Patterson

This is an appeal from a judgment of the District Court of the United States for the Territory of Alaska, Third Division, discharging the appellee from custody on petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Appellants urge that the district court erred in holding that Section 3, Chapter 56, of the Session Laws of Alaska, 1919 (Sec. 4985, Compiled Laws of Alaska 1933), is void as interfering with or attempting to limit an Act of Congress to prevent and punish gambling. Appellee moves to dismiss the appeal on the *378 grounds of lack of jurisdiction, laches and delay upon the part of the appellants in prosecuting the appeal, and that the case is moot.

On October 15, 1942, the appellee was convicted in the United States Commissioner’s Court for the precinct of Anchorage, Alaska, of the crime of maintaining a gambling house in violation of Section 4985 of the Compiled Laws of Alaska, 1933, was sentenced to serve a term of six months in the Federal jail, and was committed to the custody of a Deputy United States Marshal for the Third Division of the Territory of Alaska. Two days later, the appellee herein filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in the District Court for the Territory…