Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-07-22

- Commission, and the Iabeas
Corpus.
AS is well known by our readers, the
military commission at Washington has
closed its sessions. This commission has
promulgated one Of the most remarkable
findings ever recorded in this orany other
country. AL the parties tried before it
were charged with combining and conted-
Grating together, for the purpose olmnrder-
ing the President Of the United States and
his Cabinet. The President ,Cas murdered.
and the Secretary of State was severely
wounded 1t is well known that Booth
fred the fatal shot, and therefore these
parties were tried for being attessories,
somo of them before and some Of them
after the fact.
An accessory before the fact is one who,
being absent at the time of the commission
of the crime, doth yet procure, counsel
command and abet another. to commit
the crime as if B. desires D.. to kill an
other, and D. does it in the absence of B..
in such case d, is the principal and b. the
accessory. .Ss
AN accessory after the fact is one who.
knowing felony to have been committed
receives, relieves, comforts or assists the
felon. Amy assistance given to felon,
knowing him to be such, TO hinder him
from being apprehended, tried or suffering
punishment, makes the assster an aeees-
sorry after the fact.
1t is well settled principle oflaw,
that, if the conspiracy be established, as
charged, it results that whatever is said
or done by any of the parties to the con
spiracy, in furtherance Of such conspiracy,
is the declaration and act of the whole,
whether they all be present at the time or
not. The long and well established rule
of law, in prosecutions for conspiracy is,
that when several persons are proved to
have coJederated together for the same
Illegal purpose, any act done by one oI
the party in furtherauce Of the concerted
plan, and in reference to the common OBJ
iect, is IN lar, as well as in common
sense, the act OF the whole party, and
therefore if the crime be committed, proof
thereof will be evidence against any shown
to have been in the same general conspiracy
aOi'hom regard to the question whether the
party is proved to have been present and
engaged in the particular transaction.
The same rule applies to all cases of
felony. How the learned members ofthe
commission, could have the effrontery to
convict all the prisoners, of combining and
confederating with Booth for the purpose
of numbering the President and Cabinet,
and sentence one half to be ha,.gn and
the other half to Imprisonment, is beyond
our comprehension. If they were guilty
of anything, they were guilty of murder,
and if guilty ofmurder they ought to have
suffered the penalty attached to such crime.
1t was not pretended by this Star Cham
Der Court, that, any one else than Booth
killed the President Neither of the four
persons hanged were charged with the
killing, but with conspiring with the per-
son who did kill. They were all charged,
those who were hanged, as well as those
who were sentenced to imprisonment, with
conspring with Booth, who fred the fatal
shot. r-'
Why then, in the name of common
: sense and justice, were they not oil guilty
alille-why, if guilty at all, were they moi
all eutitled to the same punishment? They
were under the laws Of the land, but it wa,
left for the learned men who composed
this commission, to establish a aew 4ult
in such cases, to find several person,
guilty Of the same ofence, and yet NEE
out to them different degrees of punish
ment
Nobody pretends that Mrs. Surratt xii
: led the President of the United States. Sh,
was not charged with the killing. She wat
charged with combining and coqfederating
to do so, with Booth, who, it is admitted
/ did kill him, So was Spangler, and the
others, whoAHere sentenced to imprison,
/, ment. Then Uhereia is the difference in