Brookville American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1858-1861, 1859-01-21
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
Senator's and Representatives;

senators ana hepreSeRdttces;
At the special session of tho Genera
Assembly, | asked your consideration
Of those questions only which Though
demanded your immediate attention
and deferred, until the present, any rec
ommendation except those which shoul'
be presented to you at tho time whcl
the Constitution Of the State requiro'
that you should assemble as tho Repre-
scntatives of the people,.
i On the 9th Of March, 1852, an &C
was approved, entitled "An act to au
thorize the formation of companies fo
the detection and apprehension Of horse
thieves and other fslons, and defining
their powers"
Under thislaw, associations have beer
formed, that have arrested and pun
ishcd individuals, without bringing
them for trial before the ordinary and
legal tribunals Of the State. 1t is bet
ter that every person, charged with the
violation of the law, should ,bc arraign.
cd and tried by the courts of justice.
recommend TO you the repeal Of tina,
law. There would be no necessity al
any time for honest men TO form asso-
Citations for the purpose OF arresting
and furnishing criminals, IL the State
and counties made sufficient allow
ance to indemnify their police officers
in arresting and bringing to trial those
who violated the law. You cannot ex
pect that the shcrffs and other police
officers will devote their time, and cx-
pend their money to bring those who
violated the law before the tribunals OF
justice, unless they receive u reasonable
compensation While this class Of Of.
fiecis are unpaid we may expect that
an indignant people, who have been
outraged by criminals, will disregard
the law, and punish without authority
those whom they believe have done
wrong.
Section Of article Of the Conslitu- =
ton Of tho United States requires that
"a person charged in any State with
treason, felony orother crime, who shall
fee from justice, and be found Ia anoth-
cr State SHALL on demand Of the exc.
cetive authority ofthc State fro p which
he fed, be delivered mp 10 bo removed
TO the State haying jurisdiction Of the
crime
Daring my term Of service / have
declined to surrender to the authorities
Of other States, those persons who are
charged with oifcnscs WHICH, at the
time Of the establishment of the Con-
stitution of tho United States, were
misdcmcanors.
: Siucc .he adoption of this section of
the Constitution. several OF tho States
havo so changed their laws that many
offenscs WHICH wero then misdemean-
ors arc nov declared iclonies The au-
thors of this section evidently. in pro
viding for tho surrender Of fugitivcs
from Justice, intended TO include only
those who arc charged with crime, and
not those who were charged with mis-
demcanors Ii was not their intention
to require Of State that one of her
citizeGs should be surrendered TO an.
other State, when he was simply charg.
cd with that which was then misdc-
meanor although State making such
n demand should, by her law, declare
that what was then misdcmcanor is
now n felony. For instance, when the
constitution was adopted, nn ssault and
battery was n we'll known oiTensc, and
legally defined misdcmcanor. No.
State had right to change the charac-
ter OF that offcnsr from amisdemcanor
to felony, and upon person being so
charged with such alleged felony, csca.
ping from The State Of his residence TO
another State, require of the authori.
ties Of that State his return. Without
any such provision-in the constitution
each State would be at liberty TO sur.
render, or not. any person within her
borders charged with an ofIensc. There
being no act Of the Legislature direct.
ing that n person should be delivered
up | have considered the constitution of
the United States as alone CONTROLLING
the surrender Of fugitives from Justice
The citizens of the State urc dcoply
interested in tho preservation OF the
public records. Hitherto there has been
no safe depository for them. The on.
GERS of State have been compelled To
rent rooms in which 20 place the roe
ords. 1t is impossible in this city to
secure the uso of rooms that are safe
AGAINST accident or crime. If many of
the counties are Wiling % ufuKUtHrse
expenditures in the erection of build.
ings for tho preservation of their rec
ords | am satisfied that the State can,
with far greater propriety, provide a
building for similar purpose. The
destruction Of tho records Of the State
would entail upon her citizens lasting
conflicts concerning the rights of prop
erty. The expense OF the litigation
which would arise from their destruc
ton would far exceed any expense in
the erection of building suitable toa nc.
commodatc all the officers Of State.
suggest to you, therefore, the property
of erecting Mt an early day. upon some
of the public grounds, building where
in the Judges of the Supreme Court and
the officers of State may be enabled to
preserve the public records.
The Trustees of the Wabash and
Eric Canal reported to me, in Deccm-
Der, 1857, the condition Of that work.
Tho report for tho year 1858 will be
laid before you Mt an early day, which
will inform you us to its present condi-
tion. rcgrcttcdt TO see, in their report
for 1857, that its revenues wcrc greatly
diminished; and | am informed that
during the past year there has been no
improvement. IL is, indeed, feared that
the revenues will prove wholly made.
ouate To keep the canal in repair. and