United States v. Spiegel

by Stanley Matthews

United States Supreme Court

116 U.S. 270

United States  v.  Spiegel

 Argued: January 11, 1886. ---

The defendant was indicted in the circuit court of the United States for the Southern district of New York for an alleged offense set out in the first count of the indictment, the other three being substan tially similar, as follows:

'The jurors of the United States of America within and for the district and circuit aforesaid, on their oaths, present that Morris Spiegel, late of the city and county of New York, in the district and circuit aforesaid, yeoman, heretofore, to-wit, on the eighteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord 1883, at the Southern district of New York, and within the jurisdiction of this court, did feloniously, knowingly, and fraudulently have in his possession a certain United States stamp of the kind and description provided and required by law to be affixed to packages containing distilled spirits imported into the United States in packages, the said stamp being then and there in form as prescribed by the secretary of the treasury, and numbered in figures as follows: '350,460,' a more particular description of which said stamp is to the jurors as yet unknown, which said stamp had been heretofore removed from a certain package which had contained imported spirits, to-wit, brandy, and which said stamp had not been defaced and destroyed at the time of such removal, then and there against the peace of the United States and their dignity, and contrary to the form of the statute of the United States in such case made and provided.'

The indictment was founded upon provisions contained in the act of March 1, 1879, 'to amend the laws relating to internal revenue,' (20 St. 327, 342,) the eleventh section of which provides as follows: 'That all distilled spirits, wines, and malt liquors, imported in pipes, hogsheads, tierces, barrels, casks, or other similar packages, shall be first placed in public store or bonded warehouse, and shall not be removed therefrom until the same shall have been inspected, marked, and branded by a United States customs gauger, and a stamp affixed to each package, indicating the date and particulars of such inspection; and the secretary of the treasury is hereby authorized to prescribe the form of, and provide, the requisite stamps, and to make all regulations which he may deem necessary and proper for carrying the foregoing requirements into effect.' An section 12, so far as relevant, provides: 'Every cask or other package from which the stamp for imported liquors required by this act to be placed thereon shall not be effaced, obliterated, or destroyed, on emptying such package, shall be forfeited, and the same may be seized by any officer of internal revenue wherever found; and all the provisions and penalties of section thirty-three hundred and twenty-four of the Revised Statutes of the United States, relating to empty casks or packages from which the marks, brands, or stamps have not been effaced or obliterated, and relating to the removal of stamps from packages, and to having in possession any stamps so removed, shall apply to the stamps for imported spirits herein provided for, and to the casks or other packages on which such stamps shall have been used.' Section 3324 of the Revised Statutes, referred to in section 12 of the foregoing act, is in these words: 'Every person who empties or draws off, or causes to be emptied or drawn off, any distilled spirits from a cask or package bearing any mark, brand, or stamp, required by law, shall, at the time of emptying such cask or package, efface and obliterate said mark, stamp, or brand. Every such cask or package from which said mark, brand, or stamp is not effaced and obliterated as herein required, shall be forfeited to the United States, and may be seized by any officer of internal revenue wherever found. And every railroad company or other transportation company, or person who receives or transports, or has in possession with intent to transport, or with intent to cause or procure to be transported, any such empty cask or package, or any part thereof, having thereon any brand, mark, or stamp, required by law to be placed on any cask or package containing distilled spirits, shall forfeit three hundred dollars for each such cask or package, or any part thereof, so received or transported, or had in possession with the intent aforesaid; and every boat, railroad car, cart, dray, wagon, or other vehicle, and all horses and other animals used in carrying or transporting the same, shall be forfeited to the United States. Every person who fails to efface and obliterate said mark, stamp, or brand, at the time of emptying such cask or package, or who receives any such cask or package, or any part thereof, with the intent aforesaid, or who transports the same, or knowingly aids or assists therein, or who removes any stamp provided by law from any cask or package containing, or which had contained, distilled spirits, without defacing and destroying the same at the time of such removal, or who aids or assists therein, or who has in his possession any such stamp so removed as aforesaid, or has in his possession any canceled stamp, or any stamp which has been used, or which purports to have been used, upon any cask or package of distilled spirits, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars nor more than ten thousand dollars, and imprisoned not less than one year nor more than five years.'

The case was brought into this court by the following certificate:

'At a stated term of the circuit court of the United States of America for the Southern district of New York, in the Second circuit, begun and held at the United States courtrooms, in the city of New York, on the third Monday of October, in the year of our Lord 1884.

'Present, the Honorable WILLIAM J. WALLACE, the Honorable CHARLES L. BENEDICT, judges.

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