Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-06-27
MR.. wILLIAM MCLEAN.
A Curious Proceeding in n Criminal
COart-The County Tax-CoIIeet0r
SEM 10 Hail
Habess Corpus Before Jndge HsIsey-
Out ~Again-The Case 10 be More Fully
Investigated To-Day.


Mr.. William Mclean, Tax-Colleetor
of Shelby county, WAS imprisoned yes
terday in the jail upon an order Of Judge
F1ippin, for alleged contempt Of court.
This occurred at eleven or twelve
o'clock. He was brought before Judge
Halsey at five o'clock on a writ OF
hobeds corpus, when the following GER
tificate of authority was read, TO show
why he was detained:
~ hold the petitioner in custody by
virtue of a verbal order issued TO me by
J. z. Flippin, Judge Of the Criminal
Court, who adjudged the petitioner gull
ty Of a contempt of court, committed in
the presence of the court in refusing to
produce for inspection before the Grand
Jury of said court, his vouchers from
the County Trustee and Comptroller OF
the State, pertaining to his Office and
duties as Collector for Shelby county.
Said order was made by Judge Fiippin
on the 26th day of June, 1872, and COM
mands me to imprisOn him for ten days
from said date.
an. j. WRIGHT, Sheriff.
"By Il. NJ. MASON, Deputy Sheriff"
AZ directed the petitioner to produce
before the Grand Jury the vouchers per-
tanning to his office, for inspection,
which he declined to do, and for this re-
fusal ordered him to Jail for contempt
in wilfully disobeying the order Of this
court.
]. r. FLIPPIN, Judge.
Judge H. S. Lee and General Horri-
gan appeared for Mr.. Mclean; AttOr-
ney-GeneraI Wright for the State. The
points made by the defence were that
the Sheriff not being the recording OIL
Ger ofthe Criminal Court, had no author
ity to certify to the fact that any pro-
ceedings were had in that court, and
the certificate or statement, or return
read was therefore no prOef that there
was u commitment. The Attorney
General then wrote the second part OF
the document as printed above, with
which Judge Lee expressed himself sat
istied, but he took the ground that the
return was wholly insufficient. He
wanted the record to show what were
the grounds on which the Judge made
such an order. Judge Halsey decided
that such was not necessary.
DEMURRER.
Judge Lee demurred to the return be.
cause it failed to set forth that there was
a mittimus issued in the case without
which no citizen could be held a prisoner
in any jail of the State. He also took
the position that the court had no juris-
diction to make such an order. The
judge had no authority to demand
vouchers from the county tax~-collector
and there was, therefore, no contempt
in falling to comply. Besides, the peti.
toner could not produce in court what
he had not in court to produce, and the
law did not contemplate impOssibilities
The proper way would have been TO is.
sue a subpoena.
The Judge admitted the demurrer was
sustained and wanted to know if they
were ready to go into an investigation o.
the case as to whether Nh. Mclean was
in eontempto or not. The AttOrney-Gen-
eral said he was not ready, and the judge
accordingly said he would takefive hun,
dred dollars bail and go into the inyesti-
CATION this afternoon at four o'clock.
George NJ. Greeley and MI. POdesta
promptly gave the bond and MI. Me-
Lean went down stairs warmly cOngrat-
ulated by his friends.