The indictment is founded upon section 3 of Act March 3, 1903, c. 1012, 32 Stat. 1213, as amended by Act Feb. 20, 1907, c. 1134, Sec. 3, 34 Stat. 898, 899 (U.S. Comp. St. Supp. 1909, p. 447). As so amended that section reads:

'Sec. 3. That the importation into the United States of any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, is hereby forbidden; and whoever shall, directly or indirectly, import or attempt to import, into the United States, any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, or whoever shall hold or attempt to hold any alien woman or girl for any such purpose in pursuance of such illegal importation, or whoever shall keep, maintain, control, support, or harbor in any house or other place, for the purpose of prostitution, or for any other immoral purpose, any alien woman or girl, within three years after she shall have entered the United States, shall in every such case be deemed guilty of a felony, and on conviction thereof be imprisoned not more than five years and pay a fine of not more than five thousand dollars. * * * '

The words in italics were added by the act of 1907.

Counts 2, 3, and 4 of the indictment are predicated upon that part of the section which forbids the holding, keeping, supporting, or harboring [195 F. 50] in any house or other place in the United States any alien woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution, not including the importation of such person for such purpose.

That part of the section was adjudged to be invalid in Keller v. United States, 213 U.S. 138, 29 Sup.Ct. 470, 53 L.Ed. 737, 16 Ann.Cas. 1066, which was decided after the conviction of the defendant in this case, because...

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45 practice notes
  • William N. v. Kimberly H.,
    • United States
    • New York Family Court
    • May 31, 2013
    ...512. § 242, n. 32; Wigmore on Evidence, Vol. IV, p. 58, § 1066; Berlin v. United States, 3 Cir., 14 F.2d 497;United States v. Lair, 8 Cir., 195 F. 47;Twin Ports Oil Co. v. Pure Oil Co., D.C.Minn, 26 F.Supp. 366;United States v. Plymouth Coupe, D.C.W.Pa. 88 F.Supp. 93;United States v. Standa......
  • Carmen, Application of, Cr. 5667
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court (California)
    • August 2, 1957
    ...Johnston, 9 Cir., 115 F.2d 806; Walsh v. Archer, 9 Cir., 73 F.2d 197; Archer v. Heath, 9 Cir., 30 F.2d 932; United States v. Lair, 10 Cir., 195 F. 47. Certain of the cited federal cases involved petitioners claiming that the federal courts which had convicted them lacked jurisdiction becaus......
  • Humphries v. Detch, No. 35649.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of West Virginia
    • June 22, 2011
    ...well pleaded in the charge.’); Lott v. United States, 367 U.S. 421, 426, 81 S.Ct. 1563, 1567, 6 L.Ed.2d 940 (1961)); United States v. Lair, 195 F. 47, 52 (8th Cir.1912)”); Lewis v. State, 258 Ark. 242, 523 S.W.2d 920, 922 (1975)(upholding inquiry into nolo contendere conviction during cross......
  • U.S. v. Hankish, No. 73-1926
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
    • July 17, 1974
    ...offenses in the absence of special statutory language. For example, in Ex Parte Lair, 177 F. 789 (D.Kan.1910), rev'd on other grounds, 195 F. 47 (8th Cir. 1912), cert. denied, 229 U.S. 609, 33 S.Ct. 464, 57 L.Ed. 1350 (1913), and United States v. Capella, 169 F. 890 (N.D.Cal.1909), the cour......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
45 cases
  • William N. v. Kimberly H.,
    • United States
    • New York Family Court
    • May 31, 2013
    ...512. § 242, n. 32; Wigmore on Evidence, Vol. IV, p. 58, § 1066; Berlin v. United States, 3 Cir., 14 F.2d 497;United States v. Lair, 8 Cir., 195 F. 47;Twin Ports Oil Co. v. Pure Oil Co., D.C.Minn, 26 F.Supp. 366;United States v. Plymouth Coupe, D.C.W.Pa. 88 F.Supp. 93;United States v. Standa......
  • Carmen, Application of, Cr. 5667
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court (California)
    • August 2, 1957
    ...Johnston, 9 Cir., 115 F.2d 806; Walsh v. Archer, 9 Cir., 73 F.2d 197; Archer v. Heath, 9 Cir., 30 F.2d 932; United States v. Lair, 10 Cir., 195 F. 47. Certain of the cited federal cases involved petitioners claiming that the federal courts which had convicted them lacked jurisdiction becaus......
  • Humphries v. Detch, No. 35649.
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of West Virginia
    • June 22, 2011
    ...well pleaded in the charge.’); Lott v. United States, 367 U.S. 421, 426, 81 S.Ct. 1563, 1567, 6 L.Ed.2d 940 (1961)); United States v. Lair, 195 F. 47, 52 (8th Cir.1912)”); Lewis v. State, 258 Ark. 242, 523 S.W.2d 920, 922 (1975)(upholding inquiry into nolo contendere conviction during cross......
  • U.S. v. Hankish, No. 73-1926
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (4th Circuit)
    • July 17, 1974
    ...offenses in the absence of special statutory language. For example, in Ex Parte Lair, 177 F. 789 (D.Kan.1910), rev'd on other grounds, 195 F. 47 (8th Cir. 1912), cert. denied, 229 U.S. 609, 33 S.Ct. 464, 57 L.Ed. 1350 (1913), and United States v. Capella, 169 F. 890 (N.D.Cal.1909), the cour......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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