The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-12-10
ANOTHER MURDER TRIAL.
A NICE LEGAL POINT DISCUSSED.


Yesterday. before the United States District
Court. Jueee Durell presiding, came mp for trial
the case OF Samuel THOMPSON, charged with the
murder oil Willard L. Call, on the snip St. James,
81 the mouth Of the river, on the 4th May last.
The following jury was empanuelIed John Cock.
ran, VIM. Vigels, Thos. l.. wibray, A. PARE.
Everett Lane, j. Caulfeld, Nelson MaritsbeI. H.
}. Vose, Auguste lie Blsnc, l.. A. Snaer. Eugene
V. Mccarthy, David McCoard.
Tie principal Witnesses for the prosecution were
S. r. Goodwin, master OF the vessel St. James,
and = Call, brother of the deceased. The
captain testified that while the ship st. James was
beng towed up TO the bar. on the 4th OF May last,
she struck sgainst mudbsnk, when her hawser
parted. All hands were at once setto work to re-
hasten the haSser. While the deceased and tho
accused were pulling together at the hawser q
quarrel ensued between them, the cause of which
the wines did not know. The accused was
calling deceased a id scoundrel " and other
names even harder. when the deceased placed his
hand over the mouth OF the other, saying, "Don't
call me that again. Then the witness rushed
forward 10 separate the disputants, when the ac-
cused gliced past him, and sezing the deceased's
knife from bis belt, stabbed him ia the right side.
Medical attendance was at once obtained for tue
wounded man, and soon as Pilot Town was
reached the man who had inflicted the stab Samuel
Thompson. was arrested and placed in irons.
Shortly after arriving in the city, Call, the
wounded man, died at the Hotel Dieu. The wit
ness did not know the cause of the quarrel be-
tween the deceased and accused, but thought that
It was Jealousy borne by Thompson Of the man
he had stabbed.
Capt. Goodwin was cross-examined at length
by Judge N. A. Dooley, counsel for the prisoner.
as 10 whether the vessel, at the time the stsbbpg
was done, was on the high seas within the juris-
diction of the State of Louisiana.
Nr. Call, the brother of the deceased, testified
that at the time named 10 the indictment he was
on board the ship st. James. He saw a quarrel
between his brother and the prisoner and at once
went towards them. Before he got to them he
NC Vie oasxa he k~1t -.
him in the right side. and then throw the knife
overheard.
DR.. Boyer was called to the stand to prove that
Call had died of the wound then inflicted.
The chief point Of the defense was that the
crime bad been committed within the jurisdiction
Of the State of Louisiana and not on the high seas
ss charged in the indictment. Various witnesses
were called TO prove that there was ebb and flow
Of the tide at the place where the stsbbiug was
done, and to prove that that spot was within the
jurisdiction of the State of Louisiana and there
fore without that Of the ". S. District Court Vsri-
Gus maps were brought into court and the discus
sion on the point was long one.
8. ii. Torrey, Esq, district attorney, addressed
the jury for the prosecution. He stated that the
question of facts was settled, as it had been am
ply proved that the prisoner, Thompson, had
stabbed the deceased. The great point at issue
was the question Of Jurisdiction. Judge NJ. A.
Dooley spoke for the defense. He commended
that at most the crime was msnssughter and no
more, and strongly urged that the deed was done
not on the high seas but in the State of Louisiana
and 1t could therefore only be punished BY the
tribunals Of the State.
Judge Durell charged the jury that the law 10
that admiralty juri,diction begins at low water
mark, that is, at the extreme point left bare By
ebb tide. At the same time he explained that in
the case of indentures into the coast, line must
be supposed TO be drawn from the low water
mark on one point to the same mark on the other
point and all territory inside OF that line comes
under the jurisdiction Of the State adjacent, while
all outside of it is the high seas.
The jury then retired, but remained only some
fifteen or twenty minutes. when they returned,
filing slowly into the court room. Then while the
court room was silent with the expectation of the
decision upon the life OF fellow-m the fore
man handed the verdict to the clerk who read IL
out loud, guilty, with recommend alton to the
mercy of the court" The prisoner, who during
the trial had been sested near his counsel aud
who had evinced but little emotion at any stage
Of the proceedings. appearing TO be too deeply
detected 10 take any note of what was going on
had been removed before the jury had returned;
so it probably devolved upon some messenger Of
the court TO convey to him the result of the trial.
he is rather short, slight man, with forid face
and mOustache and goatee quite gray. What
the sentence Of the judge will be it is impossible
TO say. The recommendation of mercy given by
the jury can have but little foundation, and will
have, we suppose, therefore, but little weight or
at any rate the doom of the prisoner cannot be less
than life term within four prison wals-s punish
ment worse than death itself. and a grievous re-
compense for q moments indulgence in anger.