This is a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, presented to this court by a man confined in the house of correction at Detroit, in the state of Michigan, under a sentence to be imprisoned there for 15 years at hard labor, passed by the district court of the United States for the Eastern district of Arkansas, upon an information filed by the district attorney for that district. The record of the conviction and sentence, a copy of which was annexed to the petition, showed the following case:

The information, which was filed by leave of the court, contained two counts: The first count upon Rev. St. § 5430, for unlawfully having in possession, with intent to sell, an obligation engraved and printed after the similitude of securities issued under authority of the United States, to-wit, of an interest-bearing coupon bond of the United States; and the second count upon section 5431, for passing, with intent to defraud, a counterfeited interest-bearing coupon bond of the United States; and each count alleging that the bond was in the words and figures of a copy attached to the indictment and made part thereof. That copy was of an instrument purporting to be a bond of the United States Silver Mining Company of Denver city, Colorado, having printed at its head the words 'THE UNITED STATES,' in large and conspicuous capitals, followed on a lower line by the words 'SILVER MINING COMPANY OF DENVER CITY, COLORADO,' in much smaller and less distinct type, and bearing the signatures of 'R. H. HULISON, Pres't,' and 'J. H. MAYSON, Sec'y,' and otherwise numbered and lettered very much like a genuine bond of the United States.* The defendant filed a general demurrer to the information, which was overruled by the court; and he then pleaded not guilty, and was tried by a jury, who returned a general verdict of guilty; and he moved for a new trial, for insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict.

The rest of the record (a certified copy of which was the only paper delivered to the keeper of the house of correction) stated that the defendant was brought to the bar in the custody of the marshal, and his motion for a new trial overruled, 'and the said defendant, being now inquired of by the court if he have aught to say why the judgment and sentence of the court should not now be pronounced against him upon the verdict and finding of the jury in this case, finding him guilty of passing a counterfeit United States bond, and saying nothing further than he hath already said; and the court being now well advised in the premises; it is therefore considered, ordered, adjudged, and sentenced that said defendant, James S. Wilson, do pay to the United States a fine of five thousand dollars for said offense and all the costs of this proceeding, and that the United States have execution therefor, and that he be imprisoned for and during the term of fifteen years at hard labor in the house of correction at Detroit, Michigan, and that the said marshal of this district convey the said prisoner to the house of correction aforesaid, and deliver him to the custody of the keeper thereof, and that the clerk of this court make out for said marshal two copies o this judgment and sentence, duly certified under the seal of this court, one of which the said marshal shall deliver to the keeper of said house of correction, and the other return and file in this court, with the receipt of said keeper thereon.'

The offense described in Rev. St. § 5430, is punishable by a fine of not more than $5,000, or by imprisonment at hard labor not more than 15 years, or by both; and the offense described in section 5431 is punishable by a like fine and imprisonment. The petitioner alleged in his petition, and contended in argument, that his imprisonment was illegal, upon the following grounds: First. That in excess of the power of the court, and in violation of the fifth amendment of the constitution, he had been held to answer for an infamous crime, and punished by a fine of five thousand dollars and imprisonment for the term of fifteen years at hard labor, without presentment or indictment by a grand jury. Second. That he was held under a judgment void, and in excess of the power of the court, upon an information for a crime which was not committed against the provisions of chapter 7 of the title 'Crimes' in the Revised Statutes, in which cases informations were expressly authorized, and to which they were impliedly restricted, by section 1022 of those statutes. Third. That the judgment was void and in excess of the power of the court, because the conviction and the sentence were for different offenses, the conviction being for having in possession a bond of a mining company in the similitude of a United States bond, and the sentence being for passing a counterfeit United States bond. Fourth. That he was held by the keeper of the Detroit house of correction without authority of law, because the order of the court for his imprisonment did not show that the court had determined two questions of fact which were made by Rev. St. §§ 5541, 5546, conditions precedent to the exercise of its power to sentence to a prison outside the state of Arkansas, namely, (1,) that there was no suitable prison in that state, and (2) that the attorney general had designated the Detroit house of correction as a suitable penitentiary in another state. Fifth. That the keeper had no warrant or mittimus authoring him to hold the prisoner, as required by Rev. St. § 1028.

Alfred Russell, for petitioner.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Maury, for respondent.

GRAY, J.