Los Angeles herald., 1891-10-01
PECULIAR JUDICIAL DEvELopmENr.

PECULIAR JUDICIAL DEVELOPMENT.
The action of Judge Murphy in inter
posing to nulIiiy the action of Judge
Wallace in the. Chute case recalls very
vividly the clashing processes of the
courts during the Tweed regime in the
city and county Of New York, in which
Judges Cardozo, Barnard and others
figured, and in which the beneficiaries
OF the impinging jurisdictions were such
men as Jim Fisk and his partner Jay
Gould, the latter since grown into the
portentous proportions of the Wizard OF
Wall street. No sooner would an honest
Judge issue some process in the interest
of justice, than some other judge OF
equal Jurisdiction would issue an order
restraining him from proceeding any
further in the premises. If it were a
case in which a boodler of those days
had been arrested, he would be released
on habeas corpus. fit were sought TO
paralyze some effort of fraud, then the
ready restraining order was always
ready to stop the well intended effort.
This remarkable game of legal thimble-
rig continued until the end of Tweed's
ascendancy, and for good while after
wards as respected Mr.. Jay Gould.
The sprofound learning and legal
acumen of Mr.. David Dudley Field
were projected into the matter in the
interest of clients who needed the ut
most 6nesse OF the law, and Jay Gould
died hard. Successful very often, and
having the advantage that it took at
least four years to reach hearing in the
New York court Of appeals, the wizard
OF Wall Street stood of the people he
had robbed, such los the English stock
holders of the Ere railway, an unex-
ampled time. That the law had still
some latent force is shown by the fact
that he was glad, at last, to compromise
with the Englishmen for $4,000, 900.
That fraud is also force was shown by
the circumstance that, even at the end,
he remained master of the Erie railway,
which he had stolen, and whose posses
sion he and his partner Fisk had only
gained by the unlimited issue of forged
stock.
The community of the city and county
of San Francisco and of the state OF
California undoubtedly sympathize with
the gallant fight which has been inau-
gurated by Judge Wallace and the San
Francisco grand jury against the scoun-
drels who have 80 long robbed and op-
pressed them in their municipal gov
eminent, and their appreciation is not
less keen of the noble efforts of the Ex-
aminer in making the contest completely
successful. That they may win is the
hope of all good men throughout the
state who are not blinded by partfzan-
thip.
Our esteemed San Francisco contem-
porary is mistaken, however, in aesum-
ing that the offices'of the writ of habeas
corpus are in this state strictly confined
to inquiring as to whether the whole
question in remanding a prisoner back
to custody is, ''has he been held by a
court of competent jurisdiction?" In
the celebrated case of Dennis Kearney,
dating away back to the famous Work
ingmen's agitation in California, the
supreme court took q different ground
In that case there was no question
whatever but that Dennis Kearney was
held by court of competent iurisdic-
tion. The supreme court made him a
free man, however, on an elaborate ar
gument that certainly entered into the
merits Of his detention
The struggle to bring to the bar OF JUS
tice the men who prostituted power,
place and trust-particularly trust-to
the spoliation Of the people, to bribery
and all uncieanness. in San Francisco
will undoubtedly meet skillful and de-
termined opposition. The attitude OF
Judge Murphy will be defended on the
ground that it represents his conscien-
tious convictions and his honest concep-
ton of the scope of the law. The action
of Judge Wallace in peremptorily inter-
fering with the regular calling of a
grand jury, through the naming OF
an elisor. will be honestly regarded by
many persons as peremptory and
uncalled for. But the fact remains that
there is a big scare amongst the Grim
inal elements in all lines in San Fran
cisco, and that some Of the most danger
,ous of the conspirators against good
government have already taken fight.
If nothing more significant should fol
low, the struggle would not have been
in vain.
Meanwhile, there is talk of deposing
Judge Wallace by iunta of seven
judges, headed by Murphy, which the
law permits that number of judges to
do, and of Diminishing the grand jury
impaneled by him.
- L IA