Lloyd

A motion has been made by the government to strike out the pleas to the jurisdiction heretofore entered by 14 defendants in this case. The history of. the ease is briefly this:

Early in February, • 1925, the steamship Coal Harbor, a vessel of British registry, was seized by the Coast Guard at a point off the Farallone Islands. The vessel was brought into the port of San Francisco. The defendants were arrested and subsequently indicted ‘ for conspiracy to violate the National Prohibition Act (27 USCA) and the Tariff Act of 1922 ( 42 Stat. 858 ). They appeared before this court in February, 1925, and entered pleas of not guilty, with leave to change the pleas as they might later be advised, under the practice then prevailing in this court.

June 19, 1925, demurrers to the indictment were filed on behalf of each defendant. August 29, 1925, motions to exclude evidence, motions to quash the indictment, and the pleas to the jurisdiction with which we are here concerned, were filed with the clerk of the court. September 5, 1925, amended demurrers were filed. Nothing further was done in the case until May, 1927.

It will be remembered that at that time the practice as to raising the…