United States v. McLean Trucking Company, and Maryland Casualty Company

SOBELOFF, Circuit Judge:

The judgment appealed from upheld the Secretary of the Treasury’s assessment of an import duty and an internal revenue tax on a drum of distilled spirits. Appellants, McLean as principal, and and Maryland Casualty as surety on a carrier’s bond in favor of the United States, attack the assessments on the ground that the Secretary failed to prove that, at the time of its receipt, the drum, which was subsequently lost in transit, actually contained any taxable or dutiable spirits. Alternatively they argue that, on the facts of this case, the missing drum could not have…