The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-08-13
THE CUTTING CASE.
A Talk with Representative Hit on the Com
piication with Mexico.

Talk with Representative Hit on the Com
plication with Mexico.
Philadelphia Times.
Congressman have left their hive and are now
scattering wide. One meets them at every
cross road. Some OF them seem to plunge wild
~ for surf bath and breath of sea air. Most
of them need both, especially in view of the
''fence-mending- that lies before them. Among
the brightest men In the House whom / have
met is Representative Hit, of Illinois. Mr..
Hit is good-looking talks we'll, dresses in TASTE
is rich, has well-furnshed brain and little
history Of his own to lend color and tone to his
position. Representative Hit was a Union SOL
der, afterwards clever shorthand reporter at
the capital, then useful private secretary
to Senator O. p. Morton, the shadow of whose
strong name helped him up even after its pos
SCISSOR was laid in the grave Afterwards Mr..
Hit was Secretary of Legation at Paris, and
then Assistant-secretary or State at the Capital,
and now tor his second or third term a Repre-
sentative IN Congress from Illinois. Somewhere,
midway in this career. he married rich wife.
Fortune with him has been '.hit' and not miss.
/ met this clever man and heard him talk freely
and at length about various matters, notably
the affairs of Mexico and China. He has &C
quired low, slow and deliberate mode of con-
versation, aud he looks and acts automatically.
He antagonized Mr.. Perry Belmont in the Cut
ting case. and naturally the talk drifted that
way at first.
Mr. Hit makes up the Cutting case in this
wise: The Texas editor libeled a Mexican editor,
Senior Medina. This was done in a Spanish
paper owned by Cutting, and printed in Paso del
Norte, Mexico This fact brought the Texas
editor within the Jurisdiction of chihuahua, he
being found its territory. Mr.. Cutting re-
sides in the Chihuahua town. doing business in
the Texas city. Under the first arrest he agreed
to make an apology to the Mexican court. as we'll
as retract the libel against Medina. He pub
lished in Ell Paso an English article or
card. which only pretended to give the apology
demanded by the court and agreed to by
Mr.. Cutting, while it repeated the libel against
Medina In more severe form This libel il is
charged. he "uttered"-that is, legally distri-
buted and issued-in Paso del Norte. Copies in
Spanish as well as English were sent over to the
Mexican side Cutting accompanying the carrier
He was arrested again and placed in the town
jail. Here is where the crash came. The first
arrest or suit was made in accord with rule of
law common in both coun tries as the work of
preparing. editing, printing and publishing was
all done on Mexican soil, and the medium was q
newspaper at least uominally Mexican in charac.
ter About the second arrest over which all
our border jingoism is aroused, the issue made
is not so clear.
The Code Napoleon is in substance the law
of the State of chihuahua. Under that code the
''utterer" of q libel against citizen of that
State if the same has been circulated within the
territory thereof. is liable to arrest and trial,
when found under its jurisdiction. This is a
claim of the right to arrest for such an offense
the citizen of another country. even though the
act itself was committed on a foreign soil This
is claim we have never allowed, though it has
not before been pushed to definite issue. But
it is plainly to be seen that Chihuahua has not,
from her point of view, acted either law.
lessly or unfriendly. What complexities our
defense of Mr.. Cutting is the alleged fact that he
personally saw to the distribution of the second
libel within the territory of Mexico According
to Representative Hits view of the case this act
would make him, if proven, liable, under our own
law and Mexican law alike, to the jurisdiction oil
the chihuahua courts. The Illinois Congress
man called attention to the arrest, some years
since. of either Mr.. James Gordon Bennett OF
his Paris agent and representative for the utter
ing in France Of libeiing against a french citi
zen, which was published in the Herald and, OF
course in the United States. The case il sug
| gested AS analogous to shat of Cuttings in its
legal aspects
Some Of thefeatnres OF the case have been very
peculiar. Mr. Brigham, our consul at Paso do