United States v. William Hammers

• Decision Date: 15 May 1911
• Docket Number: No. 314,314
• Citation: 55 L.Ed. 710,31 S.Ct. 593,221 U.S. 220
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err., v. WILLIAM B. HAMMERS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

221 U.S. 220

31 S.Ct. 593

55 L.Ed. 710

UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err.,

v WILLIAM B. HAMMERS.

No. 314.

Argued April 12 and 13, 1911.

Decided May 15, 1911.

Mr. Ernest Knaebel for plaintiff in error.

Messrs. L. H. Valentine and Nathan Newby for defendant in error.

Messrs. Oscar A. Trippet, J. M. Eshleman, LeCompte Davis, and William C. Prentiss as amici curioe.

Mr. Justice McKenna delivered the opinion of the court:

This case is here to review an order sustaining a demurrer to an indictment found against defendant in error, herein called defendant.

Omitting the repetitions and accentuations which are usually found in indictments, the following are the facts stated in the indictment in this case: On the 14th of August, 1907, one Granville M. Boyer made a desert land entry for certain lands under the public land laws of the United States, and particularly under and by virtue of the act of Congress approved March 3, 1877 (19 Stat. at L. 377, chap. 107, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1548), the land being then open to entry, settlement, and reclamation, and he having the proper qualifications under the laws. The record was number 3,903. On the 26th of August he assigned, by an instrument in writing, his entry and his interest in the land which was the subject thereof to one Beulah Rose Beekler, she being a citizen of the United States. She filed the assignment with the register and receiver of the United States land office of the Los Angeles, California, land district.

On the 30th of January, 1908, and while entry No. 3,903 was pending before the register and receiver, Beulah Rose Beekler, 'in pretended compliance' with the public land laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior relating to desert land entries, applied at the office of one Daniel Elder, clerk of the superior court of Imperial county, within the southern division of the southern district of California, to make her first yearly proof of improvement, irrigation, reclamation, and cultivation of the land, with the intention of thereafter obtaining a patent from the United States therefor. Elder was an officer authorized to receive such proof and to administer oaths to witnesses.

Defendant appeared and gave testimony in such proceeding and subscribed the same, swearing that the statements therein were true.

The specific details of his testimony are not necessary to the points of law which are involved. It is enough to say that it is set out in the indictment with particularity, and showed that the improvements required by the desert land laws were made, and it is charged that the testimony was wilfully and corruptly given, he knowing it to be false. And it was further charged that the testimony was filed with the register and receiver as part of the proceedings in relation to the entry.

The indictment was demurred to on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute an offense against the United States. The demurrer was sustained.

The question of law in the case is the materiality of defendant's affidavit; and that again depends upon whether the desert land laws authorized an assignment of the entry.

These propositions have been argued at great length. Besides oral argument, a brief of 71 pages is presented by the United States, which is replied to by one of 132 pages, and supported by one of 135 pages, and there are supplemental briefs besides. In our view, however, the case does not require so much expansion, and for its general discussion we may refer to the able opinion of the court below. We disagree, it is true, with that learned court, but the grounds of our disagreement can be briefly stated.

We may assume that under the desert land act of 1877, an entry was not assignable. The contention of the government, however, is, opposing that of the defendant, that by the additions made by §§ 5 and 7 of the act of 1891 (26 Stat. at L. 1096, chap. 561, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1549), to the desert land law, an entry is assignable. These sections read as follows:

'Sec. 5. That no land shall be patented to any person under this act unless he or his assignors shall have expended in the necessary irrigation, reclamation, and cultivation thereof, by means of main canals and branch ditches, and in permanent improvements upon the land, and in the purchase of water rights for the irrigation of the same, at least three dollars per acre of whole tract reclaimed and patented in the manner following: Within one year after making entry for such tract of desert land, as aforesaid, the party so entering shall expend not less than one dollar per acre for the purposes aforesaid; and he shall in like manner expend the sum of one dollar per acre during the second and also during the third year thereafter, until the full sum of three dollars per acre is so expended. Said party shall file during each year with the register proof, by the affidavits of two or more credible witnesses, that the full sum of one dollar per acre has been expended in such necessary improvements during such year, and the manner in which expended, and at the expiration of the third year a map or plan showing the character and extent of such improvements. If any party who has made such application shall fail during any year to file the testimony aforesaid, the lands shall revert to the United States, and the twenty-five cents advanced payment shall be forfeited to the United States, and the entry shall be canceled. Nothing herein contained shall prevent a claimant from making his final entry and receiving his patent at an earlier date than hereinbefore prescribed, provided that he then makes the required proof of reclamation to the aggregate extent of three dollars per acre: Provided, that proof be further required of the cultivation of one eighth of the land.

'Sec. 7. That at any time after filing the declaration, and within the period of four years thereafter, upon making satisfactory proof to the register and the receiver of the reclamation and cultivation of said land to the extent and cost and in the manner aforesaid, and substantially in accordance with the plans herein provided for, and that he or she is a citizen of the United States, and upon payment to the receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre of said land, a patent shall issue therefor to the applicant or his assigns; but no person or association of persons shall hold, by assignment or otherwise, prior to the issue of patent, more than three hundred and twenty acres of such arid or desert lands, but this section shall not apply to entries made or initiated prior to the approval of this act. Provided, however, That additional proofs may be required at any time within the period prescribed by law, and that the claims or entries made under this or any preceding act shall be subject to contest, as provided by the law relating to homestead cases, for illegal inception, abandonment, or failure to comply with the requirements of law, and upon satisfactory proof thereof...