Helena weekly herald., 1881-01-01
Written for the Herald
THE FEDERAL COURTS In
THE TERRITORIES.
BY ALEX. c. BOTklE.

dismal recitative OF stern facts and hgures.
There is nothing in it opposite to the holiday
season perhaps, however, I may be torviven
for taking advantage Of the wide circulation
of the HOLIDAY HERALD to call attention to
a subject that needs to be agitated until agi-
tation bears it's natural fruit in reform.
1t need hardly be said that i'll the States
the Federal Courts are quite distinct ma
chinery from the State Courts, having separ-
ate judges and officers, and being in all things
independent. But in the Territories the two
classes of tribunals are, in a degree, merged
That is, each Territory is divided into three
or more districts, to each of which judge is
assigned, and at some one county In his dis
trict he sits for the trial and determination
of causes arising under the constitution and
laws of the United States" Thus the courts
held at Virginia City, Deer Lodge and Helena
unite the jurisdiction that in the States, Is
divided between the Federal and State
Courts.
A further remark is due by way OF preface
In the States, the criminal jurisdiction OF the
Federal courts is mainly limited, i'll practice,
to offences against the revenue laws, the
mails, the currency, the National Banking
Act, and few other classes of cases. In the
Territories, in addition to these, they have a
greater or less territorial jurisdiction. In
Montana, for example perhaps one-third OF
the area of 10000 square miles is set apart
as Indian or military reservations, and over
those reservations the United States courts
have "sole and exclusive jurisdiction" Crimes
of whatever character that are committed
within their limits are triable only by the
| Federal courts.
1t would be in order here to remark upon
/ the shameful loOseness of the United States
criminal code. 1t is 4 piece of patchwork at
best and in the several revisiOns that the
United States statutes at large have under
gone, the codfiers have been severely scru-
pulous in respecting all the omissions and
preserving all the incongruous sections.
There being no common law crimes against
the United States, the consequence IS there
are offences of grave character that may be
committed Oh Federal territory with abso-
lutte immunity, by reason of the want OF a
statute to make them penal and there have
been instances in this Territory that confirm
this statement.
But the greater evil is the inadequate COM
pensation of witnesses and jurors. The average
cost Of travelling in the States is probably
three or four cents mile; in this Territory
it is fifteen or twenty cents mile. So the
expense of subsistence is very considerably
greater in the Territories than in the States.
From these premises it would seem that the
lawmakers would have recognized the nat
lral conclusion that any rate Oh compensa-
regions of the East, must for that very reason
be unfair on the frontier On the contrary,
rejecting this obvious truth they have or
dained that the same allowance OF per diem
and mileage shall be made to United States
witnesses and Jurors in Montana as in Mas
sachusetts. The old fable OF the bed of
Procrustes was solemnly enacted into our
statutes.
We nave Just had term OF court at Hell
ena. and it occurred i'll more than one in
stance that two witnesses were subpenaed
| from the same place, one on behalf of the
Territory and the other ON behalf of the Uni
ted States. The Great Republic, being poor,
paid it's witness cents a mile for travel and
S1.5O per day for attendance Lewis and
Clarke county, being rich, paid its witness 20
cents per mile for travel and 3d. per day for
attendance. The consequence is that while
the latter is reimbursed for his necessary eX
penses. the former is a sufferer in greater
or less degree, depending on the distance
travelled and the length Of time that he was
detained For example, two witnesses resi-
ding at Fort Benton, who attended during
the term referred to, received S14 each for
mileage their stage fare alone was nearly
if not quite. twice that sum.
! The instances Of hardships to witnesses
might be multiplied. \ year ago last fall,
an old man residing at Miles City was sum-
moned to appear before the Z. S. District
Court at Virginia City, to give testimony
against prisoner accused OF completely in
the destruction OF $4,000 worth of Govern
ment property. He was poor, but he seems
to have had an eccentric respect for the pro
cess of q United States court. Accordingly,
about a month before the term was to COM
mence he started afoot for Virginia City. On
:. his way, he worked from ranch to ranch, as
he could procure employment, for his meals,
and so in due time reached his destination,
responded to his subpoena, and gave his tes-
timOny The whole amount that the United
States allowed him was So, nearly One-half
of which was absorbed by his expenses at
Virginia City but he meekly received his
pittance and started back for another walk
. of over 400 miles. On his way, the man
against whom he had given testimony, over
taking him, assaulted him and inflicted very
serious injuries. Of course the United States
could not concern itself about little thing
of this kind, as it didn't occur on Reserva-
ton; SO poor old Billy Ferguson was left to