States courts, who have not already received the same, with the Revised Statutes of the United States, and the annual statutes published since the first revision, a sufficient amount of money is hereby appropriated: Provided, That all statutes heretofore or hereafter furnished by the United States to district judges, district attorneys, and clerks of the United States courts, under this or any other law, shall not become the property of these officers, but on the expiration of their official term shall be by them turned over and delivered to their respective successors in office; and the following provision in the act making appropriations for sundry civil expenses of the Government for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, eighteen hundred and eighty-two, and for other purposes, approved March third, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, namely: To supply district judges and district attorneys, who have not already received the same, with the reports of the Supreme Court and Statutes at Large of the United States, and also to furnish complete sets of the same, where there are none, to such points where United States courts are authorized to be held, and to supply broken sets where there are missing volumes, a sufficient sum of money is hereby appropriated,' be, and the same is hereby, repealed." Upon application the Department will furnish the Revised Statutes and the annual laws published since the first revision as provided in this act. In order to carry out and enforce the intention of the law, the following regulation has been adopted: That attorneys, marshals, and clerks of the United States courts forward, on the first day of July in each year, to this Department, an inventory of all record or other books in their offices belonging to the United States, and that whenever an officer retires from office he shall make a complete inventory of all books in his office belonging to the United States, taking receipts in duplicate from his successor, one of which must be sent to this Department for approval before a final settlement of his accounts can be made. The Department regrets that Congress should have felt compelled to repeal the act of March 3, 1881, as it is apparent that the Supreme Court reports are much needed by the United States judges and attorneys. Congress may, however, make the necessary provision to supply the needed books at its next session, if proper representations are made by those in need of them. Very respectfully, BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, ACTUAL EXPENSE ACCOUNTS. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, United States Marshal, SIR: The attention of this Department has been called to the practice that exists in some districts, on the part of the marshal and his deputies, of charging railroad fare in actual expense accounts when in fact free passes have been used. That there may be no misunderstanding as to the opinion of this De partment in the matter of fictitious actual expense accounts of whatever character, I herewith transmit copy of a letter sent to the United States attorney for the western district of Texas, directing the prosecution of the late marshal of that district. Very respectfully, BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, Attorney-General. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, May 12, 1882. ANDREW J. EVANS, Esq., United States Attorney, Austin, Tex. : SIR: I have received your letter of 22d April, together with the report of Special Agents Tidball and Bowman, of this Department, relative to the conduct of Stillwell H. Russell, esq., late United States marshal, in rendering false actual expense accounts. By charging fare over railroads where the marshal has used passes and by other dishonest practices of a similar character, in the preparation of actual expense accounts by those connected with the marshal's office, the United States has been defrauded out of thousands of dollars. In view of the enormity of these frauds, and my determination not only to purge the service of the men who committed them, but to make their example a warning to others, you are instructed to prosecute with all the rigor of the law not only the marshal, but his several deputies who are shown by the special agents' reports to be implicated with him in these unlawful transactions. There are several positive violations of law on the part of deputy marshals charging for mileage never traveled and for guards never employed; and, on the part of private bankers, in receiving on deposit warrants for public moneys in violation of the Revised Statutes. It is my desire and purpose that every man who has violated the law and defrauded this Department shall be vigorously prosecuted and severely punished. Very respectfully, BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, EMPLOYMENT OF GUARDS BY MARSHALS. Esq., [Circular No. 5, 1883.] DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D. C., April 20, 1883. United States Marshal, SIR: Inasmuch as difficulty has arisen in the settlement of marshals' accounts because of the unwarranted employment of guards, the law only providing for them when "necessary," you will immediately supply your deputies with a blank form, similar to the following: I hereby certify that I have been employed and have acted days, as a guard over a United States prisoner, in charge to of tance of --, deputy marshal, from miles. being a dis (Name of guard) (Name of witness) (Post-office address) In every instance hereafter, where a guard is employed, the above certificate must be made out to contain all the information that it calls for, to wit: The name of the district; the date and place where the certificate is made; the number of days the guard is employed, and also the month and days of the month when the services were performed; the name of the prisoner and the name of the marshal or deputy in whose custody he is; the points between which the guard travels, and the total number of miles. The guard must sign the certificate and state his post-office address. If the guard cannot write, his mark may be witnessed by a disinterested person, in which case the witness must also state his post-office address. The certificates must accompany each account when forwarded to the Treasury for settlement, without which certificate all fees for services of guard will be disallowed. A copy of this regulation has been sent to the accounting officers of the Treasury. Very respectfully, BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, DECISION OF JUSTICE WOODS RELATIVE TO MARSHALS' ACCOUnts. [Circular No. 6.] DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, To United States district attorneys and United States marshals : SIRS: The subjoined opinion of Justice Woods is, by his consent, issued as an advisory circular in the matter of the accounts of United States marshals and their deputies. BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, UNITED STATES CIRCUIT COURT, MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA. Before Woods, circuit justice, and Bruce, district judge. Heard upon demurrer to the indictment. WOODS, circuit justice: * * * The defendant is indicted under Section 5438 of the Revised Statutes. So much of the section as refers to the charges against him is as follows: Every person who makes, or causes to be made, or presents, or causes to be presented for payment, or approval to or by any person or officer in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, any claim upon or against the Government of the United States, or any Department or officer thereof, knowing such claim to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent, or, who, for the purpose of obtaining, or aiding to obtain, the payment or approval of such claim, makes, uses, or canses to be made or used, any false bill, receipt, voucher, roll, account, claim, certificate, affidavit, or deposition, knowing the same to contain any fraudulent or fictitious statement or entry, any person, so offending in any of the matters set forth in this section, shall be punished, &c. The defendant is charged in an indictment, containing four counts. The first count alleges that the defendant, claiming to be a deputy marshal of the United States, did present for approval, on a day mentioned, to George Turner, then late marshal of the United States, he being then and there an officer in the civil service of the United States, a false, fictitious, and fraudulent claim against the Government of the United States, with intent to defraud the United States, which claim was an account purporting to have been for services rendered and payments made by said deputy marshal in the case of the United States vs. Isaac Hart, in a criminal proceeding before W. H. Hunter, commissioner of the circuit court of the United States, dating from January 19, to January 25, 1880, inclusive, and in favor of the said George Turner, the then late marshal, as aforesaid, which claim was false, fictitious, and fraudulent in the following statements and entries therein contained. (Here follows a recitation of the alleged false, fictitious, and fraudulent entries.) The count then proceeds: "The defendant, well knowing the same to contain the said false, fraudulent, and fictitious entries." The second count charges that the defendant did "use a false affidavit of the correctness of the claim mentioned in the first count, for the purpose of aiding to obtain the payment of said claim, knowing the same to contain false, fraudulent, and fictitious statements and entries," as follows, to wit: (Here follows a copy of said entries, identical with those contained in the first count.) The count then proceeds as follows: He, the said Paul Strobach, deputy marshal as aforesaid, well knowing the same to contain each and every false, fraudulent, and fictitious statement and entry aforesaid. The third count charges that the defendant, claiming to have been a deputy marshal of the United States, did cause said George Turner, then late marshal of the United States, to present to and for approval by the district court of the United States for the middle district of Alabama, in open court, at the May term, 1880, the Hon. John Bruce, judge of the United States district court for the middle district of Ala bama, then and there presiding, as well as to and for the approval of said Hon. John Bruce, district judge, presiding as aforesaid, he being then and there an officer in the civil service of the United States, a false, fictitious, and fraudulent claim upon and against the Government of the United States. The count proceeds to describe the claim in the same terms as those used in the first count, and concludes with the averment that the defendant well knew said claim to be false, fictitious, and fraudulent in each of the statements and entries aforesaid. The fourth count is, in all respects, similar to the second. To this indictment the defendant filed his demurrer, alleging grounds of demurrer to each count, which we shall proceed to consider. The law now in force, regulating the taxation of costs and the approval of the accounts of clerks, marshals, and district attorneys, is the act of February 22, 1875, and entitled "An act regulating fees and costs, and for other purposes." (Sup. to Rev. Stat., vol. 1, p. 145.) So much of this act as is pertinent to this case is as follows: SECTION 1. "That, before any bill of costs shall be taxed by any judge or other officer, or any account payable out of the money of the United States, shall be allowed by any officer of the Treasury in favor of clerks, marshals or district attorneys, the party claiming such account shall render the same with the vouchers and items thereof to a United States circuit or district court, and in the presence of the district attorney or his sworn assistant, whose presence shall be noted on the record, prove in open court, by his own oath or that of other persons having knowledge of the facts to be attached to said account, that the services therein charged have been actually and necessarily performed, as therein stated, and the court shall thereupon cause to be entered an order, approving or disapproving the account, as may be according to law and just." * * * Previous to the enactment of this law, the matter of the approval of the accounts of clerks, marshals, &c., was regulated by section 846 of the Revised Statutes, which provided that such accounts should be examined and certified by the district judge of the district for which the officers were appointed, before they were presented to the accounting officers of the Treasury Department for settlement. The elements of the offense, created by section 5438, which it was the purpose of the first and third counts to charge, are as follows: "The presentation for approval to any person or officer in the civil service of the United States of a claim against the United States, which the party presenting knows to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent." The elements of the offense prescribed by the statute, which it was the purpose of the second and fourth counts to charge, are as follows: "The using, for the purpose of aiding to obtain the payment of a false, fictitious, or fraudulent claim upon or against the Government of the United States of a false affidavit, knowing the same to contain any fraudulent or fictitious statement or entry." If the counts of this indictment charge against defendant, as required by the rules of criminal pleading, an offense against the United States, they will be good and sufficient in law. We shall, therefore, consider the counts and look into the particular grounds of demurrer to ascertain whether this has been done. It is alleged, as ground of demurrer to the first count, that it does not sufficiently charge that Turner, to whom the account was presented for approval, was an officer in the civil service of the United States, because it is alleged that when the account was presented he was the late mar shal. There is, however, besides the averment that he was late marshal, a distinct averment that he was then an officer in the civil service of the United States. Now, if a marshal, whose time has expired, can, by |