Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-07-25
THE CASE OF TAYLOR STRAU-
DER.

Duhs
The following report from tho
Wheeling Intetiigencer of decis
lou of the Supreme Court of Apl'
peals of the State, will be of inter-
est to our readers since it involved
one of the points raised in the Tall
ifero case:
The Supreme Court of Appeals
yesterday granted new trial I'd
the negro, Taylor Strauder, who
as is well known, was under sem
tence of death for the murder o
his wife in April 1872. The case
is familiarjto our readers as re-
CARDS the facts connected with
the murder, and the trial and con
viction of Strauder, and is only
of general interest now on account
of the points raised by his council
in their application for writ Of
error, and the ground upon which
a new trial has been ordered by
the Court of Appeals, STRAUDERI
was indicted at the May term of
the Circuit Court in 1872 and his |
case was continued over, first, toll
the following November term
and then to the May term of 1881
at which term he was tried anGlI
convicted of murder in the firstlI
degree and afterwards sentencedlI
by Judge MELVIN to be hung All
the trial his counsel raised the
point that he had not been exam
ined before the County Court, as
required by an act of the Legisla-
ture passed in the month proceed
ing, viz, on the Sd of April, 1878.
Judge MELVIN held that this act
did not apply to Strauder's case,
in asmuch as he had been indict-
ed and arraigned before the act
was passed, viz, inMay, 1872,
nearly a year before. To this rul
ing the counsel for Strauder took
exceptions, and in their argument
of the case before the Supreme
Court, it constituted their first rea
son, in the series which they as
signed, why their client should
have new trial. Curiously
enough, their firstreason was held
a good and sufficient one by the
Court for new trial, and accord-lY
ingly the case was sent back to theA
County Court for preliminary ex-
animation, precisely as if the case
was an entirely new one, or, in
other words, just as if Strauder
had committed the murder only1
yesterday. The act of the Legis-1
lature passed April Sd, 1878, ref
quires that "bef0re any persOnY
charged with felony is tried before
a Circuit Court. he shall be exam
ined as hereinafter provided, uni
less by his assent, entered ofrecord
in such court, such examination
be dispensed with.o The Supreme
Court held that the language of
this act admitted of no exceptions,
and that although Strauder hadl
been indicted and arraigned even
before the new Constitution was
adopted, under which this act of |
the Legislature was passed. yet
he was just as much entitled to
the benefits of the act as if it had
been in operation on the day of
the murder. II
Having remanded the case on
this ground, it was not necessary
for the court to go on and express,
any opinion or to the other inter-
esting points raised by Strauder's
counsel, one of which was land
the one that gave the case peculi-
ar INTEREST," as to the effect of the \
9Th section of the Fourteenth \
amendment to the Constitution of
the United States, or, more prop
erly speaking, the effect Of the
Civil Right Bill enacted in pursu
ance Of that amendment, on the
law of this State which prohibitsI
colored men from serving on al
jury. Happily for our Democratic
friends the court was not compel Z
ed TO meet this issue, and by meet
ing ii perhaps splits the party I'd
pieces. The case was thrown out
Of court on the point named, and
thus not only has Strauder been
saved from the gallows, for the
time being, but likewise also the
Dem ocracy-
The counsel for 5trauder have
now got their case in a very pecu-
liar position. 1t must come be-
fore the County Court in Septem-
Der for a preliminary hearing and
cannot be tried before November.
At that trial, in case OF a convic-
ton, his counsel will no doubd.
again resort to the Supreme CourtI
for stay of execution on the
ground of the unconstitutionality
of the West Virginia law exclu-
ing coIored men from juries, and
in case a rehearing is denied them
on this ground, they willno doubt