The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-02-12
Hollands case.
THE LAW OF DETECTIVES.

The trial of Charles r. Holland, who
mans meat, ended last Saturday morning
in verdict OF not guilty. Speeches were
made to the jury on Friday by Messrs
Ikeler, Barkley, Freeze and Little, and the
charge of the Court was delivered in the
evening, and the jury went out about 8
o'clock, with instruction to bring in a
sealed verdi ct in the morning, IL they
agreed.
In the charge to the jury Judge Elwell
discussed the law as applicable to detect
ives as follows:
"What Is a detective? 1t is not neces-
sary that he should be a person appointed
under statute law. tits not necessary tina
he should be au official with commission, (,
from the executive, nor that he should be
charged with the duty of a detective by any
body, il of men organized for that purpose.
II there are depredations being committed
in any neighborhood, the society, the per
sons there, have the right to employ one
specially to look after their interests, and
to detect and expose the crimes that are
committed.
A detective is not bound to be himself
prosecutor; that is not implied by the term,
| the name, that he has. He is to detect so
that those who are interested may, by the
clues that he furnishes, proceed with the
prosecution, If they choose. In COM
munity remote from town and having no
commissioned detective, if the citizens ha d
not the right to employ some person in
their behalf, the whole neighaorhood
would be obliged, in order to protect their
property, to turn out and be detectives for
themselves. No one can doubt that every
man has the right to protect his own. 1t
| is one of the first laws of nature that every
man has the right to protect his person de
fend himself from assaulD and his prop
ty, and to guard both; and what man
may do himself, he may depute another
to do for him, and when that other is de-
puted he has ell the rights that his princi-
pal would have. BY the decisions of the
highest tribunal of this commonwealth,
where it becomes necessary to break up u
combination of criminals, detective may
assume himself the role of thief, he may
dress in the garb of thief, he may mix
with thieves, he may participate with them
in all their adventures Except as I will
presently mention): nay more, where there
are reasonable grounds to believe that per-
sons are members of gang of thleyes he
may counsel and encourage the commits
sion of crime; if he intended to have the
perpetrators arrested and punished for the
purpose of ferreting out and exposing and
bringing criminals to punishment, he is
not an accessory in the eye of the law so
long as he honorably carries out the pur-
pose toc which he was appointed, although
he may have encouraged and counselled
others who were about to commit the crime
if, in so doing, his intention was that they
should be discovered, arrested and pun.
ished.
Where there are men banded together to
commit crime, there is no more effective
way to break up their organization than
for some person acting as detective to be-
come one of their number and thus to gain
their confidence and become possessed of
their secrets. But all this must be honestly
done. Report must be made to those whe
are interested of all discovered facts, in or
der that they may, if they see fit, prosecute
the offenders. But if, under color of being
detective, he participates in the perpetra
ton of larceny or other crime, not with {
view to bring criminals to justice, bu
purely to reap the fruits of his other vii
lainy, he is doubly guilty, and deserves
the severest punishment fer the crime hi
has committed and the betrayal of his
trust"
The jury were ont only about an hou
before they agreed, and it is said that they
stood 8 for acquittal and three for convic
ton on the first ballot After the verdic
District Attorney Billmeyer stated tina
Holland was indicted for stealing the SAINT
meat from another party, and as it would
depend upon the same evidence on whicl
he had already been acquitted, he moveC
for mol pros. and the prisoner was dis
charged.
| Valentines at George A. Cark's Book