94 F. 147 | E.D. Ark. | 1899
(orally charging jury). This is a trial for the offense of cutting, or causing to be cut, and hauling away, or causing to be hauled away, timber from the lands of the government. The defense is that the lands were homesteads, and that the timber was disposed of by the homesteaders to the parties who are charged with unlawfully having it cut. The case is out of the ordinary run of cases of this kind. It may not require any more consideration at your hands, however, because the testimony is plain, and the law at last is simple. The court will endeavor to make the law plain to you which is to govern you in making up your verdict in this case. The homestead laws of the United States are exceedingly munificent
Now, much of the testimony in this case is to the effect that the so-called “homesteader” sold the timber for 50 cents a thousand, took lumber in exchange, and paid for the hire of the carpenters who put up the house, and paid for digging wells, and all that sort of thing. The law does not authorize that. I said to you before that congress passed this law having in consideration the customs and
Much has been said about the question of intent in this case. There must be au intention, of course, to violate the law and deprive the government of this timber; but the court calls your attention to the fact that all persons are presumed to intend the natural result of their acts. And if you find that these defendants', or any one of them, knew 1he condition of these lands, that they were recently homesteaded, and that the timber they obtained permission to cut was cut off of lands not put in cultivation, not going to be put in cultivation, from the very nature of tilings, the law says that they intended to take it unlawfully. The defendants are entitled to the benefit of ail reasonable doubt that may arise upon the whole testimony in the case to the extent that, after hearing all the evidence and weighing it, you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty, it is your duty to say so; but, if you still have a reasonable doubt, of their guilt, it is your duty to acquit. If, after weighing all the evidence, you are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt — have an abiding conviction — that they are guilty, it is equally your duty to say that they are guilty. And when I say a reasonable doubt, gentlemen, I mean a doubt arising upon the testimony, not from something outside, I do not mean any far-fetched, illogical, supposititious doubt, but a reasonable doubt; such a doubt as would prevent you from acting’ in the most important affairs of your lives. This is the kind of a doubt to which the defendants are entitled to the benefit of. You are the sole judges of the testimony, giving it such weight as you think
The court calls your attention again to the question of the land being put in cultivation. Cultivation means cultivation. Making a stock farm or stock range of land is not putting it into cultivation. Fitting it for grazing, cutting the trees for the purpose of putting it in condition for grazing purposes, is not putting it in cultivation. That is not what the law contemplates when it says cultivation. It means plowing and preparing it for crops, or the raising of something that grows from the ground, besides grass. You are to take this case, gentlemen, and decide' it according to the evidence that has been adduced here by the witnesses, weighing all the circumstances, weighing all the evidence, and taking the law as now given you by the court. You will decide it without prejudice or passion, fairly and in accordance with the law and the evidence. If you find both the defendants guilty, you will say so. If you find one not guilty and the other guilty, you will say so. If you find both not guilty, you will say so by your verdict. You will retire, and consider your verdict.
There was a verdict of guilty.