Johnston

This is an appeal from an order of the District Court refusing appellant’s application for a writ of habeas corpus. The application shows that the appellant is in the custody of the warden "of the United States Penitentiary at Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, Cal., under commitment from the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Oklahoma under a 9-year sentence beginning January 4," 1934, which has not yet expired.

Appellant claims that the indictment was returned (in May, 1933) .before the offense was committed (October 16, 1933). The record shows that the indictment was filed in open court November 29, 1933. The appellant has confused the beginning of the term, May, 1933, with the return of the indictment.

Appellant urges that the indictment is vague and indefinite regarding the time and place of the alleged offense and as to the ownership and theft of the stolen goods received. The indictment charges the appellant and a codefendant with receiving four cases of Old Gold cigarettes worth $200 which had been in the possession of the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Company, and which was moving in interstate commerce from Plouston, Tex., to Fort…