Thomas v. United States

ROSE, Circuit Judge.

The plaintiff in error was defendant below and will be so styled here. He was convicted of the unlawful *134possession of intoxicating liquors. A private citizen of South Carolina happened to witness incidents which would have led almost any reasonable man to believe that the defendant was engaged in the sale of liquor. He communicated his information to a state constable, who thereupon obtained a search warrant from the state magistrate. On his way to serve the warrant he happened to run across a federal prohibition agent and a United States deputy marshal. He asked them to…