Omaha daily bee., 1891-03-14


that Duncan must first Dc murdered be fOr
Thaycr Gang get into oMcc. and that DwCaus
blood will flow Throughout this land rs An
eternal rCmin der OF 0grcat wrong: and the
fact that he may bc killed through lCgal
eChuiraltty will not take away thc stain
lwautto say further that | stand for the
maliCnablC riEh OF this state to come into
this great natiouou an equality with all the
other states giving to every iuhabitmt Cili-
2cuShip; standing upon thc rights OF the in.
habitantS acquired under that ad miniStu tu,.
tor stan ding upou the acquired rights as
announced by the electors the will Of this
great people; saudmg upon the rights AS
announced by inc law; stan ding upon the
rghtsof the citizens us upheld BY the state,
as upheld by thcpeople aud as uphcldby tho
integrity of u nation.
MIR. John ID. Howe had allo wed all OK cept
q few moments Of his time to toe con umod by
General Gown but insisted that rhaycr had
fail edto qualify and was not consequently
entitled to the uNice.
General W cbstc tcr's Closing.
''Nlay it please yourhonors: It Is PRESSED
upon the attention of this court that the
equity and conscience OF this controversy
rests with the claim Of Goycrnor Boyd Its
charged again ST us that we arc trying to un-
seat Governor Boyd and to rcinstall Gov
crn or rhaycr in office upon tCChuiCaitV. |
wish to answer that charge We have
plan ted the claim of Governor Thaycr upon
the constitutional tho state. We are here to
uphold tho constitution OF the state | am
one of those persons who believe that the
chartered rghtsOf the state embodied in It's
constitution, are greater than the claims of
any Individual man who holds an Office.
Good government can only be main
tanned by obedience to the laws embodied
| in the constitution 1t is a most
unusual proposition that to sustain and up
hold the constitution is Contcu ding fora tech
niCallty. If the conscience of the pcOplois
| not in favor of sustaining the ConSttu tiOn,
| then it is high time for its repeal From the
| argume 1T of the counsel ON the Other side
| they would tramplo the con tiution under
| their feet, and disregard the rights ofAmeri-
| can citizenship, for the mere purpose of keep
| ing an individual in power
"Such is the burden of the doctrine by
which tyrants seize upon throne, by which
| usurpers seek TO establish government butt
should find no just place in the American
| Republic.
"The primary question, and the only ques-
| ton, now to be COnsideredis is whether James
F.. Boyd was a citizen OF the United States
| two years previous to his election. His
counsel are here cOntCnding that he was and
| is uCh a citizen Yet we find, attached to
| his answer an exhibit from the records of
the United States court, stating that in the
month of December last hc made application
! to the federal court, as an alien, to bc admit
ted into citizenship, and that he called two of
his friends to 30 before the court last De GEM
bCr and there testify in his behalf, so as to
| enable him to take the oath of allie gan cc to
the United States, and to disavOw his al
legiance to the queen of Great Britain and
ireland. FrOmthe record it would appear
that James +. Boyd knew thathe was not
citizen of the United StatCsw ben he Obt aimed
this adjudication from the United States
court sitting in Omaha last December, ad-
mittimg him as citizen of the United States
from that date, ThohCading of that record,
as attached to his answers: "In the matter
of the application of James r. Boyd. an
alien to be admitted TO citizenship This is
not only confession that James Il. Boyd
was not acitizen at that time, but that he
was all alien when he made application to
become citizen
1--WE also ind in his answer the admi sion
that his fatherwas an al len until the month
of October, 1880, and that at that time he
likewise called into court his neighbOrS and
friends as witnesses to prove that he pos
sessed the necessary qualifications TO be ad-
mittcd as citizen of fthe United States. The
record dlscloSes thathiS fatherwaS admitted
to citizenship in October, 1890. We have in
the ans wer, therefore, the ad mitted fact that
| both James r. Boyd and his father Joseph
Boyd, were not citizens OF the United States,
but that both we're aliens at the time of the
| election in 1890.
''ln the face of these admitted facts, it is
claimed that James E. Boyd IS nevertheless
| citizen Of the United States. 1t is con-
tended that James e. Boyd became citizen
by virtue of the treaty of Paris by which
Emperor Napoleon in 1903 1t is recorded in
article of thatreaty, Inhabitants of such
territory shall be Incorporated into the union
of the United States and admitted
to the enjoyment of all rights, privileges and
immuni ties of citizens of the United States
You will observe that the language relates
solely to the habitantS of Louisiana terri
tory in 1903. James r. Boyd was not in
abitant Of that territory at that timc, for he
says in his an swer that he was born in Ire
N m ~ hon 4, ,..lI lNn- p5,,
several OCCASIONS that persons who did not
live in that territory in 1903 did not and
could not become citizens of the United States
by reason of that treaty In theCaSe reported
in I'd Alabama, 1t was held thata person
who owed into that territory after the adop-
tion of the treaty but before the territory
was admitted as a state into the union was
not citizen of the United States that he
could not become citizen OF the United
States by the simple fact of the admissio ion of
the territory as a state into the union.
''lt is next contended by General Gown
that the enabling act of 1864 authorized the
inhabitants of the territory of Nebras l<a to
frame for themselves a constitution and
state govern mont' made all such inhabitants
citizens of the United States. 1t will be OBJ
served that nowhere in the enabling act is
an ythiu said on the beet of citizens hip or
the rights privileges anu immunities of the
inhabitants of the territory
Gown contends, however, that the last
paragraph of section of the enabling q act,
which reads as follows 'Whercupou it shall
be the duty of the president of the United
States 10 issue his proclaim alton, declaring
the state admitted to the union on an equal
footing with the original states, makes Mr.
Boyd IA citizen of the United States
''lhe only force and effect of that provision
was to admit Nebraska in its sovereign ca
paclty as state into the union on an equal
footing with the original states. gresS
was not speaking in that section of the rights
or privileges or immunitieS of inhabitants
who lived in the territory Of Nebraska. Con-
gress was dealing with the state of Nebraska
as apolitical organization, forminga part of
the general government Congress- was not
dealing with the political rights or privileges
of individuals,
This law suit IS not question VIII ether
the stateof Nebraska forms a part of the
general government 1t is nota suit brought
to determine the rights of the state of Ne
braska as state TO claim any management
in the governmental affairs. The question
involved deals with James r. Boyd as an in
diyidual, that is to say purely and simply
whether James h. Boydis a citizen of the
United States "In
The trou bile with General GOWNS arpu-
ment is that it tmis takes James f.. Boyd for
the state of Nebraska. | may add that
great many of my friends IN Omaha have
been making the same mistake ever since
this controversy begun.
THE force Of General GOWNS argument
upon this qucstiouls Is entirely broken when |
khim this question: If the enabling act,
admitting Nebras ka into the union as n state,
made all the inhabitants thereof citizens of
the United States, without any provision for