Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/88045/wiborg-vs-united-states
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 14:24:41+00:00

Document:
Annals 3d Cong. 1793-95, p. 11. The legislation is historically considered in Dana's Wheaton, § 439, note. The statute was undoubtedly designed, in general, to secure neutrality in wars between two other nations, or between contending parties recognized as belligerents, but its operation is not necessarily dependent on the existence of such state of belligerency. 13 Ops.Attys.Gen. 177, 178. Section 5286 defines certain offenses against the United States and denounces the punishment therefor, but, although a penal statute, it must be reasonably construed, and not so as to defeat the obvious intention of the legislature. United States v. Lacher, 134 U. S. 624 , 134 U. S. 628 .
Defendants' counsel did not seek to compel an election nor in any manner, by their motion in arrest or otherwise, to raise the question of duplicity, nor do they now make objections to the proceedings on this ground. The district judge instructed the jury that the evidence would not justify a conviction "of anything more than providing the means for or aiding such military expedition by furnishing transportation for their men, their arms, baggage," etc. Under these circumstances, the verdict cannot be disturbed on the ground that more than one offense was included in the same count of the indictment, but it must be applied to the offense to which the jury were confined by the court. Crain v. United States, 162 U. S. 625 .
3. An exception was taken to the statement of the court that the men were armed. The court said: "They were armed, having rifles and cannon, and were provided with ammunition and other supplies." This statement was based on uncontradicted testimony, and occurring as it did in a recapitulation of the evidence, no rule of law being incorrectly stated, and the matters of fact being specifically submitted to the determination of the jury, we do not regard the exception as tenable. Baltimore & Potomac Railroad v. Fifth Baptist Church, 137 U. S. 568 , 137 U. S. 574 .
Clearly the observation of the court thus guarded did not so trespass on the province of the jury as to constitute reversible error. Simmons v. United States, 142 U. S. 148 , 142 U. S. 155 .
of the res gestae of acts done in such furtherance. Assuming a secret combination between the party and the captain or officers of the Horsa had been proven, then, on the question whether such combination was lawful or not, the motive and intention, declarations of those engaged in it explanatory of acts done in furtherance of its object, came within the general rule, and were competent. St. Clair v. United States, 154 U. S. 134 ; People v. Davis, 56 N.Y. 102; Lincoln v. Claflin, 7 Wall. 132, 74 U. S. 139 ; 1 Greenl.Ev. § 111; Starkie, Ev. 466.
The extent to which evidence of this kind is admissible is much in the discretion of the trial court, and we do not consider that that discretion was abused in this instance. Clune v. United States, 159 U. S. 590 , 159 U. S. 592 .
any arrangement for his vessel, after it passed beyond the territory and jurisdiction of the United States, to receive men destined for Cuba, was that given by himself. And he distinctly swore that when he started from Philadelphia, he did not know that "we were going to take these people and their goods on the Horsa. " There was not the slightest ground in the evidence to suppose that he ever had any communication with those people, or that he ever saw them, before they came on his vessel. Those persons had, of course, arranged with the charterer for passage on the Horsa. But the charterer did not communicate the fact of such an arrangement to the captain of the vessel while lie was within the territory and jurisdiction of the United States. The direction that he should receive the men and their goods on board came to him from the charterer when he was not within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States. He cannot therefore be said to have provided or prepared, "within the territory or jurisdiction of the United States," any means for the expedition or enterprise against the territory or dominion of Spain. Under the interpretation placed upon the statute by the government, the charterer did provide for such means. But, curiously enough, the charterer was not indicted. The prosecution is against the officers of the vessel, no one of whom, according to the proof, had any knowledge, at the time the Horsa left Philadelphia, nor while it was within the jurisdiction of the United States, that the charterer had arranged that the vessel, after it got beyond the jurisdiction of the United States, should receive on board individuals destined for Cuba, and who intended, after they arrived there, to engage in the struggle to overthrow the' authority of Spain in that island.

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