1. United States — Presentation of False Claims — Construction of-Statute.

To constitute a crime under Rev. St. § 5438, by presenting for payment a claim against the United States or a department thereof “knowing such claim to be false, fictitious, or fraudulent,” it is not essential that the bill, voucher, or other thing used as the basis for the claim should in and of' Itself contain fraudulent or fictitious statements or entries, but whether-the claim is genuine and honest, or false, fictitious, or fraudulent, must be determined in view of all the facts and circumstances surrounding it;, and the offense is committed by presenting for payment a claim originally valid, but which the person presenting it knows has been paid, and is no-longer a subsisting and just demand, or one which, although valid, he-knows he is not authorized to receive payment on.

2. Criminal Law—Appeal—Harmless Error.

A judgment of conviction in a criminal case will not be reversed because of the admission of evidence which was clearly not prejudicial to-defendant, although it may have been irrelevant.

8. Same—Evidence—Admissions.

Statements made by defendant to a witness, relating to the transaction, charged as a crime, are not subject to the rules governing the admission of confessions, where defendant in such statements, while admitting the-commission of the acts charged, denied their criminality and justified the-same.

4. Same—Review on Appeal—Sufficiency of Indictment.

A general verdict and judgment of conviction on an indictment containing several counts cannot be reversed on error on the ground of the-insufficiency of the indictment, if any one of the counts is good and warrants the judgment.

¶ 4. See Indictment and Information, vol. 27, Cent. Dig. § 651.