United States V. Barnes

Defendants-appellants, J. F. Barnes, James Tubb Washer and Robert Carney, were, as partners, the proprietors of a Nashville, Tennessee, gambling establishment known as the Uptown Dinner Club. This enterprise was conducted for years in violation of Tennessee's antigambling laws, Tenn.Code Ann. Section 39-2032, but seemingly flourished unhampered by prosecution until the federal government indicted the coproprietors under the socalled Interstate Travel Act, 18 U.S.C.A. Section 1952.*fn1 The misconduct charged in the indictment consisted of entering into a conspiracy (18 U.S.C. Section 371) to use, and causing to be used facilities of interstate commerce -- common carriers and the mails -- to carry on and promote the operation of the Uptown gambling establishment; the "overt acts" cited by the Government as establishing the conspiracy and the charged substantive violations of the Travel Act were: (a) purchasing various quantities of dice and chips from Chicago and Cincinnati concerns and having them shipped to Nashville by express, and (b) cashing checks drawn on out-of-state banks and causing a Nashville bank to use the mails to deliver them, for collection, to the outstate drawee banks.*fn2 By jury verdict, returned November 23, 1965, all defendants were convicted under various counts of the indictment. Their appeal is now before us.