Volume 10 — Wyoming Reports

District Court, Sheridan County, HoN. David H. Craig, Judge of the Third District, presiding. This was an action for the recovery of damages for the conversion of three promissory notes, brought by' F. A. DeClark against J. B. Bell. Bell had held the notes as collateral security for a note held by him executed by DeClark.

David H. Craig, Judge. J. H. Leslie was convicted of forgery, and sentenced to three years in the penitentiary. A motion in arrest of judgment was overruled and the defendant prosecuted error. The fácts aré fully stated in the opinions. ' The facts stated in the information do not constitute an offence punishable by the laws of Wyoming. The instrument could not be considered the instrument of or one executed by the Rocky Mountain News.

. Error to .the District Court, Sheridan County, Hon. David H. Craig, Judge of Third District, presiding. This was an action instituted by W. P. Waters against'F. A. DeClark for the cancellation of a chattel mortgage, the plaintiff claiming to have paid the debt secured thereby. Defendant denied such payment and by cross-petition sought foreclosure of the mortgage.

Richard H. Scott, Judge. John Miskimmons commenced the action against H. Waldo Moore, complaining that, without probable cause, and maliciously, the defendant had charged the plaintiff before a Justice of the Peace with the crime of compounding a felony, and that he was, in consequence thereof, arrested, and subsequently committed for contempt of court for declining to answer certain questions in a criminal hearing wherein other parties were complained of for obtaining money…

Josrph R. Stotts, Judge. Heard on motion to strike the bill of exceptions from the record, on the ground that the same was not presented in time. The facts are stated in the opinion. The District Judge has no authority by a chambers order to extend the time granted by a previous order of the court for the presentation of a bill of exceptions.

Charles W. Bramel, Judge. Action'by the City of Laramie against the Albany Mutual Building Association to recover a tax levied against the… Held: like other corporate property, for final distribution, either in hastening the maturity of its loans to The taxation of building associations is governed by the same principles as that which govern corporations generally. They must, in the absence of exemptions, pay taxes like other corporations. (4 Ency. L., 1012; State, Wash.

Charles W. Bramel, Judge of Second District, presiding. Action on written contract for the payment of money brought by the Wheatland Mercantile Company, a corporation, against Herbert J. Thompson. Judgment was rendered for plaintiff, and defendant brought proceedings in error. The facts are stated in the opinion.

Richard H. Scott, Judge. This was an application by a widow, on the probate side of the court, to have the homestead of her deceased husband set apart for her use. The application was denied, and the matter was brought to this court on error. Daniel Ullman, a citizen and resident of the City of Cheyenne, in the State of Wyoming, died in that city on the tenth day of September, 1896.

David H. Craig, Judge. The bank sued to recover damages for the conversion of certain sheep. On April 6, 1895, to secure a note due in one year, one Edward S. Murray mortgaged to the bank all his sheep, recited to be about 10,500 head. The mortgage was afterwards renewed by filing the statutory affidavit continuing it in force to April 6, 1897.

David H. Craig, Judge. Frank A. Mau brought suit against John W. Stoner for damages for the alleged wrongful diversion of water and for an injunction. A demurrer to the petition was overruled, and defendant answered denying all the allegations of the petition except plaintiff’s ownership of the land alleged to belong to him upon which the damage was alleged to have resulted.

Richard H. Scott, Judge. This action was brought in the District Court by William A. Pinkerton, and Robert A. Pinkerton, co-partners, doing business under the firm name of Pinkerton National Detect-iv'e Agency, against John H. Ward, Charles E. Stone and Thomas Blyth, to recover for certain services alleged to have been rendered by said plaintiffs, at the special instance and request of the defendants.

Richard H. Scott, Judge. James Smith and Lewis Smith, two brothers, were jointly informed against for the larceny of live stock. James was acquitted and Lewis was convicted. Together with Thomas Black, they were working on a ranch, Black being under the direction of Lewis Smith, as he testified.

Habeas Corpus. James Bandy applied for discharge on habeas corpus from the state penitentnary, where he was imprisoned under a sentence of the District Court of Crook County as for grand larceny. The petition alleged the cause of the restraint, charged to be illegal, to be a certain mittimus issued out of said court commanding the warden of the penitentiary to receive and confine the plaintiff in that institution -for the period of two and one-half years.

Charles W. Bramel, Judge.- This was an election contest. The petition was demurred to and the demurrer was sustained. A motion for rehearing on the demurrer was filed and denied. The plaintiff excepted to the rulings. No judgment was rendered in the action. Plaintiff brought the cáse here on error. A ruling sustaining a demurrer on the ground that the petition fails to state fact's sufficient to constitute a cause of action is a final order. (Williamson v'.

Charles W. Bramel, Judge. On motions to dismiss and quash bill of exceptions. The facts material to the motions are stated in the opinion. The motions were denied. Held: the term, name of the judge and other officers present, so that the Appellate Court may know that the proceedings were had before a court; and cited the following authorities: McDonald v. Peniston, 1 Neb., 324; Orr v. Orr, 2 Neb., 170; 20 Ency.

David H. Craig, Judge. Action by Isaac C. Miller against John B. Cosgriff, Thomas A. Cosgriff and James B. Cosgriff, co-partners under the firm name and style of Cosgriff Brothers, in the District… Held: in the case of Greeley S. B. & P. Co. v. Yeager, that, though tort was not punishable as a crime, exemplary damages could not be recovered. (b) Neither can such damages be had where one acts in good faith under a reasonable, though mistaken, belief that he has a right.

Joseph D. Stotts, Judge. This was an action on a note and for the foreclosure of a trust deed securing the note, brought by the Farm Investment Company against the Wyoming College and Normal School. The defendant sought credit for several notes alleged to have been delivered to plaintiff as collateral security, some of which had been collected, others had been barred by the statute of limitations, and others were still in the possession of the plaintiff, uncollected.

Richard H. Scott, Judge of First District, presiding. Jennie Anderson brought this suit against Heriot Riddle to recover a certain sum of money alleged to have been collected by the defendant from sundry persons occupying certain premises as tenants of one Charles H. Bussey in the Town of Rock Springs.

Charles W. Bramel, Judge. Alfred Gustavenson, having been convicted of murder in the second degree, prosecuted error. The facts are stated in the briefs and opinion. The verification to the information cannot be dispensed with, and without the seal of the officer the effect is the same as no verification, and the defect is jurisdictional. (R. S., Secs. 5268, 4295, 3303, 3429; Starr v. U. S., 153 U. S., 614; Rosenstein v. State, 9 Ind. App., 290; Robertson v. State, 25 Tex.

Joseph L. Stotts, Judge. This action was instituted in the District Court by Manlius T. Redman against Newton E. Cramer to recover an alleged share of certain money collected by defendant from one Holland, for whom the parties had been so-sureties. The allegations of the petition as finally amended were as follows: “1.

David H. Craig, Judge. The suit was brought by plaintiff in error to recover of defendants a certain sum of money alleged to have been loaned by him to them as a partnership. The facts are stated in the opinion. Judgment was rendered for defendants, and plaintiff brought the case here on error. There can be no doubt but that, under the law, the agreement entered into by defendants in error, with others, constituted a mining partnership.

CharlRs W. Bramrl, Judge. On motion to dismiss for default of plaintiff in error in filing briefs. After motion to dismiss was filed, and notice of hearing thereon had been given, counsel for plaintiff .in error moved for leave to file briefs for. .reasons stated-in. an. attached affidavit. The facts are stated in the opinion.

Richard H. Scott, Judge of the First District, presiding. George W. Downing was indicted and tried for the crime of murder in the first degree, found guilty of murder in the second degree, and sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of twenty-five years. He filed his. petition in error for a review of the judgment. The State moved a dismissal of the proceedings in error on the ground that the bill of exceptions did not contain the evidence.

David H. Cráig, Judge. This was an appeal from a judgment of the District Court affirming a determination, of the State Board of Land Commissioners in awarding a lease of state lands. The facts are stated in the opinion. The first controversy in the case arose over the meaning of the word “renew” in Sec. 815, R. S., it being contended that this did not import a new lease at the same rental.

<p>1. sí judgment in favor of the Board of Land Commissioners in a suit to enjoin the issuance of a lease to a contesting claimant having been based upon a judgment in favor of such contestant in a suit between the rival claimants; and the latter judgment having been reversed, the former is also reversed, and the cause remanded for such further proceedings as shall be deemed proper in the premises.</p>

Original proceeding on mandamus. This suit was instituted in the Supreme Court on the relation of Frank O. Harrison for a writ of mandamus to require the State Board of Land Commissioners to issue to him a lease of state lands in renewal of a former lease, and at the same rental. The right of renewal was based upon the fact that the said lessee had reclaimed the land by irrigation.

Richard H. Scott, Judge of First District, presiding. Lawrence A. Carton brought the action against the Board of County Commissioners of the County of Uinta to recover back certain taxes paid by him upon some herds of sheep. Judgment was rendered for the county, and he appealed, assigning error. The material facts are stated in the opinion. It will be conceded that if plaintiff’s property was interstate commerce, it was not taxable.

On Reserved Questions from the District Court, Laramie County, HoN. Richard H. Scott, Judge. These two cases were heard and determined together. • On the first day of the May term, 1902, of the District Court of the County of Laramie an order was entered for the drawing of a petit jury, and the same was drawn from the box provided by law.