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The defendant, having been convicted of using the mails in furtherance of a scheme to defraud, now moves the court for an order “directing the reporter in this court to transcribe the testimony heretofore taken upon the trial of the above-entitled cause, at the expense of the government.” The motion is based, upon the affidavits of defendant and his counsel, on the ground that defendant is in indigent circumstances, and because of his poverty cannot pay for such transcript or give security for the same, and such transcript is absolutely necessary to perfect the record upon a writ of error which he intends and desires to sue out.

The application is made under section 1 of the act of July 20, 1892, as amended June 25, 1910 (Stats. 1910, c. 435, 36 Stat. L. 866), which is as follows:

Section 3 (Comp. St. 1913, § 1628) of the same act provides:

Section 5 (Comp. St. 1913, § 1630) is as follows:

This statute as originally enacted applied only to plaintiffs in a civil action, and the provisions last quoted were not changed when the act was amended in 1910 to include defendants in suits or actions both civil and criminal. But one thing is quite apparent, and that is that Congress did…