United States v. Ringeling

Citations

• 8 Mont. 353

Syllabus

<p>Cbeshhai. Law — Mines'and minerals — Section 5508, United States Revised Statutes, construed. — At a term of the District Court of Deer Lodge County, sitting to determine United States causes, the defendants were indicted for a violation of the provisions of section 5508, United States Bevised Statutes. The averments of the indictment were, in substance, that three certain persons had located, in their own names, but for the benefit of themselves and Samuel Tolman and Lewis Demars, a certain mining claim, and that while Tolman and Demars as owners were in the possession and occupation of the said claim, the defendants entered their cabin in disguise with the intent to hinder and prevent the said occupants from exercising the rights and privileges connected with said claim, which they had acquired from the United States by virtue of the location aforesaid. The District Court excluded all the evidence offered by the prosecution on the trial, on the ground that the indictment charged no offense, and rendered a judgment discharging the defendants. Meld, that the indictment would have been sufficient had it alleged that Tolman and Demars were locators of the mining claim; but as they were not, and could only rely upon the laws of the Territory to support their title, section ■ 5508, United States Bevised Statutes, did not apply.</p>