The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-06-08
John Mitchell.

The following liberal article Is from the
Brooklyn Eagle. Mr.. Mitchell has been an
outrageously wironsed man. In just land nd
he would be righted under the law; .,F
~ mitchell. VERSUS DIX ii t,fsss 4 h
/ About the time of the close of the war be-
tween the North and the South, John MICH
81 returned to the North and took up iiis res
idence in: New Y ork city. John mitchell was
and is n Journalist. On his return 20 the
Nortl, he accepted opposition op,y beneVe,
the New York DAILY Neus. He made no
parade of the fact wrote, we presume, US ne
felt on public ;tifairs, and wis personally OF.
fensive to nobody. TheGeneral Government
could hardly have been afraid OF hfIH,'for IL
had then about million ofInen lmaer ar!ns.
One day, while MIR. Mitchell was writing
away, in pursuance OF his agreement, MES
senger waited ON him with anfordef from
General Dix directing the bearer OF IL 10 tahe
Mr. Mitchell to prison. The fornailty Oh u
lcg;l warrant was; dispensed with, no acc'i-
sltion was made against him, and OF course
no trial wus instituted. General DIX OF
somebody else did not deem ittWell 10 nave
Mr.. Mitchell at large, He was sent to one. OF
the Federal military forts, deriined3 hVe
months as a prisoner, aud at the END Oh t1at
time discharged without any more ceremony
than &C .ompanied his arrest. liz rs ~
MFR. Mitchell has been curious ever SINCE
to ascertain why this attention was bestowed
upon him. In the way OF getllng Generai
Dix to tell him all about it, he sued him 1or
puttine him under duress--tor deprIving
him of five months of his liberty. The case
had been dodging around tile, State courts
for wears ia spite of all Mr. Mitchell could
do 10 bring it TO an isslle. a few days ago
he was surprised by q DECISION from Judge
Curtis to the effect that the case should never
have been brought into the State courts at
aIl--ror it seems the Imprisonment of resi-
dent of New York is not now a matter OF
concern to The State of New York, and is
not within the cogniZancc OF those who en-
pound or execute lis laws. So Alr. Mitchell
will lave to begin again with his case, this
time through the Federal courts. There'isa
criSpncss in the way Mr.. Mitchell states his
case III his paper that justites us in repro
ducing his narrative. 1t reads III this way !:
Apparently there is some great mystery
and insurmountable difficulty in getting to
the bottom of this mattel Jet to most peo-
pie it would seem III easy thing to deal with.
All the pleadings and papers are in q nut
shell. General Dix, Il resident of New York,
seiZcs upon the plaintiff, another resident OF
New, York, without any charge or ACCUSE
ton, warrant or process Of. law, and ships
him of to Il fortress of state, where he IS
kept nearly five months. and subjected TO
the usage of Il common felon. This Generai
Dix, OH being sued for damages, simply al
ieges that it was all right, because ne was Or
dcred to do it by telesraphic message from
one u. S. Grant, Whether this U. ).
Grant be the same Grant who Is now, Tor our
sins, President OF the United States, nobody
can tell for the order pleaded by DIX does
not say who the man is. Grant (Who Is now
Presidency WAS then General commanding
the army; but this order to MIR. Dix Is not
dated from any headquarters, not signed by
any staff officer, nor by anybody else than by
U. S. Grant, who docs not so much as SUB
scribe himself Generator Commander Of the
Army. The order is,to nll appearances,
forgery. -a 80 - hnat "r'' - '''i ''
"At any rate. Mr.. Dix says he acted upon
it; and lis for the plaintiff, he was held Tor
those four or five months i'll very severe du-
rance, without ever being Informed that
there WAS any accusation against MIN, OF
even any suspicion that he had violated the
law. At the end of this term he was dis.
charged from custody without any eXphnn-,
ton.
1.-The object of this suit is not to get
money; the damages nominally claimed are
a matter of form, put into the papers by the
plaintiff s lawyer; the real object Of the suit
is to get that explanation. The plaintiff
wishes to know whether there IL any law i'll
this land which can force IL man OF the name
of u. 5. Grant to make known ,rhy he or
dcred ul;,n of the name of Dix to seize
upon certain citizen and lock him up in an
lnwholcSomc c;lscnale. The plaintiff docs
really confess certain amount of curiosity.
We hope not Ill unreasonable amount Of GU
riosity-to know why these two individuals,
U. S. Grant and John 4. Dix, did all hts 10
him. .... ... 49, ... .s..... !
There seems to be good deal Of reason In
Mr.. Mtchcls view Of the case, but as. under
the ldw IL 1t EXISTS to dat; aid DIS General
Grant is DESTROYS that it shall continue to eX-
i>t-iit least until after the next election
this very thing can be done, perhaps Mr..
Mitchels curiosity is, deemed, to, be ut once
awkward and imnprfinpnt