The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-02-14
BROAD ROCK MEN
LOSE ON APPEAL
HIGHER COURT sUsTAINs wAD-
DILL,s SENTENCE OF WOOD,
RHEA AND WILLIAMS.
TO FEDERAL PRISON
WOOD GETS EIGHTEEN MONTHS
AND YEAR FOR oTHERs--DIs-
functions BETWEEN COR
PoRATIoNs AND IN
DIyIDUALs.
TO FEDERAL PRISON

Clarence b. Wood, John NJ Rhea
and Luther w. williams, sentenced
by Judge Waddill, of the Dederal Dis
trict court, to Imprisonment, III add
ton to the imposition of fines, for
fraud In connection with the operation
of the Broad Rock Distiilery COM
pany, lost thei rappeai to the Circuit
Court of Appeals. a decision by Judge
Rose, handed down yesterday, affirm
ing the verdict of the lower court.
The accused men were represented
by George A. Hanson and L. o. Wen
denburg and the government by AS
sistart District Attorney Taffey.
Unlucky Thirteen.
The men were tried in June. 1912.
and sentenced by Judge Waddili on
July 18th. The men appealed and
their motions for a new trial was
heard on December 18th. On Feb
ruary 18th the appeals were denied.
There were sixteen counts in the in
dictments against the three men, con-
vfctions being secured on the first and
sixteenth. Demurrers were filed In
the case of all, but the court OF re-
view found 1t unnecessary to consider
any but these two. The first count
charged that the defendants "unIaw-
fully did engage in and carry on bust
ness of distiliers with intent TO de-
fraud the United States of the tax
on part of the spirits distilled there
In" and the sixteenth charged that
the defendants "uniawfully and with
intent to defraud the United States
did make false entries In the book re-
quired TO be kept by such distiileries"
the entries OF the quantity of grain
and other material and OF the num-
Der of gallons distilled being below
the true and accurate quantity.
Disposing OF the point made by the
defendants in their appeal that the
punishment for the crime charged is
more than one year imprisonment
and therefore n felony and that the
indictment was defective in that IL
did not allege that what was charged
was done feloniousiy, the court held
that Ii was decided sixty years ago
that where crime is made felony
by statute IL IL unnecessary TO charge
that IL was feloniously committed, I'M
less the statute itself makes felonious
intent, an element of the offense The
dismissal by the lower court of the
demurrer alleging that the counts did
not set forth the exact entries al
legged to be false, nor give descrip-
ton TO bar future prosecution on the
same offense, was sustained by the
appellate court. which held that the
description was sufficient in absence
OF request of defendants for bill
Of particulars.
Woods Special Plea.
Wood filed special plea in his
own behalf. alleging that while the
distiilery stood in the name of the
Broad Rock Distiliery company, in
corporated. he was president. sole
owner and sole stock holder of such
company and therefore sole owner of
such distiiiery and that upon libel of
information against the distlilery.
fled by the government and charging
the same offenses as alleged by the
government in the present case, the
dissiliery became forfeited TO the gov
eminent. In other words Wood
= pleaded that he had been punished
by the seizure of his property The
government demurred to this Piled and
the demurrer was sustained by Judge
Waddiii. The appellate court upheld
the lower court In its action.
For the purposes of this case"
says judge Rose in his decision yes
terday. lit Is immaterial whether
Wood owned one share of stock or
ALL II forfeiture of the corporate
property was punishment If the stock
holders whose interest in the prop
erty was thereby taken from 1t, the
holder of one share was punished as
well as the holder of all. although the
extent Of the punishment may diff
fer" Stockholders. says the decision.
innocent or guilty of knowledge of
the crime suffer alike from forfeiture
for the crime. Accordingly, finds the
Eturf. ut certainly cannot be con-
tended that innocent or guilty they
are immune from other punishment.
The court also held that even had
Wood been owner in his own name
the forfeiture of the property in civil
proceedings was no bar to further
prosecution for personal crime
The court found no merit In num-
Der of assignments of error based on
the rejection or admission of evil
dence and sustained the lower court
In each case.
The sentence imposed upon Wood
was imprisonment for eighteen
months and the imposition of fine
of $500. A similar sentence was Inn
posed upon Rhea. while Williams
Prison sentence was placed at twelve
months and fine at $500.
Other Decisions.
Other cases I'm the Court of Appeals
yesterday were:
No. 1l39. Howard s. Roberts ct
al. appellants. VS.. Steam Dredge "A. -
and ewner. Edmund Mitchell. trading
as Mitchell 4 Co. appeiiees. appeal
from the District Court at New Bern,
n. c. Cause argued by Harry Nc
Mullan. OF Washington. n. C.. for the
appellants. ana by H. III. Little OF
Norfolk, Va, and j, +. Duncan. of
Beaufort. N. c., for the appellees
was argued and submitted.
The court "Wednesday announced
and handed down it's opinion In the
following cases:
No. HOS. Mary r. Trimhle ct al.
plaintiffs In error. VS.. w. G.. Rice. Jr,
ct al. defendants in error: in error
to the District Court at Greenville
s. G. Opinion by Judge Pritchard.
Reversed and remanded for new trial,
Case In call today: No, 114s. Paul
Beatty, Alma jackson ct al. plain
tiffs I'm error. VS.. United States of
America, defendant in error: In error
90 the District Court at Lynchburg.
Va. To be argued by ID. c. O'Fia-
herty. Of Richmond. Va. and Hilton
Jackson, OF Washington. ID. c.. for
the plaintiffs in error. and by Barnes
Gillespie. United States Attorney of
Tazewell. of Tazeweli, Va. for the de-
fendant In error.
Chew Each Other in Fight.
Mary Jackson and Amy Robinson,
colored. sat" each other last night,
and also hit each ofher Thay will