Charles Evans Hughes

“ John McNamara, the appellant, was arrested on the complaint of the British senior vice consul at the port of New York, charging him with committing the crime of burglary at New Westminster, British Columbia, in breaking into a building occupied as a garage and stealing therefrom an automobile and rugs. Examination was demanded, and after hearing the evidence submitted on both sides, the United States commissioner found probable cause and issued an order of commitment for extradition. ”

“ The district court held that this was evidence connecting the appellant with the crime upon which, in the light of the circumstances proved, the commissioner was entitled to exercise his judgment. We agree with this view. Wilson v. United States, 162 U.S. 613, 619, 620, 40 L. ed. 1090, 1094, 1095, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 895. It is objected that while possession of property recently stolen may be evidence of participation in the larceny, the apparent possession of the automobile by the appellant affords no support for a conclusion that he committed the burglary, the crime with which he was charged. ”

“ The permissible inference is not thus to be limited. The evidence pointed to the appellant as one having control of the car and engaged in the endeavor to secure the fruits of the burglarious entry. Possession in these circumstances tended to show guilty participation in the burglary. This is but to accord to the evidence, if unexplained, its natural probative force. Considine v. United States, 50 C. C. A. 272, 112 Fed. 342, 349, 350; Com. v. McGorty, 114 Mass. 299; Knickerbocker v. People, 43 N. Y. 177, 181 ”