Page:North Dakota Reports (vol. 3).pdf/172

, J. Magnus Peterson, the petitioner, was arrested upon a criminal warrant issued by a justice of the peace of Cass County, and was taken before such justice of the peace for a preliminary examination. The complaint upon which the warrant was issued was read to the petitioner, and, acting upon the advice of counsel, the petitioner waived an examination, and was committed for trial at the next ensuing term of the District Court for Cass County. The complaint was sworn to, and, omitting certain formal parts not criticised, is as follows: “State of North Dakota vs. Magnus Peterson, defendant. A. E. Jones, being by me first duly sworn, on oath complains and charges that the defendant, Magnus Peterson, at the said County of Cass, on the 15th day of August, A. D. 1891, with force and arms, did then and there commit the crime of obtaining property under false pretenses, as follows, to-wit: That on the said 15th day of August, 1891, at the City of Fargo, in said County of Cass, the said Magnus Peterson, with intent to cheat and defraud Aultman, Miller & Co., and for the purpose of obtaining of it, the said Aultman, Miller & Co., property of the value of seventy dollars by means thereof, did falsely and feloniously represent and state to said Aultman, Miller & Co., that he, said Magnus Peterson, was then and there the owner of 80 acres of land in the County of Clay and State of Minnesota free from all incumbrances, and of the value of $1,500, and also of personal property within said County of Clay and State of Minnesota of the value of .$1,000, over all indebtedness and legal exemptions; that, by reason of said false and fraudulent representations, the said Aultman, Miller & Co., were induced to and did sell and deliver to said Magnus Peterson on said 15th day of August, 1891, 540 pounds of pure manilla twine, then and there the property of said Aultman, Miller & Co., and of the value of $70, against the peace and dignity of the State of North Dakota, and contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided, and prays that the said Magnus Peterson may be arrested and dealt with according to law.” No depositions or testimony other than said complaint was taken by the