acres in California and 320 acres in Oregon, upon appropriate application supported by affidavit showing his qualifications to make such purchase, and, amongst other things (as before and during the said period was required by the laws of the said States), his intention to purchase in good faith and for his own benefit and that he had made no contract or agreement to sell the same. These applications were to be made in the names of fictitious persons and in the names of persons not really desiring or qualified to purchase said lands. The use of the last-mentioned names for such purpose Hyde and Benson were to procure by paying or causing to be paid to such persons small sums of money, and by falsely representing or causing to be represented to some of them that they were merely disposing of their rights to purchase such school lands.

The proposed use of fictitious affidavits is set out at considerable length, with the names that were used, the purpose being charged to obtain the lands according to the conspiracy detailed, obtain title from the United States with the intention of disposing of the same to the general public, and to defraud the United States "to the profit, gain and use of themselves."

Hyde and Benson were, during said period, to induce and procure and take advantage of the fact that they had induced and procured the said Woodford D. Harlan and William E. Valk, by paying them respectively divers sums of money for that purpose, corruptly to furnish information concerning the status in the General Land Office of all matters pertaining to their said business and especially to their false and fraudulent selections, and to expedite, contrary to their duty, the matters which should be pending in the Land Office pertaining to their business and the examination of such selections made and to be made by Hyde and Benson and by securing the approval thereof in advance and otherwise favoring and assisting Hyde and Benson in their fraudulent practices. This

charge is dwelt upon at some length, and it is charged, besides, that Allen, the forest superintendent, and Taggart, the forest supervisor, had been and were to be corrupted, whereby they were to give such advice and information as to including or not including lands within a forest reserve as should be to the interest of Hyde and Benson.

Hyde, Benson, Dimond and Schneider, as a part of their conspiracy, were to secure by the means detailed and other means too numerous and diverse to be described, the establishment of forest reserves in California and Oregon in such localities in those States as would best effect the object of the conspiracy, by reason of the fact that large quantities of school lands in such localities were still undisposed of and open to purchase from said States, respectively.

Dimond, for money and other valuable considerations paid by Hyde and Benson, was, as attorney, to aid and assist Hyde and Benson in their business by appearing in their behalf before the appropriate officers of the Department of the Interior and of the General Land Office from time to time to urge speedy action by those officers upon the matters there pending pertaining to their said business and to further said business in the manner hereinafter shown, he, Dimond, knowing full well the fraudulent character of the business.

Schneider, in the capacity of employé of Hyde and Benson, was to aid and assist them by obtaining in the States of California and Oregon the fictitious affidavits and the affidavits of those persons who would permit the use of their names as stated, he knowing while so assisting the fraudulent character of the applications and the purpose for which they and the affidavits were to be used.

The indictment contains the description of the lands which it was the object of the conspiracy to secure, amounting to 6,800 acres, of which 3,400 acres were selected in VOL. CCXXV-23

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the name of C. W. Clarke; all of the lands being in forest reserves then lately before established under the laws of the United States.

On December 30, 1901, Dimond entered his appearance in the General Land Office as attorney for Clarke.

The other counts in the indictment, numbering 41, are substantially alike in their general allegations, differing as to their incidents. They charge, as in the first count, a conspiracy formed in Washington by the same parties and for the same purpose and to be executed in the same way in regard to lands in the various districts of the respective States, and that in pursuance of the conspiracy certain overt acts were done. Most of the overt acts charged consisted in the filing in the General Land Office by Dimond, as attorney for Hyde, his appearance in different selection cases, in some of which he urges and sets forth the reasons for favoring a speedy action.

In counts 35 to 40, both inclusive, the overt act charged is the payment of money by Benson to either Valk or Harlan, alleged in the indictment to be salaried officials of the General Land Office and charged with duties pertaining to the exchange of lands of private claim or ownership included in a forest reserve or other public land.

Two overt acts are charged against Hyde, one of which was committed on July 29, 1903, by causing to be transmitted by mail from the United States land office at Vancouver to the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington a written notification to the Commissioner, signed by Hyde for C. W. Clarke, that the latter appealed to the Secretary of the Interior from a certain decision of the Commissioner, with an assignment of errors, and the second of which was that Hyde, on March 31, 1902, caused to be presented by the hand of Dimond a paper signed by him, Hyde, notifying the Commissioner that one S. E. Kieffer was authorized and appointed as Hyde's

agent to post notices on the ground described in a certain application and to make affidavit of posting.

Shortly after the indictment was found removal proceedings were instituted against Hyde and Dimond before a United States Commissioner in California, who, after taking testimony, ordered their removal. The United States Circuit Court denied writs of habeas corpus and certiorari, and its action was affirmed by this court. Hyde v. Shine, 199 U. S. 62.

There was a demurrer to the indictment, which was overruled, the ruling upon which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals of the District. Hyde v. United States, 27 App. D. C. 362.

Motions to require the Government to elect on which counts it would proceed were filed and also motions for a bill of particulars. The latter was granted and the bill of particulars filed; the former was overruled.

Pleas in abatement were filed, to which demurrers were sustained, and finally the defendants were arraigned and pleas of not guilty made and the case proceeded to trial. Benson and Dimond were acquitted. Hyde and Schneider were convicted on all counts except 29 and 33, which were abandoned by the Government. Hyde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment and to pay a fine of $10,000, and Schneider was sentenced to imprisonment for one year and two months and to pay a fine of $2,000.

Their conviction and sentence were affirmed by the Court of Appeals. Hyde v. United States, 35 App. D. C. 451.

The case is here on certiorari.

The Attorney General assented to the granting of the writ, he saying that "the determination of this case depends upon the principles of law governing conspiracy,' and that in view of the decisions of the lower courts and of the numerous prosecutions under the conspiracy statute, "it was of vital importance to the United States, as

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well as to its citizens, that these principles be definitely settled by this court."

The petitioners asked the court to review the case for the purpose of having it decide certain questions of law which they characterized as "important and fundamental," one of which, counsel says, granting the writ took out of the case. Of those remaining one is "as to the effect of an overt act in giving jurisdiction in an indictment for conspiracy under section 5440;" and the other is "as to the effect of overt acts by some of the accused in depriving the petitioners of the benefit of the statute of limitations."

There are other questions arising from the conduct of the trial and upon which separate briefs are filed. We postpone their consideration until after the more important questions, which induced the certiorari, are discussed. First, as to the overt acts in giving jurisdiction:

It will be observed that the indictment charges that the conspiracy was formed in the District of Columbia and that certain of the overt acts were performed there and others in California. A question arose at the termination of the trial and before the case was submitted to the jury as to whether the charge of the indictment was sustained. Defendant moved to take the case from the jury because there was no evidence to support the allegation that the defendants conspired within the District of Columbia. The court denied the motion, but said in passing on it that it was "not claimed on the part of the Government that the defendants had conspired within this District in any other sense than that overt acts were committed by them here." The contention was, the court said further, "that if any overt act was committed here the defendants thereby conspired here." So understanding the contentions and the proof, the court expressed its views as follows: "If these defendants got together in California and planned to defraud the United States out of its lands by the means charged in the indictment, and