Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-12-13
ALEGAL ROMANCE.
Interesting Case for the Supreme Court Imperfect Codifoation of the Laws May Result in O ening
 Texas Pris0ns.

londent at Washington
 ii ne req of fiction
 l0Iit-s5 than are to Oo lognd in tna remarkable case which will be presented in the Supreme Court of the United States some day in the com ing week.
 There is nothing in the dry brief itself which disoioses the dramatic character of the case. bat last evening 1 had an oppor- tunlty of becoming acquainted with the hero of the story and from him 1 learned a picturesque anl dramatic chapter in the judicial >S.ory of the country.
 The case winch Is so soon to be pre- senJed involves 5he lives oi twenty or thirty people now lying under sentence Of death. It means im mprisonmant or liberty for over 3J9) people now confined in the penltenharies Of Ie1as aud involves the titles to property passed upon by judicial decisions in that state during the last eleven years.
 There is great curiosity in legal cir cies to learn what the Supreme Court will advise ii view of the apparently lu- contesdb.e declaration ot the brief. The opinions of the two best lawyers in the east, given after deliberate examination | of the case, sustain the view involving the wiping out of all judicial proceeding n this great state during the last eleven years.
 In brief, the point at issue relates to ! the cOdification of the laws of Texas. ! This was done eleven years ago. This codifcation was delegated to be perform ed by a clerk by the name of Lyle.
 It was done in slovenly manner, ac- cording to the allegations of the brief, and | tho aOdifio --oe rnx-ar fl rrs flied by the legislature. As all of the ju- dicial circuits were reorganized under the qualification, and judges were appointed in accordance with these specifications oi the unratifed code, it follows that if the point made in the case IS good, all theil acts for the last eleven years are null and void; that every man executed has beer judicially murdered; that every persor imprisoned has been falsely imprisoned that every judgment given relating tC property values can be set aside, if tho Supreme Court of the United State finds the allegations set up correct.
 The point in case will be argued in tht application of Dick Duncan, who Is unde sentence of death. The case as 1t stand in the Supreme Court is Dick Duncan vs T. R. Mccall, sheriff of Baxter county Texas. This Is merely test case, an( involves the rights of every man unde sentence of death in the state.
 The history of this startling legal case so peculiar in its developments, Is a piec [ of enterprise in Texas journalism. Thos Jefferson McMinn is the hero of the dis covery. For number of years he was reporter upon the St Louis Globe-Demc crat. From that service he went to Sa Antonio and there connected himself wit the San Antonio Times. MT. McMin ? began war upon them in his newspape by calling upon the police to break Il the gambling houses in town. In so dC ing, he says. he incurred the enmity ( the mayor. who was himself Mexica by birth. The first evidence of the mayor enmity was shown in trying to make th | municipal authorities levy tax upon M i McMinn for practicing the legal profe sion. In the course of the proceeding against him-and they are not yet tinishe -McAIinn made the discovery regardin ; the certihcation of the laws, full de cription of which appears in the brief su' mitted in the Supreme Court.