(N.  J. 34.)
MISBRANDING OF CANNED PEACHES.
In accordance with the provisions of section 4 of the Food and 
Drugs Act of June 30,1900, and of regulation C of the rules and regu- 
lations for the enforcement of the act, notice is given that on the 19th 
day of~ October, 1908, in the district court of the United States for 
the western district of Oklahoma, in a proceeding of libel for con- 
demnation of misbranded peaches—that is to say, 478 boxes contain- 
ing 24 cans each oŁ canned peaches misbranded as to weight of con- 
tent, wherein the United States was libelant and the Ridenour-Baker 
Mercantile Company, a corporation, was claimant, the said claimant 
having filed its answer, and the cause having come on for a hearing, a 
decree of forfeiture and condemnation was rendered in substance and 
form as follows:
In the district court of the United States for the western district of Oklahoma.
THE UNITED STATES, LIBELANT,
vs. 
No. 45.
FOUR HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-EIGHT CASES OF PEACHES.
Decree of condemnation.
Now, to wit, on the 19th day of October, 1908, at a term of said court at 
Enid, in said district, said cause came on for trial, and it appearing to the court 
that upon the libel filed herein monition and warrant of arrest was issued and 
duly served on the second day of October, 1908, and that by virtue of said war- 
rant the marshal has seized and now holds four hundred and seventy-eight cases 
of peaches of the approximate value of eight hundred and seventy-five dollars, 
containing two dozen cans to the case, the said four hundred and seventy-eight
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cases of peaches, with the contents, having been seized within the premises and 
in the possession of the Ridenour-Baker Mercantile Company, a corporation of 
Oklahoma City, within said district, and now being stored in the custody of the 
said marshal, and it appearing that the said Ridenour-Baker Mercantile Com- 
pany, a corporation, the owners of said four hundred and seventy-eight cases of 
peaches, was duly warned to appear on the 5th day of October, 1908, and that due 
and legal notice and proclamation was given to all persons having or claiming to 
have any claim, right, or interest herein, or in or to said property, to appear 
on said date and answer the said libel, and the said Ridenour-Baker Mercantile 
Company having so appeared by Parker and Simons, the attorneys of said com- 
pany, and filed its answer to the said libel, and the libelant appearing by J. W. 
Scothorn, assistant United States attorney for the western district of Okla- 
homa, and the said Ridenour-Baker Mercantile Company appearing by the said 
Parker and Simons, its attorneys, a jury.is waived and the said cause is tried 
to the court; the libelant and respondent each making a statement to the court 
of their evidence and agreeing in open court as to what the facts are in this case, 
and upon said agreement in open court submitted the same to the court, and 
the court now being fully advised in the premises finds for the libelant, and 
finds that the contents of the four hundred and seventy-eight cases containing 
peaches of two dozen cans each are articles of food, and that said cases are 
misbranded within the meaning of the act of Congress of June 30, 1906, entitled, 
"An act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated or 
misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors, and 
for regulating traffic therein, and for other purposes," and that the same have 
been transported as peaches in interstate commerce from the city of Los Ange- 
les, in the State of California, to the city of Oklahoma City, in the State of 
Oklahoma, and consigned to the Ridenour-Baker Mercantile Company, a corpora- 
tion, in the western district of Oklahoma, and remain in said district in the 
original unbroken cases, being a consignment of peaches misbranded as to the 
weight of the contents of said cases, and transported in interstate commerce 
from the city of Los Angeles, in the State of California, to the said Ridenour- 
Baker Mercantile Company, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, being all of such 
consignment found in original unbroken packages—that is, the court finds that 
said articles of food are misbranded and are in violation of said act of Con- 
gress in that said cases, and each of them, contain less weight than the amount 
as shown by the brand thereon; and that the said articles of food were so 
transported in interstate commerce and consigned and delivered to the Ridenour- 
Baker Mercantile Company as aforesaid, wholesale dealers.
The court further finds that the article of food contained in said four hun- 
dred and seventy-eight cases is not adulterated, poisonous, or deleterious, but 
that the violation of said act of Congress is in the Misbranding of such cases 
as to the quantity contained in each case, and that the same were consigned 
only to a wholesale dealer and not sold to the public for consumption.
Wherefore, it is ordered, adjudged, and decreed by the court that the said 
four hundred and seventy-eight cases of peaches, with the contents aforesaid, 
e, and they are hereby, declared to be misbranded in violation of the act of 
Congress of June 30, 1906, as charged in said libel; and it is further ordered 
that the said four hundred and seventy-eight cases of peaches be, and they are 
hereby, condemned and forfeited as provided for in the said act of June 30, 
1908. It is provided, however, that upon the payment of all the costs in the 
proceeding herein, including all court, clerk's, and marshal's costs, and all 
cost of hauling, storage, watchman, and all other costs incident to or con- 
Ira cted in this proceeding, and the execution and delivery by the said Ridenour-
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Baker Mercantile Company, a corporation, to the libelant of good and sufficient 
bond in the penalty of five hundred dollars, conditioned that the said four hun- 
dred and seventy-eight cases of peaches, with the contents aforesaid, shall not 
be sold or otherwise disposed of contrary to the provisions of the said act of 
June 30, 1906, or the laws of any State, Territory, district, or insular posses- 
sions, that said marshal shall redeliver the said four hundred and seventy- 
eight cases of peaches, with such of their contents as they now contain or may 
contain at the time of such redelivery, to the said Ridenour-Baker Mercantile 
Company, a corporation, in lieu of the retention and destruction thereof, the 
said bond to be filed herein, if at all, before the 1st day of November, 1908, 
and that the said libelant receive from said Ridenour-Baker Mercantile Com- 
pany, a corporation, its costs herein taxed at -——- dollars, for which execu- 
tion shall issue if the costs are not paid as hereinbefore provided.
JOHN  H.   COTTEEAL,   Judge.
The facts in this case are as follows :
On or about September 29, 1908, an inspector of the Department 
of Agriculture located in the possession of the Ridenour-Baker Mer- 
cantile Company of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 478 cases of canned 
peaches which were consigned to it by the J. K. Armsby Company, 
of Los Angeles, Cal., arriving at the point of destruction September 
5, 1908. The shipping cases, each of which contained two dozen cans, 
were marked and branded " Lake View Brand, Serial No. 10872, 2 
Doz. 2^ lb. Cans Choice California Yellow Free Peaches, packed by 
G. H. Waters, Pomona, California." An examination of 24 cans, 
made by the inspector, showed the actual weight of the cans to be 
from 34 to 35 ounces gross.
It was evident, therefore, that the goods were misbranded in viola- 
tion of section 8 of the act, and on September 30, 1908, the facts 
were reported by the Secretary of Agriculture to the Attorney- 
General, who referred them to the United States attorney for the 
western district of Oklahoma. Libel for seizure and condemnation 
under section 10 of the act was duly filed in the district court of 
the United States for the said district. The case duly came on for 
trial and the court adjudged the product to be misbranded, and 
upon the filing by the respondent of a good and sufficient bond, under 
the provisions of the decree hereinbefore set forth, the goods were 
released.
* 
H. W. WILEY,
F. L. DUNLAP, 
GEO. P. MCCABE, 
Board of Food and, Drug Inspection.
Approved:'
JAMES WILSON,
Secretary of Agriculture.
WASHINGTON, D. C, November SO, 1908.
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