Mahlon Pitney

“ While, in ordinary cases, we are bound by the findings of the state court of last resort respecting matters of fact, it is hardly necessary to say that that court cannot, by omitting to pass upon the basic questions of fact, deprive a litigant of the benefit of a Federal right, any more than it could do so by making findings that were wholly without support in the evidence. ”

“ Plaintiff in error was adjudged by the superior court of Thurston county, in the state of Washington, to be in contempt of that court, in that, with notice of a decree made by it, restraining and enjoining any further excavation of the Lake Washington canal, or any lowering of the waters of Lake Washington, he proceeded to blow out an embankment at the head of the canal, which, until that time, held the waters of the lake at their natural level, so as to permit these waters to flow into the canal and thereby lower the level of the lake. ”

“ Among the assignments of error is one based upon the refusal of the supreme court to find as a fact that the acts for the performance of which plaintiff in error was held guilty of contempt were done under the direction and authorization of officials of the War Department of the United States, acting in pursuance of and in accordance with the acts of Congress. ”