Litchfield enquirer., 1867-09-12
GEO. A. HICKox. Eso.:

 stated that the whole argument of your Editorial turned ''upon the mere assumption-that the de- tective so aids and abets the seller in his criminal act that said detective becomes thereby pdfticepS cilnainlS-an accomplice in the crime.' This you do not deny in either of your rejoin- ders but in one of them you attempt to establish the assumption by authorities Now, If ! can show that your authorities arc l WoIthless this connection, your assumption is still nothing but an assumption, and my five argu- ments against It, which you have not even made an effort to invalidate crush it out of being You first give two definitions which are of no force in the argument unless you show that they are "'0'esh'tctett which you have failed to do. You then cite number of decisions, all of which are etfectually disposed of by the Mass. Supreme Court. See Pickering's Reports, Vol g, pp 476, , 479: Commonwealth vs. Calvin Willard. George w. Richardson was summoned as Q wit hess before the Grand Jury for the purpose of proving that one Gould had sold to him spirituous liquors, &c. :; but he refused to testify on the ground, that as such sale made misdemean- or by the statute his testimony might crimnate himself and subject him ds Ne Iu1'chdseT to pros ecutlon at common law for ind,tcing Gould Co commit C misdenseanor This case was directly in point.
 Richardson was committed for contempt by the Court of Common Pleas and the commitment was sustained by the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Shaw delivering the opinion of the Court as fol- lows:
 !" But the Court arc of the opinion that the wit ness would not be liable to any prosecution as such purchaser and, therefore, would not crimi- nate himself, or expose himself to punishment by such purchase
 No precedent and no authority has been shown for such prosecution, and no such prosecution has been attempted within the knowledge of the Court, although similar law has been in force al- most from the foundation of the government and thousands of prosecutions and convictions of sell lers have been had under 1t, most of which have been sustained by the testimony of buyers That such a prosecution Is unprecedented shows very strongly what has been understood to be the law upon this subject."
 A The defence had cited a number of decisions in Fsnpport of thelr position as you have done among which was at Feast one of thes1 decisions up. on which you rely, but which are disposed of thus: " It IS difficult to draw any precise line of distinc- ton between the cases i'll which the law holds it a mlsdemeanor to counsel, entice, or induce another to comnit crime-and where it does not. In general It has been considered as applying to cases of felony though it has been held that it does not depend upon the mere legal and technical distinc- tlon between felony and misdemean0r. One con- sideraion, however, is manifest in all the cases, and that is, that the offence proposed to be com mltted, by the counsel, advice or enticement of another, Is of a high and aggravated character, tending to breaches of the peace or other great disorder and violence, being what usually con sldered nttd0 % SC, cTineiitdI in UemselUes in contradlstnctlon to n.dlo rr0tibta, acts other wise indifferent than as they restrained by positive law. All the cases cited ill support of the objection of the witness are of this description"
 It is in cases of this character, G. C., those considered criminal i'll themselves,) s'that the principle has been applied but We know of nc case, where an act which, previously to the Stat ute was lawful or indifferent, is prohibited under small penalty, and where the soliciting indu- cing another to do the act, by which he may incul } the penalty, is held to be itself punishable. Sucl a case may perhaps arise, under peculiar circum stances, in which the principal of law, which ir
 Court d'e oN of opinion Mat I does not dpply i( tue case Cf one scho by purchasing sp1ituo,ts c. qtors of dn unlicensed person does as fur 0s Mn ~ An oher to sell in uiolotion 9
 thlnk has an important bearing on the question, il 1t is not decisive
 1.-The statute imposes penalty upon any one who shall sell.
 But every sale implies purchaser there must be purchaser as well as Q seller, and this must have been known and understood by tho Iegisla- ture. Now if it were intended that the purchaser should be subject to any penalty, it IS to be pre- sumed, that it would have been declared in the statute either by imposing penalty on the buyer ill terms, or by extending the penal conseauences of the prohibited act to all persons aiding coun- selling or encouraging the principal offender
 " There being no such provision ill the statute, there Is strong implication that none such was intended by the legislature.'
 Now, Sir, submit that this decision rules out of Court all the cases that you cite except that from Tennessee
 And before Htdt can be accepted as authority at all, must be assured that said Court has purged itself from complicity with the blackest conspiracy that ever cursed the world.
 And even if that can be dOne no candid iurist will ever, for one moment, rely upon decision from any Southern State in prefcrece to the ruling of tho Supreme Court of Mass
 But as you seem to be profoundly impressed with the value of authority, permit me to call your afn9a pa t9 G5senSa 3 \ e 9n ThH JtT hnT of Evidence
 ''There is class of persons apparently dc- cOnpliccs to whom the rule requiring cOrrobOra- ting evidence does not apply namely, persons who have entered into communication with con- spirators, but either afterwards repentng or hay
 ing originally determined to illustrate the enter prise, have subsequently, disclosed the conspiracy ) to the public authorities, under whose direction they continue to act with their guilty confederates until the matter can be so far advanced and ma tured, so to insure their conviction and punish ment The early disclosure is considered as bind ing the party to his duty and though a great de- gree of objection or disfavor may attach to him for the part he has acted as an intO11aey, or on other accounts, yet his case is 1ot treated as Me case Ot dn dccOmptlce.
 = Peterborough" Note.-'' Cue eChO purchases i,s- torictding liquor sold contrary to latD, FOR THE Ex- PRESS PURPOSE of prosecuting 1e seller tor dn u1- LG1CtM sdle, IS NOT AN ACCoMPLICE. ."-Common- } wealth vs. Dewering, 4 Gray, 293.
 So much for the legal authorities Now for your 7 concluding question, viz :-" Would you think it proper to use similar means of detection in sup pressing houses of prostltutp pn to those you em- ; ploy for the suppression of rum-shops?' If by similar means of detection" you mean the pro- l curemeRt of evidence by detectives sufficient to , convict the guilty parties, answer, Yes! Sect. 13i, Chapter 2, Revised Statutcs.-'s Every person who shall keep house of ill fame resorted
 to for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness or
 who shall reside in, frequent such house for the purpose aforesaid, shall be punished by imprison ment ill a common jail for a term not exceeding l six months or by fine not exceeding one hun /, dred dollars, or by such fine and imprisonment , both.' Caldwell against the State of Connecticut in Er ror,"To support an information for violation O g the statute c. 20, against keeping house of il : fame it is necessary for the prosecutor to prove , 1st, that the general reputation of 8 house wa. . that of bawdy house, and 2d, that is was so il D fact"
 All that would be necessary on the part of tho detective would be to enter the house and obserue without himself uttering impure word or being guilty of an impure act. If he sees the usual ap
 pearance of such house, that is sufficient to con l Vict, as specific act need be alleged in the com e plaint. On the other hand, if by '' similar means D. of detection" you mean that the detective shal ? have commerce with the inmates, answer, No
 Because fornicaton is forbidden by the law of Goo = under all cirumstances but drinking intoxicating liquors is not thus forbidden.
 e Yours, for Temperance, S. H. PLATT. u West Winsted, Sept. 3, 1867. n Holmes is busy on the remaining chap 4o,, ,f b;o EsG,,or5ian AnCa1 ' which is tC