36 F. 441 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern California | 1888
The petitioners are 10 Chinese laborers, subjects of the ■emperor of China. They were in the United States on November 17, 1880, and have been residents of the country ever since. On August 29, 1888, the petitioners, at the port of San Francisco, shipped on hoard the steamship Colima, as part of the crew, for a voyage from said port to the port of Panama, in the state of New Granada, and return to San Francisco, the shipment being for the round voyage, and San Francisco the port of their discharge. The steam-ship Colima is an American vessel, sailing under the American flag, regularly engaged in the transportation of passengers and merchandise between the said ports of San Francisco and Panama. The said vessel sailed from the port of San Francisco for Panama and return on August 30,1888, having said petitioners on board, as a part of her crew for the round voyage. She arrived at Panama on September 22, 1888, and sailed from Panama on October 1, 1888, on her return voyage to San Francisco, where she arrived on October 21, 1888, with said petitioners on board, as a part of her crew, the said petitioners having remained on said ship, and not landed therefrom in any foreign land from the time the ship left San Francisco till her return to said port. On their return to San Francisco, the collector of the port refused to permit them to land, on the ground that they had departed from the country, and under the exclusion act passed October 1, 1888, it had become unlawful for them to return to the United States. This writ of habeas corpus was thereupon issued upon their petition, to determine their rights under the act mentioned.