clandestinely introduced the same into the United States with intent to defraud the revenues of the United States, contrary to the forms of the statute in such case made and provided, but asserts that the said rings were purchased and brought into the United States as hereinafter set forth and not otherwise.

5th. And the respondent and owner of said property denies that at the time of such purchase and at the time that said merchandise was brought into the United States, as aforesaid, the same were subject to duty and should have been invoiced, as in the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth counts of the said information stated, but, on the contrary, the respondent and owner, Emil J. Pepke, says that by the ratification of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain and the proclamation thereof the Philippine islands, including the island of Luzon, became a part of the territory of the United States, and, being such, it was and is beyond the power of Congress or any collection or other officer of the United States to require the respondent and owner of said goods, being a native-born citizen of the United States, to pay duties on upon merchandise purchased in said island of Luzon, then and there being a part of the territory of the United States, and brought by him into California, then and there being another portion or part of the territory of the United States, and removed by him from there to the State of North Dakota and from there to the State of Illinois, both being a part of the territory of the United States, and that the imposition of any such duty by any pretended authority of the United States is in violation of the constitutional rights of the said Emil J. Pepke, as the owner of said property. 6th. And for further answer to the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth paragraphs of the said counts of the information this respondent, denying any fraudulent intention to defraud the revenue of the United States, as in the several paragraphs alleged, says that the customs laws of the United States were not and are not applicable to the property described in said information, and that said property was not on May eighteenth, the date of said seizure, or on May 24th, the alleged date of said seizure, or at any other time subject to seizure under the customs laws of the United States, for the following reasons, to wit:

First. That this respondent purchased and acquired said property subsequent to the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of peace between the United States and the Kingdom of Spain and the procla mation of said treaty by the President of the United States in the island of Luzon, a part of the territory of the United States ceded by the said treaty to the United States, and over which the said United States was at the time of such purchase and acquisition of said property then exercising exclusive dominion and sovereignity.

Second. That this respondent at the time of such purchase was a citizen of North Dakota and of the United States of America and a volunteer soldier of the United States and engaged in its service under the flag thereof in said island of Luzon, being then and there a member of Company I of the First regiment, North Dakota United States volunteer infantry, and under the general control and command of Major General Otis, commanding officer of the United States in said island of Luzon; that he accompanied his regiment which was ordered to San Francisco, California, leaving Luzon on the 31st day of July, 1899, and that he brought said property with him upon the United States transport vessel engaged in the service of the Government of

the United States for the transportation of said regiment from Manila, in said island of Luzon, to San Francisco, California; that he brought said property to San Francisco, a part of the United States, from there to North Dakota, and from there to Illinois, where the same was seized on the eighteenth day of May, 1900, on the pretense that the same were, as in said information stated, subject to duty under the customs laws of the United States, which pretense and seizure of said goods, the respondent submits, is contrary to said respondent's right as a citizen of the United States under the Constitution of the United States, and particularly under section 2 of article 4 thereof, by which the respondent, as such citizen, is entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in several States, and that respondent insists and asserts as a defense to said information that under article 1, section 8, of the Constitution of the United States Congress is required in laying and collecting taxes to see to it that all taxes and duties shall be uniform throughout the United States, and forbidden to levy any tax or duty on articles imported from any State or Territory of the United States, or to give any preference in any regulation of commerce or revenue over any port or place in the United States, and that the imposition of duties upon merchandise acquired in the territory of Luzon and brought to Illinois, as herein stated, is in conflict with these and other provisions of the Constitution of the United States and of the respondent's rights as a citizen thereof.

Wherefore this claimant says that the said property seized herein did not become nor is the same forfeited as in the said information is alleged, and prays that the same may be restored to him by the decree of this honorable court, and that the said information may be dismissed, with costs to this claimant, to be taxed.

EMIL J. PEPKE.

I, Emil J. Pepke, on oath say that I have read the above and foregoing plea and know the contents thereof; that the same is true in all respects.

EMIL J. PEPKE.

Subscribed and sworn to before me, a notary public in and for said county and State, this 6th day of July, 1900.

[SEAL.]

E. R. SINKLER,

Notary Public.

I, N. H. Kinde, clerk of the district court within and for the county of Walsh, do hereby certify that E. R. Sinkler, Esq., is a notary public in and for Walsh county; that his commission is dated January 3, 1898, and will expire Jan. 3, 1904.

Witness my hand and seal of said court, at Grafton, this 5th day of
July, 1900.
[SEAL.]
W. H. KINDE, Clerk.

Endorsed: 9298. United States district court. United States ?. Fourteen Diamonds. Plea. Filed in the clerk's office, U. S. district court, Jul 9, 1900, at 1 p. m. T. C. MacMillan, clerk. Lawrence Harmon, Charles Aldrich, att'ys for claimant. $1.00 deposit.

And afterwards, to wit, on the 9th day of July, A. D. 1900, there was filed in the clerk's office of said court in the above-entitled cause a demurrer to plea, said demurrer being in the words and figures following, to wit:

In the District Court of the United States of America for the Northern District of Illinois, Northern Division.

And the said attorney of the said United States, who now prosecutes, as aforesaid, as to the pleas of the said Emil J. Pepke, claimant herein. by him above pleaded, says that the said pleas and each of them and the matters therein contained, in manner and form as the same are above pleaded and set forth, are not sufficient in law for the said United States to answer the same; and this he, for the said United States, is ready to verify. Wherefore, for want of sufficient plea or pleas in this behalf, he, for the said United States, prays judgment, etc. S. H. BETHEA, United States Attorney.

Endorsed: No. 9298. United States vs. Fourteen Diamond Rings. Demurrer to pleas. Filed July 9, 1900. T. C. MacMillan, clerk. S. H. Bethea, U. S. att'y.

And afterwards, to wit, on the 10th day of July, A. D. 1900, the following order was had and entered of record in said cause before the Hon. Christian C. Kohlsaat, judge, to wit:

THE UNITED STATES

vs.

FOURTEEN DIAMOND RINGS-EMIL J. PEPKE, Claimant.

9298.

This cause come on for consideration upon the demurrur of the United States to the answer of Emil J. Pepke, the claimant herein, to the said information, and the court, having heard arguments of counsel and being duly advised in the premises, doth sustain the said demurrer of the United States to said answer.

Whereupon the said claimant, by his attorneys, elected to abide by his said answer and refused to plead or answer further. The court thereupon gave judgment for the petitioner upon said demurrer. It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed (1) that all persons whosoever, other than said claimant, be, and the- are hereby, decreed in contumacy and default; (2) the answer of said Emil J. Pepke is adjudged and decreed to show no defense to said information, the said property purchased in the island of Luzon, as in said answer set forth, being

held and decreed subject to the customs laws of the United States and of the United States and subject to seizure and forfeiture as in this case had, as provided by the statutes of the United States; (3) that said fourteen diamonds now in the custody of the marshal for this district be, and the same are hereby, condemned as forfeited to the use of the United States; (4) that unless a writ of error be prosecuted from this judgment within thirty days the usual writ of venditione exponas will be issued to the marshal of this court, commanding him to sell all the said property and bring the proceeds into this court, to be distributed according to law. Costs to be taxed and are awarded against said claimant. A writ of error will be allowed the claimant herein upon filing a bond, to be approved by the clerk of this court, in the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, conditioned according to law.

And afterwards, to wit, on the 17th day of July, A. D. 1900, there was filed in the clerk's office of said court in the above-entitled cause a petition for writ of error, said petition being in the words and figures following, to wit:

In the District Court of the United States of America for the Northern District of Illinois, Northern Division.

UNITED STATES

v.

FOURTEEN DIAMOND RINGS-EMIL J. PEPKE, Claimant.

Petition for Writ of Error.

Comes now, Emil J. Pepke, the only claimant to the property seized by the collector of customs for the port of Chicago, and being the same property described in the information herein, and says that on or about the 10th of July, 1900, this court entered judgment herein in favor of the United States and against this claimant and against the property in said information described, in which judgment and proceedings had thereunder in this cause certain errors were committed to the prejudice of this claimant, all of which will in detail appear from the assignment of errors which is filed with this petition.

Wherefore this claimant prays that a writ of error may issue in his behalf to the Supreme Court of the United States for the correction of errors so complained of, and that a transcript of record, proceedings, and papers in this cause, duly authenticated, may be sent to the Supreme Court of the United States.

LAWRENCE HARMON, CHARLES H. ALDRICH, Att'ys for Emil J. Pepke, Claimant.

Endorsed: U. S. district court. United States v. Fourteen Diamond Rings. Petition for writ of error. Filed in the clerk's office, U. S. dist. et., Jul- 17, 1900, at 10.45 o'clock a. m. T. C. MacMillan, clerk. Lawrence Harmon, Charles T. Aldrich, for pet'r.

And afterwards, to wit, on the 17th day of July, A. D. 1900, there was filed in the clerk's office of said court an assignment of errors in

said cause; which said assignment of errors is in the words and figures following, to wit:

In the District Court of the United States of America for the Northern District of Illinois, Northern Division.

THE UNITED STATES

v.

FOURTEEN DIAMOND RINGS EMIL J. PEPKE, Claimant.

Assignment of Errors.

The claimant in this action, in connection with his petition for a writ of error, makes the following assignment of errors, which he avers occurred upon the trial of this cause, to wit:

First. The court erred in sustaining the demurrer of the United States to the answer of this claimant to the information filed herein. Second. The court erred in holding that the fourteen diamonds described in the information and answer thereto purchased by this claimant in the island of Luzon subsequent to the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain, by which said island was ceded to the United States, and the proclamation thereof by the President of the United States, were subject to the customs laws of the United States and liable for seizure because no entry under said laws was made at any port of the United States and duty paid thereon; which holding is in violation of the rights of the claimant under the Constitution of the United States, in this, to wit:

A. That it denies to the claimant, a citizen of the United States and of the State of North Dakota, the rights, privileges, and immunities of citizens of other States of the United States.

B. That such seizure constituted the taking of the property of the claimant without due process of law.

C. That by article 1, section 8, clause 1, of the Constitution of the United States it is provided that all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; that by the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain and the and the proclamation. thereof by the President of the United States the island of Luzon became a part of the United States, and to impose a duty upon goods or merchandise purchased by the claimant subsequent to such proclamation and brought by him into the United States, as in said answer set forth, violates said provisions of the Constitution.

Wherefore the claimant prays that the judgment and decree of said court forfeiting said fourteen diamonds and holding the answer of the claimant herein to be insufficient be in all things reversed and set aside.

LAWRENCE HARMON, CHARLES H. ALDRITCH, Attorneys for Plaintiff in Error.

Endorsed: 9298. Fourteen Diamond Rings-E. J. Pepke, claimant-v. United States. Assignment of errors. Filed in the clerk's office, U. S. district court, July 17, 1900, at 10.45 o'clock a. m. T. C. MacMillan, clerk. Lawrence Harmon, Charles H. Aldritch, for pl'f in error.