The question before the commissioner in this case was whether, in the language of the treaty of 1842, art. 10 (8 Stat. 572, 576), there was 'such evidence of criminality as, according to the laws of the place where the fugitive or person so charged shall be found, would justify his apprehension and commitment for trial if the crime or offense had been there committed'; in other words, whether, according to our laws, there was probable cause to believe him guilty of the crimes charged. Rev. St. § 5270; Benson v. McMahon, 127 U.S. 457, 462, 8 Sup. Ct. 1240. The question before us is even narrower than that, viz. whether there was any legal evidence at all upon which the commissioner could decide that there was evidence sufficient to justify his commitment for extradition; or, as stated in Ornelas v. Ruiz, 161 U.S. 502, 508, 16 Sup. Ct. 689, 691, 'if the committing magistrate has jurisdiction of the subject-matter and of the accused, and the offense charged is within the terms of the treaty of extradition, and the magistrate, in arriving at a decision to hold the accused, has before him competent legal evidence on which to exercise his judgment as to whether the facts are sufficient to establish the criminality of the accused for the purpose of extradition, such decision cannot be reviewed on habeas corpus.' See, also, In re Luis Oteiza y Cortes, 136 U.S. 330, 10 Sup. Ct. 1031.
The evidence before the commissioner tended to show that Bryant was employed by the firm of Morrison & Marshall, of London, as bookkeeper and assistant cashier from January to October, 1896, at a salary of 104 per annum; that he had under his control the check books of the firm, and the paid checks returned from the bank, although he was not authorized to sign the firm's name to checks; that the frim kept an account with the London office of the Commercial Bank of Scotland; and that such account was charged with the three following checks, viz.: June 23d, 500; August 14th, 500; September 1st, 720. These checks purported to be drawn on the bank, and to be signed by Morrison & Marshall, and were presented for payment by the Provincial Bank of England, and were paid and debited to Morrison & Marshall.
It further appeared that Bryant kept an account with the Provincial Bank, in which he deposited on June 22d a check for 500, on August 13th a check for 500, and on September 9th a check for 720, which were credited to his account. It appeared that the three checks paid by the Commercial Bank were abstracted from two check books which were not in use at the time, and were accessible to Bryant. No entry was made upon the counterfoils, or, as they are called in this country, the 'stubs,' of the check books from which they were taken; nor was any memorandum of such checks anywhere entered; nor were these checks among those received back from the bank in the ordinary way.
It further appeared that Morrison & Marshall had a sum exceeding 5,000 carried to the credit of a 'suspense account' in their ledgers, with which account, however, Bryant had no authority to interfere. He did, however, bring a credit of 2,000 from such 'suspense account' to a fictitious account, which he opened in the ledger in the name of T. H. North. Against this credit of 2,000 he debited two items of 780 and 1,220. The 780 was posted in the ledger from the cash book, and consisted of 280 and the 500 represented by the first check paid June 23d. The 1,220 was represented by the checks paid August 14th, 500, and September 10th, 720. These amounts Bryant did not carry out in the cash column of the cash book, but, in order that the balances of the cash book, ledger, and banker's pass book should agree, he added the sum of 1,220 to the total at the bottom of the page, notwithstanding that amount was not in the column, nor was there any entry in the cash book relating to the 1,220, which could be posted to North's fictitious account.