Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 8.djvu/248

 1)34 FEDERAL REPORTER. ^ �Revised Statutes of the United States, § 5358 : " Every person who plun- ders, steaia, or destroys any mouey, goods, merchandise, or other effects from or belonging to any vessel in distress, or wrecked, lest, stranded, or cast away upon any sea, or upon any reef, stioal, bank, or rocks of the sea, or in any placf. within tiie admiralty or maritime jurisdiction of the United States ; and every person who willfully obstructs the eseape of any person endeavoring to save his life from such vessel, or the wreck thereof ; any person who holds out or shows false lights, or extinguishes any true light, with intent to bring any vessel sailing upon the sea into danger, or distress, or shipwreck, — shall be punished by a fine of. not more than $5,000, and be imprisoned at hard labor not less than ten years.".. i �The material allegations of the indictment in this case are as fol- lows : �That David A. Stone, at Ashport, in said county, did plunder certain goods and merchandise from the steam-boat " City of Vicksburgh," — thatis to say, two bnreaus, of the value, to-\yit, of $50; one sofa, of the value of, to-wit, 625; and two sets of niattress springs, to-wit, of the value of $20, — the said steam-boat then and there being in distress and wrecked upon the waters of the Mississippi rjver^ and, within the admiralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United StateS) while engaged, in commerce and navigation on said river, to-wit, between Vicksburgh, in the state of Mississippi, and St. Louis, in Mis- souri, contrary to the fOrm of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the United States of America. �(2) And the grand jii'rors aforeaaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further present that the said David A. Stoiie, on, to-wit, the day and year aforesaid, at said Ashport, and within the jurisdiction of this court, unlawfully, with force and arms, did steal, take, and take away certain goods and merchandise, then and there the property of some person or persons whose names are to the grand jurors aforesaid unknown, from the steam-boat City of Vicksburgh, — that is to say, two bureaus, of the value, to-wit, of $50; one sofa, to-wit, of the value of $25.; and tsyo sets of mattrass springs, to-wit, of the value of $20, —the said steam-boat then and there being wrecked and in distress upon the waters of the Mississippi riVer, and within admiralty and maritime jurisdic- tion of the United States, while engaged in navigation and commerce on said river, to-wit, between Vicksburgh, in the state of Mississippi, and St. Louis, iiithe state of Missouri, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the United States. �(3) And' the grand jurors afofesaid, upon their oaths aforesaid, do further present that the said David A. Stone, on, to-wit, the day and year aforesaid, at said Ashport, and within the jurisdiction of this court, unlawfully, with forceand arms, did destroy certain goods cind merchandise, — that is to say, one bureau, to-wit, of the value of $50, — theij and thei^e belonging to the steam- boat City of Vicksburgh, the said steam-boat then and there being wrecked and in distress upon the waters of the Mii^sissippi river, and within the admi- ralty and maritime jurisdiction of the United States, while engaged in com- merce and navigation on said river, to-wit, between Vicksburgh, in the state of Mississippi, and St. Louis, in the state p^ Missouri, contrary to the form ��� �