United States v. Stone

• Decision Date: 02 March 1905
• Citation: 135 F. 392
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. STONE et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of New Jersey

135 F. 392

UNITED STATES v. STONE et al.

United States District Court, D. New Jersey.

March 2, 1905

Clarence E. Thornall, Wendell J. Wright, David O. Watkins, and Edmund W. Wakelee, for demurrants.

John B Vreeland, Dist. Atty., and Theodore B. Booraem, Asst. Dist Atty., for the United States.

Each of the four defendants has filed a demurrer to the indictment in this case, and specified causes of demurrer which are the same in form and substance. The indictment charges the defendants with a conspiracy to defraud the United States by manufacturing and selling, for use in making life preservers compressed cork blocks with pieces of iron concealed in their centers.

Section 5440 of the Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3676) of the United States reads as follows: 'If two or more persons conspire either to commit any offense against the United States or to defraud the United States in any manner or for any purpose, and one or more of such parties do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy all the parties to such conspiracy shall be able to a penalty of not more than ten thousand dollars, or to imprisonment for not more than two years or to both fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court. ' Other provisions of the law necessary to be considered are the first part of section 4400 of the Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3015), which is as follows 'All steam vessels navigating any waters of the United States which are common highways of commerce, or open to general or competitive navigation, excepting public vessels of the United States, vessels of other countries, and boats propelled in whole or in part by steam for navigating canals, shall be subject to the provision of this title' (title 52, concerning 'Regulation of Steam Vessels '). And section 4405 (U.S.Comp.St. 1901, p. 3017), which is as follows: 'The supervising inspectors and the supervising inspector general shall assemble as a board once in each year, at the city of Washington. * * * The board shall establish all necessary regulations required to carry out in the most effective manner the provisions of this title, and such regulations, when approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall have the force of law.' And section 10 of the act entitled 'An act to establish the Department of Commerce and Labor,' approved February 14, 1903, c. 552, 32 Stat. 829 (U.S.Comp.St.Supp. 1901, p. 48), which is as follows: 'All duties, power, authority and jurisdiction, whether supervisory, appellate, or otherwise, now imposed or conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by acts of Congress relating to * * * steamboat inspection service and any of the officials thereof, shall be and hereby are transferred to and imposed and conferred upon the Secretary of Commerce and Labor from and after the time of the transfer of the * * * steamboat inspection service to the Department of Commerce and Labor, and shall not thereafter be imposed upon or exercised by the Secretary of the Treasury.' And section 4488 (U.S.Comp.St. 1901, p. 3055), which is as follows: 'Every steamer navigating the ocean or any lake, bay or sound of the United States shall be provided with such numbers of * * * life preservers * * * as will best secure the safety of all persons on board such vessel in case of disaster. * * * And the board of supervising inspectors shall fix and determine by their rules and regulations the kind of * * * life preservers * * * that shall be used on such vessels. * * * ' And section 18 or rule 3 of the general rules and regulations of the board of supervising inspectors of the steamboat inspection service of the United States, approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, which is as follows: 'Every life preserver contains at least six pounds of good cork, which shall have a buoyancy of at least four pounds to each pound of cork. * * * ' And section 4417 of the Revised Statutes (U.S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 3024), which is as follows: 'The local inspectors shall, once in every year at least, upon application in writing of the master or owner * * * satisfy themselves * * * that all the requirements of law in regard to * * * life preservers * * * are faithfully complied with. * * * '

The indictment declares that since February 1, 1904, under the laws of the United States and the regulations of the board of supervising inspectors approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, the master or owner of every steamer navigating the ocean or any lake, bay, or sound of the United States has been required to provide such steamer with such numbers of suitable life preservers as would best secure the safety of all persons on board such vessel in case of disaster; that under said laws and regulations it has been and is the duty of the inspectors in the steamboat service of the United States to satisfy themselves that as to every vessel submitted to their inspection all requirements of law in regard to life preservers have been faithfully complied with, and to see by actual examination that every life preserver so provided contains at least six pounds of good cork having a buoyancy of at least four pounds to each pound of cork; that it is impracticable for the inspectors, in examining life preservers, to open the blocks of cork of which the life preservers are constructed to ascertain whether the cork is good, for the reason that such action would result in a destruction of

the life preservers; that the firm of David Kahnweiler's Sons have been engaged in New York City in the business of manufacturing life preservers and selling them to the masters and owners of steamers navigating the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island Sound, and many of the bays and lakes of the United States; that in the conduct of its business Kahnweiler's Sons have been accustomed to purchase from the Nonpareil Corkworks of Camden, N.J., great numbers of compressed cork blocks for use in the manufacture of life preservers, and that great numbers of such blocks have actually been used by Kahnweiler's Sons in the manufacture of life preservers these life preservers having been sold by Kahnweiler's Sons to the masters and owners of vessels navigating the waters above mentioned, and each life preserver containing eight of the compressed cork blocks; that shortly before August 8, 1904, Kahnweiler's Sons purchased from the Nonpareil Corkworks 1,750 of these compressed cork blocks to be used in the manufacture of life preservers for service on vessels navigating the waters above mentioned; that Kahnweiler's Sons found that the cork blocks so purchased were light in weight eight of them weighing but five and one-half pounds; that on August 8, 1904, Kahnweiler's Sons notified the Nonpareil Corkworks of the fact of such shortage in weight, and requested the Nonpareil Corkworks 'to make the said blocks heavier, so that eight of them would weigh at least six pounds, and so pass inspection under the laws and regulations aforesaid when used in such life preservers. ' The indictment then proceeds to charge that the four defendants, one being the president, one the resident manager, one the superintendent, and one the assistant superintendent of the Nonpareil Corkworks, on August 12, 1904, after the receipt of the above-mentioned request from Kahnweiler's Sons, did unlawfully 'conspire, combine, confederate, and agree together, and with divers others persons to the said grant jurors unknown, knowingly, wickedly, and corruptly to defraud the said United States, by manufacturing and producing at the said factory at Camden aforesaid, and shipping to the said firm of David Kahnweiler's Sons, at New York City, aforesaid, in response to the said request of the said firm to make the said blocks heavier, without giving any notice to the said firm of their true character, a great number, to wit, two hundred and fifty, compressed cork blocks of the kind aforesaid, each having fraudulently and deceitfully inclosed in its center, in the process of such manufacture, a bar of iron weighing eight ounces, and recommending that the same should be used by the said firm in connection with the said light-weight blocks before then purchased by it as aforesaid, in the manufacture of such life preservers, that is to say, one of such blocks containing iron to seven of such light-weight blocks, and thereby, and through the sale thereof by the said firm, necessarily, fraudulently, and corruptly causing to be used upon steamers of the kind aforesaid, contrary to the said laws and regulations, a great number, to wit, 2,000, life preservers, each containing less than six pounds of cork, to wit, five pounds and eight ounces of cork, and having a bar of iron weighing eight ounces inclosed in each of the same to make up such shortage in the weight of cork, in such a manner as to deceive the said firm and the purchasers of life preservers made from the said blocks, as well as the said inspectors in endeavoring to perform their said duty, and in grievous prejudice of the administration of the said laws and regulations to cause such inspectors to unwittingly approve and pass such life preservers on inspection as being such suitable and lawful life preservers, each containing at least six pounds of cork, as would best secure the safety of all persons on board of such vessels in case of disaster, when they would not and could not lawfully have approved or passed the same if the facts of the shortage in weight of cork and the presence of iron therein had been disclosed to or ascertained by them at the time of making examination thereon in their official capacity as such inspectors, iron being a substance having no buoyancy in water, and entirely unfit for use in making life preservers; they (the said J. H. Stone, H. C. Quintard, Charles W. Russ, and James...