Rock Island daily Argus., 1890-05-14
ANARCHIST HOPES.
They Are Anchored on a Writ
of Error.
STATUS OF THE CHICAGO GASES.

Ben Butler Retained and Has No Doubt
of Success-AppIication for a Writ of
dabeas Corpus in Behalf of Fielden,
schwab and Neebe To BE Made to Judge
Gresham of the Expectations of
the Prisoners Counsel.
CHICAGO, May APPROXIMATIONS have
seen made to attempt to secure the release
from the penitentiary of Samuel Fielden,
Michael Schwab, and Oscar Neebe by
method heretofore not hinted at in the
case. In short time an application will
be made to Judge Gresham for writ OF
habeas corpus on the ground that the
prisoners are detained without due process
of law That is, that they We're not in court
when sentence of death was pronounced
upon them by the state supreme court.
Gen. Butler is retained in the case, and
says he has no doubt the move will be sue
cessful
History of the Case.
After the sentence of death was passed
upon the condemned Anarchists, and
Neebe was doomed to spend fifteen years
in the penitentiary, the case was appealed
to the supreme court, where the finding of
the lower court with the sentence of death
for Spies, Parsons, Lingg, Fischer, Engel
Schwab and Fielden was affirmed The
prisoners were not taken before the su-
preme court to hear this affirmation of
their sentences, and their lawyers were not
even notified to be present. The claim was
made that this was breach of their con-
stitutional rights, and that the constitu-
tion even went so far as to say that SEN
tence of death rendered in the absence of
the prisoners was not due process of law.
In the Nations Supreme Court.
The claim was not made in time to save
Lineg from self-destruction, or Spies, Par
sons, Fischer, or Engel from the gallows.
Schwab and Fielden would have shared
the fate of the last four had not the gov
| ernor interfered with his Communication of
| their sentences TO imprisonment for life.
But finally the claim was pushed to the
L. s. supreme court, and an application was
made for a writ of error on the grounds
| that the surviving felons should have been
before the Illinois supreme court when
their sentences were affirmed The chief
| judicial tribunal intimated that the point
| was well taken, but held that it could not
go back of the record which showed that
| the defendants were actually in court in
| spite of the well known fact that they were
| not.
Amendment of the Record.
If the record were amendmed the su-
preme court said it could then consider
the matter. In the March term of 1888 a
| motion was made in the state supreme
court to amend the record, and May l6.
| 1889, the motion was denied on the ground
/ that il was not necessary that the prison
| ers should be before the court when the
sentence was affirmed Furthermore, il
was held that the statutes gave the court
| no right to amend the record This an
| swer was taken to the federal supreme
court, where it was argued that. in spite
| of the statement of the state supreme
court, the general practice was TO amend
the record where evident mistakes existed
The court finally granted writ of error,
which will be heard by next October
| Interpretation of state Laws.
This writ of error is on the point of the
state supreme courts refusal to amend the
record. but il the United States supreme
court decides this to be error it will doubt.
| less go into the whole matter. The federal
supreme court has held that it is the Judge
of the laws of the state and il is not foI
| the state supreme court to decide whether
the statutes gave it power to do a certain
| thing and it has oyerruled the interpreta
| tion given by the state supreme courts fire.
quently