The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1850-12-26

med ITO well and truly try and true deliver
/ ance make between the Commonw eaith and
the prisoner of the bar; and true verdict
give according 10 your evidence"
1t was shown in evidence that Elizabeth
Smith died on the 5ih of August 1850 in
Mahoning township, Mortour county; and
the COUNSEL for the defendant contends that
these facts oustod the jurisdiction of this
Court. The Iule of law with respect to tri-
| al for offences is that the offender should be
tried, IN cases of murder, in the county
where the death happened. When Eliza
beth Smith died, what county had jurisdic.
tion of the offence with which the prisoner
is charged? Was it not Columbia county ,
No other county then had any Jurisdiction
over him. Moniour county only existed
in name--there was no officer to execute
process, no Jail 10 receive him, no authority
to try him; and even on this very day we
have no evidence before US that there are
Executive officers duly qualified within the
county of M ontour BY the act OF July I'd
1929, for the election of Prolhonotaries,
Clerks, Recorders and Registers, it is declar
ed that no commission shall issue within
the lapse of thirty days after the election,
and shall commence and take effect from the
first day of December nert after such election
By the 7th and Sth sections of the act of
recting Montour county, the officers required
by law TO give security for the faithful dis
charge of their duties must do so before
they can enter OH The execution thereof and
the Sheriff, Coroner and other officers of the
county of Columbia shall continue to exer.
else the duties of their respective offices
until similar officers shall DO elected and
qualified 10 act within said county. lat
then is 10 be done with the prisoner at the
bar? An Indictment has been found by the
Grand Jury of Columbia County against him
and he has pleaded 10 that Indictment The
county of Moniour, when the offence is al
legged 10 have been committed, was neither
oIganzed for legislative, executive or judi
cial purposes; and now must the prisoner
be kept in the Jail of Columbia county till
the county of MontouI becomes organized
aud authorised TO try him? Or is he enti-
tied to speedy pubic trial b., a jury of the Vi
cinage "a jury of tha, county which was
duly organized for judicial purposes at the
time Of trial. Will it be pretended that
Monlour county is now in 4 situation TO try
,,tha .Issisonar2 What sheriff IS TO ,al,o charge
ot MIA ;,l =, ILL Il
Clerk is there of the Oyer and Terminer in
Montour county? We have no court in
Montour county at this time that can try
him. The defendant is entitled by the Con-
stitution TO speedy and public trial. And so
early as the year 1885, an act was passed
declaring that ''if any person shall be com.
mitsd for treason or felony and shall not be
indicted & lried some time il the next term,
session of Oyer aud Terminer &C., or other
court where the offence is properly ,ognisable
after such commitment; it shall and may be
lawful for the Judges or Justices thereof, and
they are hereby required, upon the las! day
of the term, session or court, to sci a. liberty
the prisoner upon bail, and if such prisoner
shall not be indicted and tried the se,ond
term, session or court after his or her COM
rnitment, unless the delay happen on the ap-
plicaiion, or with the absent of the defen.
dant, or upon the trial all be acquitted, he
shall be discharged from imprisonment" :"
The second term will in day or two have
ended; and, if we are not competent to try
the prisoner, he must under the above Sec
tion be discharged. If the offence is not
properly eognisabie by this court, we have no
tight 10 restrain him of his liberty, and he
can go without delay. Suppose the legisla.
ture, instead of fixing the third Monday of
December 1850 for holding court in the new
county of Montour, had declared that none
should be held there till December 1851 :;
must the prisoner be incarceraied ill that
period in ouI jail, or would he be entitled 10
his discharge? The constitution says he
shall have speedy and public trial, and
yet the legislature say he shall not. By de-
Gliding that the offence is properly cognisa-
BILE before this court, now sitting in Column
bia county which had full jurisdiction of the
offence when it was committed and whicn
has not, in our opinion, been taken away by
the act Of May Sd 1850 erecting Montour
county, we carry out the spirit of the consli
tuition and the act of 1885, and do not de.
prive the prisoner of any right or any privi-
lege awarded to him by the constitution and
laws of his country.
a question has been raised whether the
prisoner IN the capacity OF physician did
not administer the medicine TO the deceased
for the purpose of curing her of suppressed
menses. If he did so aud was mistaken as
10 the nature of her complaint, it is decided
that his ilteniions were good; and if his de
sign was to administer medicine for her ben.
eft, and contrary to bis expectations The pa
tieut dies this would be neither murder nor
manslaughier, but misadyenture. But on
the contrary, if the physician knew that the
deceased was pregnant, and administered
the medicine for the purpose Of destroying
the child in her woub--it, as The deceased
declared he gave her the medicine to pro
duce aboriion-and if the medicue taken
by her through his directions produced The
desired effect, and in.consequenee of such
abortion The life Of Elizabeth Smith was the
forfeit, then the prisoner would be guilty of