State v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.

83 Wash. 188
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 6, 1915
DocketNo. 11693
StatusPublished

This text of 83 Wash. 188 (State v. Northern Pacific Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Northern Pacific Railway Co., 83 Wash. 188 (Wash. 1915).

Opinion

Crow, C. J.

Two informations were filed by the prosecuting attorney of Whatcom county against the Northern Pacific Railway Company, a corporation, charging it with a viola[189]*189tion of ch. 81, Laws of 1909, p. 153 (Rem. & Bal. Code, § 6292, et seq.), commonly known as the local option law. By agreement of the parties, an amended information was filed in each case. One of these amended informations, omitting formal parts, reads as follows:

“Then and there being the said defendant, Northern Pacific Railway Company, a corporation, did then and there wilfully and unlawfully bring into Bellingham, Whatcom County, State of Washington, on or about the 26th day of April, 1913, a car load of intoxicating liquor, the said defendant Northern Pacific Railway Company being a public carrier, and the said liquor being consigned to the Puget Sound Bottling Works, a co-partnership, consisting of Raffeal Geri and Benjamin Geri, engaged in part in the sale of intoxicating liquors at wholesale, and the said Bellingham being then and there a dry unit under Chap. 81 of the Session Laws of 1909.
“That on or about the 20th day of April, 1913, the said Puget Sound Bottling Works, a co-partnership, ordered from a manufacturing wholesale brewery in Portland, Oregon, the said car load of bottle beer, the same consisting of 405 cases; that the same was delivered in Portland, Oregon, to the Northern Pacific Railway Company, the above named defendant corporation, who agreed to transport the said beer to Bellingham, consigned to the said Puget Sound Bottling Works, a co-partnership, and issued its bill of lading therefor; that thereupon the said Northern Pacific Railway Company, a corporation, defendant herein, did transport said car load of beer to Bellingham, Washington, the freight having been prepaid by the shipper at Portland, Oregon; that the said Northern Pacific Railway Company, a corporation, defendant herein, did as a public carrier bring the said car load of beer into Bellingham, a dry unit under the Session Laws of 1909, State of Washington, the same being known as the ‘Local Option Law,’ and the same was transferred to the said consignee, Puget Sound Bottling Works, a co-partnership, at the side track of the said defendant corporation in Belling-ham, Whatcom County, Washington, on or about the 28th day of April, 1913; that the said Puget Sound Bottling Works immediately transferred the said beer to its warehouse in Bellingham, Washington, the same not being a place of [190]*190public resort, but a place of storage only, and that subsequently, to wit, on or about May 1, 1913, and on subsequent consecutive days, the said Puget Sound Bottling Works, made deliveries therefrom in the original package at various residences in Bellingham, Washington, after the sale of the same by orders taken in wet units.”

The other amended information was substantially the same, except that it charged that a car load of bottled beer was consigned to Benjamin Geri, a member of the partnership .firm known as the Puget Sound Bottling Works; that the beer had been ordered by Benjamin Geri; that it was delivered to him by the Northern Pacific Railway Company on defendant’s side track in the city of Bellingham; that Benjamin Geri immediately transferred the shipment to his private residence; that on the same day and on subsequent days he and the Puget Sound Bottling Works • made deliveries in original packages at various residences in Bellingham after sales made by orders taken in wet units. It will thus be seen that the only material difference between the two amended informations is that in one instance a car load of beer was taken to the warehouse of the firm, while in the other it was taken to the private residence of a member of the firm.

It was stipulated that the two cases might be heard together, and they have been consolidated in this court. The defendant interposed a demurrer to each of the amended in-formations. Prior to the hearing of these demurrers, the parties filed a stipulation in each case setting forth certain facts which they agreed should be considered by the trial court in passing upon the demurrers. The facts in-the first case thus stated in substance are: That on or about April 20, 1913, the Puget Sound Bottling Works ordered from a brewery in Portland, Oregon, one carload of bottled beer which was there delivered to the Northern Pacific Railway Company for transportation to Bellingham consigned to the Puget Sound Bottling Works; that having issued its bill of lading therefor, the railway company transported the beer [191]*191to Bellingham, the freight thereon having.been prepaid by the shipper at Portland, Oregon; that the sale to the Puget Sound Bottling Works by the brewery was made at Portland, Oregon; that the beer was packed by the shipper in original unbroken packages containing twenty-four quarts each, and was thus carried and delivered; that it arrived in Bellingham on April 26, 1913, and on April 28, 1913, was delivered by the railway company at its side track; that the Puget Sound Bottling Works, with its own conveyances transported the beer in the original and unbroken packages to its warehouse' in Bellingham; that the warehouse is not a place of public resort, but is a place of storage only; that subsequently deliveries of the beer were made at residences in Bellingham; that the Puget Sound Bottling Works is not engaged in selling intoxicating liquors at retail; that the carload of beer was ordered for its convenience in the matter of making deliveries after it had taken orders for the sale and delivery at residences in Bellingham, Whatcom county, Washington, the sales and orders for such deliveries being made in wet units outside of the dry unit; that the Puget Sound Bottling Works has complied with all license laws with reference to its business; and that the Federal statute (Act of March 1, 1913, 37 Stat. 699), commonly known as the Kenyon-Webb act, was, at all times subsequent to April 1, 1913, in full force and effect. This stipulation is somewhat peculiar, as by its terms it seems to be agreed that the Puget Sound Bottling Works made sales and accepted orders in wet units for delivery in the identical dry unit where its stock of goods was held and located. However, we will consider the facts as they are stipulated. The trial court sustained a demurrer to each of the informations, and discharged the defendant. The state has appealed.

Appellant’s contention is that the respondent violated § 18 of the local option act (Laws 1909, p. 165), which reads as follows:

[192]*192“It shall be unlawful for any person, or public or private carrier to accept or receive for shipment, transportation or delivery to any person or place within any unit in which the sale of intoxicating liquor is forbidden under the provisions of this chapter, or to carry, bring into or transfer to any other person, carrier or agent, or handle, deliver or distribute in such unit any intoxicating liquor of any sort or character whatsoever; and whoever shall, either as principal, agent or servant, knowingly violate any of the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, and upon a subsequent violation of this section, in addition to the fine hereinbefore prescribed, he shall, if a natural person, be imprisoned in the county jail for not less than thirty days nor more than six months.

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Related

State v. Robinson
121 P. 848 (Washington Supreme Court, 1912)
State v. Bellingham Bay Brewery
127 P. 298 (Washington Supreme Court, 1912)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
83 Wash. 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-northern-pacific-railway-co-wash-1915.