Melville Fuller

“ And, speaking through Severens, J., said: 'Only the conspiracy is of Federal cognizance, and it is that offense which is made punishable. If, in the prosecution of it, a thing is done which is a crime by the laws of the state, the conspiracy is punishable by a measure of punishment equal to that prescribed by the law of the state for such other crime. But it is an aggravation merely of the substantive offense of conspiracy. If the latter is not proven there can be no conviction for the offense which constitutes the aggravating circumstance, and the proceeding falls to the ground. ”

“ The United States insisted that this was not 'conviction of a capital crime,' but Mr. Justice Brown, speaking for the court, said that the qualification 'does not make the crime of murder anything less than a capital offense or a conviction for murder anything less than a conviction for a capital crime, by reason of the fact that the punishment actually imposed is imprisonment for life. The test is not the punishment which is imposed, but that which may be imposed under the statute.' And see Good Shot v. ”

“ By § 5508 of the Revised Statutes it is made an offense against the United States for two or more persons to conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, the punishment prescribed being a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment not more than ten years, and ineligibility to any office or place of honor, profit, or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States. ”