At length Mr. Aspinwall, who had become nervous from the man’s actions, exclaimed, “My God, this man is crazy; he will kill me;” and calling him into the office, asked him what he wanted in thus following and persecuting him.  Moulin answered that he wanted pay for his onions and potatoes.  Aspinwall replied, “But I don’t know anything about your onions and potatoes; how should I?  Go back to my agents in California, and they will do what is right.  I will direct them to do so.”  “But,” said Moulin, “I have no ticket to go to California;” and thereupon Aspinwall gave him a free ticket back to San Francisco.  Moulin departed, and in due course of time again presented himself to Forbes and Babcock, in San Francisco.  At the re-appearance of the man, they were more annoyed than ever; but finally managed to induce him to commence a suit in the United States District Court.  When the case was called, by an understanding between his lawyer and the lawyer of the steamship company, judgment was allowed to be entered in Moulin’s favor for four hundred and three dollars and a half, besides costs.  The amount thus awarded greatly exceeded the actual value of the onions and potatoes appropriated.  It was thought by the defendant that on the payment of so large a sum, the whole matter would be ended.  But Moulin was very far from being satisfied.  He insisted that the judgment ought to have been for three thousand and nine hundred dollars, besides interest, swelling the amount to over six thousand dollars, and applied to Judge Hoffman of the District Court to set it aside.  But as the judgment had been rendered for the full value of the property taken, as admitted by his lawyer, the Judge declined to interfere.  This was in 1861.

In 1863 I received my appointment as Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, and was assigned to the circuit embracing the district of California.  Moulin then appealed to the Circuit Court from the judgment in his favor, and at the first term I held, a motion was made to dismiss the appeal.  I decided that the appeal was taken too late, and dismissed it.  Moulin immediately went to Mr. Gorham, the clerk of the court, for a copy of the papers, insisting that there was something wrong in the decision.  Gorham asked him what he meant, and he replied that I had no right to send him out of court, and that there was something wrong in the matter, but he could not tell exactly what it was.  At this insinuation, Gorham told him to leave the office, and in such a tone, that he thought proper to go at once and not stand upon the order of his going.  The following year, after Mr. Delos Lake had been appointed United States District Attorney, Moulin went to his office to complain of Gorham and myself; but Lake, after listening to his story, told him to go away.  Two or three years afterwards he again presented himself to Lake and demanded that Judge Hoffman, Gorham, and myself should be prosecuted.  Lake drove him a second