United States v. McKim
United States v. McKim
Opinion of the Court
(charging jury). I cannot agree with the learned counsel for the defendants, in the points subrnit-ed by them. This is not a case parallel to those before my Brothers Drummond and Leavitt, at Chicago and Cincinnati. It is not a case of forfeiture, dependent upon an intent to defraud the government, or of fraud actually perpetrated. The govemment does not claim that the revenue has been defrauded, or that even such was the design of the parties in failing to comply with the requisitions of the law. The minute details enumerated in the statute, necessary for the construction of a distillery, almost equal to those required for the erection of King Solomon’s temple, where each cubit was particularized, were for the purpose of preventing fiaud, which former laws seemed inadequate to meet.
This is an action for the recovery of a penalty imposed for not doing that which the law commands, or doing that which the law forbids. It is averred that the cisterns were not so constructed as to prevent the abstraction of spirits while passing from the outlet of the worm and forward to the receiving cistern. And that the apparatus was so arranged that free access was had to the spirits between the outlet of the worm and the cistern room, and that while the spirits were so passing, they might be abstracted, to the prejudice of the public revenue. If you believe the witnesses on the part of the government, such was the case in this distillery. But it is contended that under the ninety-sixth section this must be “willfully and knowingly” done. So it must. And Mr. MeKim with the candor which becomes his character, admits it was done by him for the reason that if the opening in the receiving tub
The jury then retired, and after a brief absence returned a verdict for the United StateB in the sum of $1.000, the amount of the penalty imposed by the law.
The learned judge, if he is correctly reported, probably here intended “separator” instead of “receiving tub,” as it is at the separator that the indication is given, as to the strength of the spirits.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- UNITED STATES v. McKIM
- Status
- Published