The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-08-05
A QUESTION OF LAW.

The conflict Of jurisdiction between the Fed
eral and State courts In South Carolina. over
the killing of q citizen by revenue officer,
has aroused furore for which we can see no
| occasion whatever. From the tone and COM
ments Of the Northern Republican journals
we would infer that notification or secession
| had broken out In an aggravated and malig
| nant form, and that the whole country was In
imminent danger of going Immediately to the
| "demntion bow-wows.'
| So far as we can see there Is nothing in
volved beyond mere question of law, upon
which there is superabundance of authority
and presidents. The issue Is one which might
arise in any State, and which would create
comment in none other but South Carolina,
and here only from an association Of ideas
and very malignant ideas at that. The facts
Of the case are thus stated in an exchange:
IA posse Of revenue officers in search Of one
Redmond, q notorious offender against the
revenue laws, went to the house Of Amos
Laid, where they had reason to suppose that
he was concealed. Ladd met them on the
threshold Of his home and finding that they
were not armed with the proper legal
authority to search his premises, forbade their
entrance. They persisted, with arms in their
hands, whereupon he drew weapon and
attempted to fire it, but the cap snapped.
The officers then fired at him and killed him
The story about the attack of q gang of
"moonshiners" upon officers In the discharge
Of their duty has no foundation in fact
or even In the report of these officers, but
Is q detail manufactured for Northern con-
sumption. Ladd may have been moon
sinner. and it is more than likely that he
sympathised with the yiolators of the law and
was endeavoring to shield them from justice,
but no such charge Is preferred. The grand
jury Of the county In which the killing oc-
CURED found true bills for murder against the
revenue officers, as in duty bound. The
Judge Of the State Circuit Court, Kershaw,
granted motion for a change Of venue
from Pickens to Greenville, and when the
case came on at the latter place heard and
refused motion to transfer the proceedings
to the United States Court. The ground on
which the application was refused was that
the crime Of which the prisoners were in
dicted, murder, was an offense against tho
State, not against the United States. Judge
Kershaw, in language Favored too little by
judicial moderation, although tempered with
respect for the Federal authority, pronounced
the contemplated proceeding unconsttution-
oil. A writ Of hdbeas corpus was then issued
by the clerk of the United States Circuit Court
for the district of South Carolina to take the
prisoners out of the hands of the State court
but this writ was not oboyed by the sheriff
having them in charge. The Department of
Justice was notified Of this action. and the
Attorney General, under Cabinet advice, is
sued instructions to the United States Marshal
to demand the custody of the revenue officials
under section CAB of the Revised Statutes
The result Of this move Is awaited, while ex-
cited organs are talking States rights on the
one hand and summoning the spirit Of Andrew
Jackson to the fray on the other
It is barely probable that the South Caro-
lima authorities may be deferred by particular
considerations from insisting upon the full
exercise of the States authority and iurisdic-
ton In this case but we trust such will not be
the case In all States murder is crime of
which the State courts alone have cognizance
and we see no reason why an exception should
be made in this instance. If these revenue
officers were justified as in cases of self
defense, or the execution Of q judicial process,
or excusabIe, or whatever might be the quail
itication Of the homicide they have commit
ted-the facts of the case can be brought out
and passed upon in o State court as well as
elsewhere The fact that they were executing
a process of the Federal courts does not at all
affect the question of jurisdiction. and any
justification or excuse they may urge will be
h.. II
We do not believe, however, that the clamor
of the Northern Republican press, which is
fearfully hard up just now for campaign SEN
sations, will have the slightest effect in the
determination of this case.