In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Central Division of the District of Idaho.

This was an action brought by the United States in the United States Circuit Court for the District of Idaho to recover the sum of $155,760, the alleged value of 7,778,000 feet of lumber claimed by the United States to have been unlawfully cut from the public domain by the defendants in error in the years 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902, and 1903, manufactured by them into lumber, and converted to their own use. Judgment is also asked for the sum of $136, expended in the investigation of the trespass. The defendants in error admitted that they were carrying on business in the vicinity of Boise, Idaho, as manufacturers and dealers In lumber, during the years mentioned, and that they did enter upon the lands described in the complaint, belonging to the United States, and cut timber therefrom: But they alleged, in justification of their action, that the land from which the timber was cut and taken was mineral land, not subject to entry for other purposes under the laws of the United States; that the lumber manufactured therefrom was sold for domestic, agricultural, mining, and building uses in the vicinity of Boise City, and within the general district and state wherein the timber was cut; that no portion thereof was exported from the state; that in the cutting and removing of the timber in question full compliance had been made with the rules and regulations of the Secretary of the Interior then in force; that because of the above-mentioned facts the defendants in error were licensed and privileged to cut and remove the timber in question by the act of Congress of June 3, 1878, c. 150, 20 Stat. 88 [U. S. Comp. St 1901, p. 1528], entitled “An act entitling the citizens of Colorado, Nevada, and the territories to fell and remove timber on the public lands for mining and domestic purposes.” A verdict was rendered for the defendants in error, and judgment entered thereon. The United States brings the case to this court upon writ of error.