Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-11-15
IS.
..- ATTORNEYS FEES.
90 Ca,,,,1o,.,, ,,.as,..,..l :, -
A soldier discharged.

The case of Rufus Dowdy, formerly a
Captain in the First Regiment Tennessee
Mounted Infantry, came up before Judge
Trigg, yesterday, on a writ of hdbeGs corpus.
DOwdy was indicted in the Circuit Court of
Overton county for the murder of Reese T.
HiIdreth. The circumstances of the killing
were these: In 1884 General Stokes com
manded Captain DOwdy to take a sufficient
number Of men and make an exploration
into Overton county, to capture some arms
concealed there, and to retake some Gov
eminent stock which had been run off by
glIerrillas Dowdy obeyed. This was
shortly after the July order of General
Milroy, commanding the determination
Of guerrillas. A portion of Dowdy's
men chased some guerrillas from
the house Of Hildreth, where they had been
entertained and fed; and in the pursuit lost
some of their clothing. The day after,
Dowdy with his whole force visited Hill
dreth's to recover the lost clothing. Hill
dreth was not at home. His wife would
answer no questions about the clothing and
was abusive, but upon a threat to burn her
house unless the clothing were restored,
she made negro woman procure it from a
place Of concealment some fifty yards from
the house. While the parleying about the
clothing had been going on at the house,
some Of Dowdy's force, going off, had cap
tured a notorious guerrilla named
Jonathan Padget, with some Govern
ment stock in his possession. Padget
being about to be summarily dealt with,
disclosed that he acted only as a hireling of
Hildreth, which was confirmed by negro
boy who was with him. In Hildreth's sta
BILE had been found the horse of slain
member of Dowdy's company. DOwdy
now commanded the arrest of Hildreth,
who was some half mile of. The men
who went off to make the arrest, killed Hill
dreth in bringing him to the house. 1t was
not disclosed why they killed him. Dowdy
was not present when he was killed. For
his alleged implication in this killing, the
Indictment aforesaid was found against
Dowdy. The prosecution was transferred
into the United States Circuit Court here.
Afterwards DOwdy was surrendered by his
bail into the Marshal's custody, where
upon he sued out a writ of ha-
beas corpus, and asked 20 be dis
charged. The act of Congress of 1867 con-
fers upon the U. S. Courts and Judges pow
er to discharge from custody any person de-
pIlNou Vi HIS uDoIJy III NIOidJlOn VI IUe OGIl-
stitution or any law of the United States.
Another act limits the time during which any
person may be prosecuted for any wrong
done during the rebellion, under authority
derived from the President or any act Of
Congress, to two years. Still another act
provides specially for the punishment of
murder, ETC., when committed by a soldier
of the United States, by military tribunal.
1t was urged that Dowdy was deprived of
his liberty in violation of his right of ex-
emptiOn, after two years from 1854, from
such prosecution. Also, that he was in
custody under State prosecution for what
was, under an act of Congress, cognizable
only by military tribunal.
The Court after hearing the testimony in
the case, decided that Dowdy, being at the
time of the killing captain in the United
States army, actively engaged in the sup
preston of the rebellion, his offense, if any,
was only cognizable by the military tribun-
al provided under the act of Congress; and
that, being in custody under a State indict-
ment, found contrary to his right of ex-
emptiOn under said act of Congress from
State jurisdiction for such offense, he was
deprived of his liberty in violation of law
of the United States, and accordingly he
was discharged.
The prisoner was represented by the
District Attortey and by Gen. William B.
Stokes, his former commanding officer.