Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1866-04-19
The Murdercrs Of Capt. McCar-
ty-The Supreme Court At
firms their Conviction.

At the May term, 1865, of the Circuit Court OF
the United States for the District Of Indiana, FIVE
young men, McAvoy, Scott, Hendrick. Scales and
Whiteside. were convicted Of the murder OF Cap
tain McCarty, of Diviess county, who shot
while serving notices on the drafted men Of that
county TO appear at the draft rendezvous of the lst
Congressional District. McAvoy pleaded GU lily,
and the others were separately tried by 9 jury.
and convicted. There was no doubt. from the
evidence, of their guilt but arrest Of Judgment
was moved. the ground that as Captain Nc
Carty WAS simply engaged in notifying drafted
men of tho result Of the draft, he was rot, within
the meaning ofthe act Of Congress, an enrolling
officer; and that. consequently, the courts of the
United States had no jurisdiction Of the oiense.
The judges did not coincide in thi. view Of the
defendants counsel. but as the penalty OF the
crime must be death. they certified in the case OF
Scott pro forma division of opinion to the Su-
preme Coxrt OF the United States. in order
TO get the judgment Of the highest court upon the
question.
The court has recently decided the case adverse
ly 10 the defendants, and find the following
abstract of its ruling in special dispitch to tho
Cincinnati Commercial:
IAN important, decision has Just been made pub
lie which was rendered BY the Supreme Court last
week on a case brought up from the United States
Circuit Court for the District of Indiana, and on
the issue. is resistance TO the enrolment resi.
tance to the drattl' The defendant Indicted
for killing officer while notifying enrolled men
they were drafted. On conviction, motion was
made in arrest Of Judgment. on the ground that
the United States Courts were without jurisdic
ton 10 .rv the indictment. the Supreme Court
decided that the word draft used in the twe7
fifth section of the act of 1863, does not simply
mean the act Of drawing the lottery, by which IL
is determined who Is TO go into the active service,
but means and includes all the services which the
Boar hare to perform in order to place men in
ootir a. u0rif faDrnllmenf ac
in the twelfth section of the act of February 81.
| 1864, means the same thing. The man who was
serving tho notices Of the draft was much and
as certainly engaged in perfecting the enrolment
as the enrolling officer.
Neither the enrolment nor the draft is complete
until the Board have passed upon the drafted men
at the place of rendezvous The word 'enrol~
mens,' used in this section. means well the
final roll for active service, as the first roll for
draft. The purpose OF the section was 10 AFFORD
protection TO the enrolling officers in performing
their whole duty. well when making the last
as the first roll. The Court, therefore, had jsris
diction."
Since their arrest, the crimi halls have been
fined in the Marion county Jail, and in the mean
time two of them have died. ht the approaching
term Of the court: sentence will doubtless be pass
ed upon the survivors, and il ia not probable that
Executive clemencv will interpose between them
and the gallOws. The murder was premeditated.
and had not even the poor apology OF PersOhai ha-
tired to qualify its enormity. IL perpetrated
for no other than 10 deter others from en-
forcing law which was essential 10 the preserva-
tion of the country, and without which the armies
OF the Union could not be reinforced. But these
Young men were not alone in their guilt; indeed
there others Of higher intelligence and supe-
rior standing and influence in society. who are
morally more guilty than they. The intelligent
heartless, echeminq, scoundrels who seduced
these murderers in 20 the dens Of the so-callod
"Sons of Liberty" and who, in public speeches.
labored to excite their ignorant and conhding
hearers against their Government are the primal,
guilty agents in that cold blooded and butcherly
murder The immediate assassns were taught
that the Government was n calling despotism, its
President and his subordinates ruthless tyranu.
and that on the principles Of sslfdsfense ell men
forcing the laws enacted By Congress.
The heart broken father of one tho prisoners
ascrbed the ruin of his son TO the fact that he had
] heard a speech made shortly before the murder by
! Democratic politician, who was elected TO the
Legislature in 1861 in which resistance TO the Gov
eminent plainly advocated, and the extreme
doctrines Of the knavish rebel associations with
which the State was then cursed, were proclaimed
as the principles of Democracy. About the tme
of McAvoy's arrest that politician left the State
Where he is we do not know, but he can never
go far enough from the scene OF the murder TO es-
cape the lashings of conscience. nor think OF tho
fate Of McAvoy and his associates without remorso
| and horror.-Iad. Jour.