Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-07-14
A Radical JUd on Murder by WTIrar!
Commission

Radical Jud on Murder by Military
Commission
TIE hanging of Mrs. Surratt, by order
of military commission at Washington
on charges of completely with her son
in plotting the death Of Abraham Lin
COln-Of which crime the mother was as
innocent as the babe unborn, and the
son 50 able to prove himself guiltless
that the authorities dare not even bring
him to trials a deep stain Oh the
American name.
Notwithstanding the fact that the civ
il courts at Washington were open, and
that persons not i'm the military or nav
nj service of the United States cannot be
tried by, or in any manner be made
amendable to punishment by a court
martial Mrs. Surratt and others vera so
tried, for an Offense against the civil law,
by military commission, which had
not, and could nOthave anyjurisdictiOn
over such cases. They were convicted
upon er pdTfe evidence by an illegal
court, and executed in accordance with
that verdict of conviction. Judge Olin,
of the superior Court of the District OF
Columbia, has but recently given his
opinion in regard to what that act was,
and we present it to our readers. Judge
Olin, who prOnOUnces the eOpiniOn, ranks
as the best lawyer on the bench of the
.cOurt-the Chief Justice, D. K. Carter,
late of this State, likenecesity, knowing
no law, The case was before the court
in the case of those who claimed certain
rewards for the capture Of parties alleg-
ed to be connected with the assassination
Of President Lincoln.
After raciting the fact that "the guar
antee of trial by jury contained in the
Constitution was intended for q state of
war rs well as 4 state of peace, and is
equally binding upon rulers and people
at all times and under all circumstance, -
Judge Olin said:
"The parties arrested, tried and con-
victed were tried before Il military COM
mission appointed by the Executive De-
partment of the Government. Those
persons Booth, &c., were not in the
military service of that Government, OF
in the military service of that sham
COnfedeTacy organized for tn eOverthrOw
of this Government. The crime com
mitted by those persons was committed
in this district Martial law was never
proclaimed here.-COurts of law had
been established, and were daily engag-
ed in efforts to punish crimes and red
reSs wrongs. l do not see upon the
principles announced in CU lJGTtc, Milli-
gan, t Wallace, p. ?, how an action in
this case can be maintained. 1t will not
think, be cOntended, ifnOne of the par
ties arrested had been tried and convict
ed, or having been tried had been ac-
quilted, that an action could be MAIN
tanned to recover this reward IF that
be so, the question necessarily arises
lUbetber this lUGS GLegdL cOpUictiOH Of olly
Of those parties before this military COM
mission? IfHCre mas not, the cOmmiss-
ion was but little better than mob, and
were themselves guilty Of MURDER
This is language that cannot be mista-
ken, and it comes, too, from Judge
whose political sympathies are under
stood to be with the party guilty of the
outrages against law and Justice.
A case was decided i'm England mqnv
years since, when an illegal sentence hv
a court martial, in one Of the British
Colonies, TcSul' ed in the death Of the
victim. When the Governor of the Is
land, bv whose orders the SenteUce Of
excessive flOgging, resulting in death,
was recalled, he was indicted for murder,
and made his escape. Some twenty
years thereafter, SupDOSing the affair
forgotten, he returned t0 England, was
arr -sted, tried, condemned, and, not
withstanding his position, he was hang
ed as murderer!
This precedent, if carried out i'm the
United States, would make every mem
Der in the military commission which
illegally tried and condemned Mrs. Sur
raft, as much liable to the punishment
due by law TO those that commit murder
as if they had entered her house and
stabbed her to the heart.
These men may yet find to their cost
'that the way of the transgressOr is
hard. u Ohio Statesman.