United States v. Wheeler

254 F. 611, 1918 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 771
CourtDistrict Court, D. Arizona
DecidedDecember 2, 1918
DocketNo. C-692
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 254 F. 611 (United States v. Wheeler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Wheeler, 254 F. 611, 1918 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 771 (D. Ariz. 1918).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge.

This is a demurrer to an indictment charging the defendants with a conspiracy in violation of section 19 of the Criminal Code of the United States (Act March 4, 1909, c. 321, 35 Stat. 1092 [Comp. St. 1916, § 10183]).

The objection is that the facts stated in the indictment do not charge an offense within the constitutional provisions of that section. The section provides as follows:

“Sec. 19. If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same, or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured, they shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than ten years, and shall, moreover, be thereafter ineligible to any office, or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”

The section was originally contained in section 6 of “An act to enforce the right of citizens of the United States to vote in the several states of the Union and for other purposes,” approved May 31, 1870 (16 Stat. 140, 141, c. 114). It was afterwards contained in the Revised Statutes of the United States, enacted June 22, 1874, as section 5508, in chapter 7, entitled “Crimes against the Elective Franchise and Civil Rights of Citizens.” The section is now contained in chapter 3 of the Criminal Code, bearing the same title as chapter 7, containing section 5508 in the Revised Statutes, did prior to the enactment of the Criminal Code. .

This case is known to the public as the “Bisbee Deportation Case.” It involves an alleged conspiracy on the part of the defendants, continuing from the 1st to and including the 12th day of July, 1917, to deport from Bisbee, in the state of Arizona, 221 persons to the state of New Mexico. The conspiracy was plainly a single act on the part of the defendants against, all the persons to be deported; but for the purpose of classifying such persons with respect to their citizenship, and liability to the selective draft, the indictment has been split up into four counts, so as to charge the offense as a conspiracy directed against different classes of persons. This may be done, subject to certain limitations. United States v. Howell (D. C.) 65 Fed. 402; Orth v. United States, 252 Fed. 568,-C. C. A.-. These four counts [613]*613classify the persons against whom the consx>iracy was directed as follows :

In the first count the whole number of 221 persons are described as citizens of the United States.

In the second count 25 of this number of persons are described as citizens of the United States residing in, but not citizens of, the state of Arizona.

In the third count, 196 of the persons mentioned in the first count are described as citizens of the United States and of the state of Arizona, residing in Arizona. There is also- in this count a name not mentioned in the first count, making the number in this class 197. No objection is made to the indictment on this account.

In the fourth count 60 persons mentioned in the first count are described as citizens of the United States and of the state of Arizona, residing in said state, who were male persons between the ages of 21 and 30, required by the proclamation of the President of the United States, dated May 18, 1917, to present themselves on June 5, 1917, and who did present themselves, for and submit to registration under the provisions of the act of Congress approved May 18, 19l7 (40 Stat. ' 76, c. 15).

It is alleged in the first count that the 221 persons against whom the conspiracy of the defendants was directed—

“were citizens of the United States, residing in the county of Oochise, in the state and in said district of Arizona, in the peace of said county, state, and district, and then and there as such citizens of the United States were exercising the right and privilege pertaining to citizens of said state peaceably there to reside and remain and to enjoy the blessings of liberty rather than in another state of the United States, and the right and privilege pertaining to citizens of said state to be immune from unlawful deportation from that state to another state, and then and there were not persons charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime, who had fled from justice of said state, and had been found in said state of Arizona, or persons then in said state of Arizona, who had committed crimes or offenses against the United States in another state, or in other states, or persons not sentenced or imprisoned in a prison or prisons located in another state, or any other states, or persons subject to extradition to a foreign country or foreign countries.”

It is charged that the defendants conspired and confederated together—

“to injure, oppress, threaten, and intimidate said citizens of the United States in the free exercise and enjoyment by them, respectively, of certain rights and privileges secured to them as such citizens by the Constitution and laws of the United States; that is to say, the rights and privileges aforesaid.”

The rights and privileges “aforesaid” were the — ■

“right and privilege pertaining to citizens of the said state peaceably there to reside and remain and to enjoy the blessings of liberty rather than in another state of the United States, and the right and privilege pertaining to citizens of said state to bo immune from unlawful deportation from that state to another state.”

It is further charged that—

“Said unlawful and felonious conspiracy, combination, confederation, and agreement then and there was one for injuring, oppressing, threatening, and [614]*614intimidating said citizens of the United States in the free exercise and enjoyment of said rights and privileges, by unlawfully and with force and arms driving and conveying said citizens in a body from their said places of residence in said state of Arizona to and into another state, to wit, New Mexico, and threatening said citizens with great’bodily harm and death if they should return or endeavor to return to said state of Arizona.”

It is further charged that certain of the defendants in and for executing such conspiracy did certain overt acts set forth in the count. _

_ The second count is the same as the first count, except that it is alleged that the 25 persons against whom the conspiracy was directed are described as citizens of the United States residing in, but not citizens of, the state of Arizona, who—

“were exercising the right and privilege pertaining to citizens of other states of the United States, other than said state of Arizona, peaceably there to reside and remain and to enjoy the blessings of liberty and the right and privilege of being immune from unlawful deportation from that state to another state.”

The charge in this count is that the defendants conspired and confederated together—

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254 F. 611, 1918 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 771, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-wheeler-azd-1918.