The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1859-01-11
Goxernor,s Message.

Senator's and Representatives.
At the special session of the General As
sembly, | asked your consideration of those
questions only which l thought demanded
your Immediate attention; and deferred,
until the present, any recommendations ex-
cept those which should be presented to you
at the time when the Constitution Of the
State should require that you should assem-
BILE as the representatives of the people.
On the 9th of March, 1852, an act was APP
proved, entitled aAn act to authorize the
formation of companies for the detection and
apprehension of horse thieves and other
felons, and defining their powers
Under this law, assoeia tons have been
formed that have arrested and punished in
dividuals without bringing them to trial
before the ordinary and legal tribunals of
the State. 1t is better that every person,
charged with the violation of the law, be ar
raigned before, and tried before the courts of
justice. recommend to you the repeal of
that law. There would be no necessity at any
time for honest men to form associations for
the purpose of arresting and Furnishing
criminals, if the State and counties made
q sufficient allowance to indemnity their po
lice officers in arresting and bringing to trial
those who violated the law. You cannot
expect that the sheriffs and other police
officers will devote their time, and expend
their money to bring those who violate the
law before the tribunals of justice, unless
they receive a reasonable compensation
While this class of officers are unpaid we
may expect that an indignant people who
have been outraged by criminals, will dis
regard the law, and punish without author
ity those whom they believe have done
wrong.
Section 2 of article of the Constitution
of the United States requires that " person
charged in any State with treason, felony,
or other crime, who shall flee from justice,
and be found-in another State, shall, on de-
mand of the executive authority of the State
from which he fed, be delivered up to be re-
moved to the State having jurisdiction of the
crime"
During nv term of service | have declin-
ed to surrender to the authorities of the
other States, those persons who are charged
with offenses, which, at the time of the
establishment of the Constitution of the
United States, were misdemeanors.
Since the adoption of this section of the
Constitution, several of the States have SC
changed their laws that many OffenSes
which were then misdeneanors are now
felonies. The authors of this section evil
IDENTIFY, in providing for the surrender o.
fugitiyes frons justice, intended to include
only those who are charged with crime, and
not those who were charged with misde
meanors. 1t was not their intention to re-
ouire of a State that one of her citizen;
should be surrendered to another State
when he was simply charged with tha
which was thea misdemeanor although
State making such demand, should, by
her law, declare what was then misde
meanor is now a felony. For instance
when the constitution was adopted, an as
sault and battery was well known ofense
and legally defined misdemeanor. NJ
State had right to change the character o
that offense from q misdemeanor to felony
and upon a person being so charged witt
such alleged felony, escaping from the State
of his residence to another State, require o
the authorities of that State his RETURN
Without any such provision in the constitu
ton, each State would be at liberty to sur
render, or not, any person within her Dor
ders charged with an offense. There being
no act of the Legislature directing that {
person should be delivered up,ssI have con
sidered the Constitution of the United
States as alone controlling the surrender o
fugitives from justice.
The citizens of the State are deeply in
terested in the preservation of the public
records. Hitherto there has been no safe
depository for them. The officers of State
have been compelledto rent rooms in which