The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-05-12

~ NONbL AND lMPONIANI IlVUON OAsb.
IL very interesting case was recently
tried before the Supreme court Of Mass, at
Salem,-Deing that of James Brown VS..
Stephen Perkins and wife-of which the
circumstances are these. On the 9Th day
of July, 1856, some 200 women assem-
bled in Rockport, and proceeded to sever
al places where liquors were illegally
sold, and entered by force, and destroyed
the liquors there found. In defence they
claimed that the act is justi6able, mas
much as the liquors kept for sale and the
shops in which they are kept are by law
declared common nuisances. As there
was no showing that the act was not COM
mitted, the case turned upon the right of
individuals thus to proceed against nui-
sances. Judge Shaw in reviewing the
case made the following points
/. Can all persons, without process of
law, destroy such liquors?
2. Have they the right 10 use force to
enter place mot being dwelling house,
for this purpose
3. Can large number of persons COM
bine to use force?
/. All persons have right to abate
public nuisance. As in cases cited by de-
PENDANTS, individuals may cut down a gate
erected in highway, or destroy bridge
thrown over navigable waters am of
opinion that liquors kept illegally for sale,
with the implements of trade, having been
declared by law public nuisance, every
person may destroy them.
2, If kept in shop, not a dwelling
house, it is justi6able to use SO much force
as is necessary to come at such liquor and
vessels, for the purpose of destroying
ihem--a dwelling house is surrounded
with peculiar sacredness, and in that
case the rule would be otherwise. The
law abounds in maxims declaring that
mans house is his castle.
3. IF the act is justi6able when done
| by any one person, then it is justifablc
when done by the combined action of
many. If the act is right and one may
do it, and if tire, may do it, l do not
see why hundred may not do it.
The jury returned verdict for defen-
dants.
Such decision, from the Chief Justice
of Massachusetts,, will be of startling in.
terest to those most directly interested,
the contrabandists, nor can it be regarded
with Indifference by any one who can be
interested in the general welfare.
Without calling in question the correct
ness of the learned jurists decision a
doubt can hardly fail to arise whether nu.
isances that have been made such by Spec
al enactment can properly be subject to
the same summary proceeding as those
which have by common consent and com.
mon law always been considered such
But, if this is law, it inauguratcs quite q
new system of treating illegal liquor traf
ficers, the efficacy of which can be better
told after trial.
The Bellows Falls Ttmss gives sac
picture of the morals of that place, anC
expresses an ardent desire for temper
ance revival 1t attributes the deplora
BILE condition of things to rum and the in
auence of its democratic neighbor.
1t is said that the great flood on tn
lower Mississippi, has been the means 0
bringing out millions Of dollars worth o
timber that has been for years accumula
ting ir. the Yazoo Valley, for want of wa
ter tt, a oat it that at least FIVE milli0
dollars will be saved and brought int
market by this rise of the river.
SUNSET Cox-Cox, the vacillating Obi
N. c., whose surrender to the administra
ton shows him to be either weak or t
have his price, is thus dismissed to tn
land of the setting sun by the Ciucinna
| Gazette:
"The sun of Cox has set. OF all tn
weathercocks of the day, he is one of tn
most remarkable. At the first dawn c
the Douglas rebellion this ambitious youn
fowl crowd the most Justify of all.-Frol
this time forth, Mr.. Cox may hang up h
violin. There is no more hard work fC
him to do in Congress after his term
out A truo, honest, manly course woul
have ensured his recollection. We ventur
to say that he could not have been dC
ieated had he been willing to 60 befor
the people next fall simply on the LIZ
compton issue. But he has change
sides just in the critical moment. Th
Republicans of his district are relieve
from tho unpleasant duty they would otf
erwise have had of giving him their SUI
port"
On Monday last, an Irishman name
Gilooly, soldier in the Florida war, an
a pensoner of Government, attempted
commit suicide by cutting his throat. IL
severed branch of the jugular vein, an
bled profusely, but was discovered in sei
son to save his life. His wound wa
dressed by DR.. Heineberg, and he is in
fair way of recovery. He had been " O
| N snreen