Syllabus.

attached to the proof was a matter for the jury, but it was clearly rebuttal testimony, and its admissibility as such is covered by the ruling in Moore v. United States, ubi supra.

The four errors assigned as to the charge of the court do not complain of the charge intrinsically but are based upon the assumption that, although correct, it was misleading and tended to cause the jury to disregard the testimony offered by the defendant to establish an alibi. But the charge in substance instructed the jury to consider all the evidence and all the circumstances of the case, and if a reasonable doubt existed to acquit. If the accused wished specific charges as to the weight in law to be attached to testimony introduced to establish an alibi, it was his privilege to request the court to give them. No such request was made, and, therefore, the assignments of error are without merit. Texas & Pacific Railway v. Volk, 151 U. S. 73, 78.

Affirmed.

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WASHINGTON & IDAHO RAILROAD COMPANY v. L-ed 346 CŒUR D'ALENE RAILWAY AND NAVIGATION 163 498 COMPANY.

ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT.

No. 585. Argued November 18, 14, 1895. - Decided December 2, 1895.

An action commenced May 27, 1889, in the District Court of the Territory of Idaho, before the admission of Idaho as a State, by a corporation organized under the laws of Washington Territory, against a corporation organized under the laws of Montana Territory, and against a railroad company organized under the laws of the United States, upon which latter company service had been made and filed, was, after the admission of Idaho as a State, removable to the Circuit Court of the United States for that circuit both upon the ground of diversity of citizenship of the territorial corporations, and upon the ground that the railroad company was incorporated under a law of the United States; and, so far as the latter ground of removal is concerned, it is not affected by the fact that the railroad company afterwards ceased to take an active part in the case, as the jurisdictional question must be determined by the record at the time of the transfer.

The provision in the act of March 3, 1875, c. 152, 18 Stat. 482, granting the

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Statement of the Case.

right of way through the public lands of the United States to any railroad duly organized under the laws of any State or Territory, which shall have filed with the Secretary of the Interior a copy of its articles of incorporation and due proofs of its organization under the same, plainly means that no corporation can acquire a right of way upon a line not described in its charter, or articles of incorporation. When a court of law is construing an instrument, whether a public law or a private contract, it is legitimate, if two constructions are fairly possible, to adopt that one which equity would favor.

ON May 15, 1889, the Washington and Idaho Railroad Company, describing itself as a corporation duly organized under the laws of Washington Territory, brought an action of ejectment in the District Court of the First Judicial District of the Territory of Idaho against the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company, as a corporation duly organized under the laws of Montana Territory and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, as a corporation duly organized under the laws of the United States. The complainant alleged that, on the 10th day of July, 1887, the plaintiff was lawfully possessed, as owner in fee simple, of a certain tract of land situated in Shoshone County, Idaho Territory, being the right of way of plaintiff's railroad, consisting of a strip of land two hundred feet in width and about four thousand feet in length; that the defendant, the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company, on the 1st day of August, 1887, entered into possession of the demanded premises, and ousted and ejected the plaintiff therefrom; that the defendant, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, claimed to be in possession of said premises as a tenant of the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navi- . gation Company, and was actually in the possession of said premises at the time of the institution of the suit; that the value of the rents, issues, and profits of the said premises while the plaintiff was excluded therefrom is five thousand dollars; that the plaintiff was still the owner in fee simple and entitled to the possession of said premises; and plaintiff demanded judgment against the said defendants for the possession of the demanded premises, and for the sum of six thousand dollars as damages.

A writ of summons against the defendants was sued out

Statement of the Case.

and, on the 27th day of May, 1889, was returned as served on the said defendants, by the delivery of a copy thereof to their authorized agent. On May 31, 1889, the separate answer of the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company was filed, denying the plaintiff's title, and claiming that defendant had, in good faith, and without any knowledge that the plaintiff claimed any interest therein, entered into possession of the described land and, in the belief that it was the owner thereof, had constructed thereon its railroad and its depot, at an expense exceeding seven thousand dollars; that the plaintiff knew that the defendant was constructing its railroad and depot as aforesaid, and permitted the same to be done without making any claim to said premises, wherefore defendant claimed judgment that the plaintiff should take nothing by the action; that the plaintiff should be declared to be estopped from claiming title to said premises; and that the defendant should have such other and further relief as should be just and equitable.

On the 3d day of July, 1890, by virtue of an act of Congress of that date, the said Territory of Idaho became a State; and on August 27, 1890, the defendants filed a petition in the District Court of the First Judicial District of the State of Idaho, praying for the removal of said case to the Circuit Court of the United States, Ninth Circuit, in and for the District of Idaho; and the case was so proceeded in that, on December 6, 1892, a final judgment was entered, adjudging that the plaintiff, the Washington and Idaho Railroad Company, should take nothing by the action, and that the defendant, the Cour d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company, should have judgment against the said plaintiff for its costs.

The trial in the Circuit Court was by the court, a jury having been waived by both parties. The court made the following findings of facts:

"First. That on the 6th day of July, 1886, the defendant, the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company, filed its articles of incorporation in the office of the secretary of the Territory (now State) of Montana, and also filed in the office of the county clerk and recorder of the county of Lewis

Statement of the Case.

and Clarke, in said Territory, a certified copy of its said articles of incorporation, which articles of incorporation are, in words and figures, following, to wit:

"We, Daniel C. Corbin, Samuel T. Hauser, Anton H. Holter, of the city of Helena, in the county of Lewis and Clarke, Territory of Montana; Stephen S. Glidden, of Spokane Falls, Washington Territory; James F. Wardner, of Wardner, in the Territory of Idaho; James Monaghan, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Territory; and Alfred M. Esler, of said Helena, Montana, do by these presents, pursuant to and in conformity with article 3 of chapter 15 of the Revised Statutes of Montana, entitled "railroad corporations," and all acts supplemental thereto or amendatory thereof, associate ourselves together and form a corporation for the purpose of locating, constructing, maintaining, and operating railroads in the Territories of Montana and Idaho, and to that end we do hereby certify as follows:

"First. The name of such corporation by which it shall be known shall be "The Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company."

"Second. The termini of said railroad are to be located in the county of Missoula, Territory of Montana, and in the counties of Kootenai and Shoshone, in the Territory of Idaho, and, if said corporation shall so determine, termini may also be located in the county of Nez Perces, in said Territory of Idaho; said railroad shall pass through said counties of Missoula, Kootenai, and Shoshone, and if said corporation shall so determine, then said railroad shall also pass through said county of Nez Perces, and the general route of said railroad shall be as follows: Commencing at or near the town of Thompson's Falls, in said county of Missoula, or at some convenient point between said Thompson's Falls and the western boundary line of said Territory of Montana; thence running westerly or southwesterly to that certain tributary of Cour d'Alene River known as the South Fork; thence down the South Fork and Coeur d'Alene River to Old Mission, connecting with steamboats or other water craft, to be owned and

Statement of the Case.

operated by said corporation, said steamboats or other craft to ply between said Old Mission and the town of Coeur d'Alene; and, if said corporation shall so determine, then said railroad shall again commence at said town of Coeur d'Alene, and run northwesterly to Rathdrum, in said county of Kootenai, or such point on the line of the Northern Pacific railroad between Rathdrum and the western boundary of Idaho Territory as said corporation may hereafter determine, with the right and privilege, if said corporation shall see proper, to run a branch or extension of said road in a southerly direction from said Shoshone County to the said county of Nez Perces; said steamboats or other water craft between the points in that behalf above specified to be used in connection with and as constituting a part of said railroad.

"Third. The amount of capital stock necessary to construct such roads, including said connections, is five hundred thousand dollars, divided into five thousand shares of one hundred dollars each.

"Fourth. The principal place of business of said corporation in the Territory of Montana shall be at Helena, in the county of Lewis and Clarke, and principal place of business of said corporation in the Territory of Idaho shall, until otherwise fixed by the board of directors of said corporation, be at Coeur d'Alene, in the said county of Kootenai.'

"Second. That the line of route of the railroad of the said Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company, as described in said article of incorporation, passes over and includes the ground in controversy in this action.

"Third. That on the 20th day of July, 1886, the defendant, the Coeur d'Alene Railway and Navigation Company, filed in the office of the Secretary of the Interior, at Washington, D. C., a certified copy of its said articles of incorporation, and proofs of its organization under the laws of the Territory (now State) of Montana, which certified copy of articles of incorporation and proofs of organization were duly approved on that day by the honorable Secretary of the Interior.

"Fourth. That in the summer and fall of 1886 the de

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