Vandell v. United States

• Decision Date: 02 March 1925
• Docket Number: No. 100.,100.
• Parties: VANDELL et al. v. UNITED STATES.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

6 F.2d 188 (1925)

VANDELL et al. v. UNITED STATES.

No. 100.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

March 2, 1925.

James H. Vahey, of Boston, Mass., Ernest W. McIntyre, of Buffalo, N. Y., and Phillip Mansfield, of Boston, Mass., for plaintiffs in error.

William J. Donovan, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the United States.

Before HOUGH, MANTON, and HAND, Circuit Judges.

MANTON, Circuit Judge.

The indictment charged that the International Railway Company was engaged in interstate commerce in its operation of an electric railway between the city of Buffalo, state of New York and the city of Niagara Falls, in the province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, and that it was engaged in carrying freight and passengers in such interstate and foreign commerce. It set forth that the plaintiffs in error, with others, in violation of the act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies (26 Stat. 209 Comp. St. § 8820 et seq.) did willfully and feloniously engage in a conspiracy in restraint of trade and commerce among the several states and with foreign nations, to unreasonably obstruct, retard, restrain and impede, and interfere with and stop transportation in interstate and foreign commerce of such freight and passenger service. It alleges that it was part of the conspiracy to, on the 17th of August, 1922, obstruct, wreck, and destroy the track, roadbed, and roadway of the said International Railway Company at the village of Elwood, county of Erie, N. Y., by means of exploding dynamite, whereby the electric trains thus employed in transporting passengers and baggage traveling from states of the United States to the province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, was interfered with, because the tracks were damaged and demolished. It was further alleged that it was part of the conspiracy to intimidate employees of the said International Railway Company, so that by intimidation and coercion they would not continue working for the railway company, and thereby prevent them from performing their duties to this common carrier so engaged in interstate and foreign commerce.

Six overt acts were set forth, the principal among them being the theft of dynamite from an arsenal in the city of Lockport; the storing and keeping of it in the city of Buffalo; placing it upon the tracks of the railway company in the village of Elwood and causing the explosion. In support of the indictment, there was evidence sufficient for the jury's consideration and supporting the verdict of guilty, showing that in the months of June, July, and August, 1922, excursionists from various states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Washington, and Maryland passed over this railway, going to Niagara Falls, N. Y., and into the Dominion of Canada, upon through tickets. At this time there was a strike of the railroad employees. In August, 1922, 20 boxes of dynamite, of 50 pounds each, were stolen by a defendant (who was not on trial) and transported by Reilley from the city of Lockport to the city of Buffalo, N. Y., and Reilley and Breese placed the dynamite upon the tracks in the village of Elwood. On August 17, 1922, passengers boarded the cars of the International Railway Company at Buffalo on their way to Niagara Falls, and when passing through Elwood, N. Y., the cars were derailed by reason of an explosion of the dynamite, which had taken place on the tracks on which the cars were running. The evidence shows that Reilley, Smith, Vandell, and others were parties to the theft of this dynamite; that it was transported in automobiles by them and other defendants named in the indictment, who were not on trial, to the scene of this explosion. After the dynamiting, Reilley, in the presence of Breese, stated to witnesses that they had just dynamited the High Speed Line, saying: "We pulled off a job and we pretty near got caught. The motorcycle cop got after us."

There is evidence that an officer did pursue the plaintiffs in error, who were in an automobile, after leaving the scene of this explosion, having placed the dynamite on the tracks. Breese admitted to a witness that he took part in this dynamiting, and said that the strikers could win if the people were kept from riding on the cars and they had "a few more blow-ups like the one on the High Speed Line." When told that people were hurt on the night of the explosion, he replied: "Yes; there were. They were warned before they got on those cars, and if they had all been killed it would have served them right." It appears that, at the time some of the passengers boarded the cars, unidentified persons passed among the passengers and warned them against riding on the cars. There was testimony that in July, 1923, Reilley and Breese were passing the scene of the explosion in an automobile, and when one of the passengers remarked that "there is where the accident happened," Reilley replied, "Yes," and the speaker said, "What was your idea for doing it?" to which Reilley replied, ...