The advocate and Topeka tribune., 1892-10-26

tS&tAECn 10 WD may We SnAll una @O
specific facts mentioned In this charge aa
Constitutlngthe levylng ofwar unlessthese
be such: "He then detailed how the Au-
thority of the sheriff had been dsAed, the
arrival of the Pinkertons, the riot follow
ing, and finally the mobilization Of the
state troops" and then declared he could
have no sympathy for men receiving
exceptionally high wages In resisting the
law and resorting to violence and blood
shed in the assertion Of imaginary rights.
But "to kill a sheriff In the discharge
of his duty, whatever be the number con-
cerned or the weapons employed, has al
ways been held, in England and in this
country, murder and not treason"
United States Us. H0@Ge, cited above J
Riotlng Is not levying war against the
state; and "bloodshed" Is murder, not
treason. To resist "ths law" is as physi-
cally impossible as to resist a posthum-
GUS circus poster. Resisting the law "
is o phrase Of sheer nonsense IL used
otherwise than as fgurative description
Of resistance to some person or thing
representing the law. But was the au-
thority Of the sheriff de6edP Save when
acting in his official capacity, Is not the
sheriff a mere citlzenP II during q po-
lltical discussion one of the orators smite
the sheriff, is the RSSallant defylng the
sheritf's &uthorityP What authority Of
the sheriff had the Homestead men de-
fiedY He had not gone there to arrest
anybody. No warrants were issued till
long afterwards. He had no process,
civil or criminal, TO execute. When he
called posse, and even when he asked
for the national guard, no pretense was
made that he wished the force to assist
i'm In making arrests, nor in executing
any process whatever. His &vowed OBJ
ject-his only avowed objeCt-waS "to
put the Carnegie company into posses
sion of Its property" Is il q Sherif's
duty to take property from one person
and give IL to another who ClAim0it? II
my personal property is withheld, / may
sue out writ ofreplevln; II dlsposseSsed
of my real estate, may obtain q proper
writ of restitution; and having got the
proper writ from a court or magistrate
and delivered il to the sheriff, then and
thus, and not till then nor otherwise, the
sheriff has the right and authority to put
me into possession Of my property. With
out such a writ he Is but private cltl.
zen, has no authority whatever in the
premises, and even as to a wrongdoer in
possession Is trespasSer IL he seeks TO
intermeddle. Neither ls It any part Of
the sherlff's duty to guard private prop.
erty not seized under some writ. He has
no official authority to guard private
by deputies nor otherwise. In
this country, the laws enforced by the
courts are the sole public guardians of
private property. In all he did, in all he
attempted to do, the sheriff can be legally
Viewed In no other light than as the I'm
official agent Of the Carnegie company,
The troops when they came gave no a.
SistAnce to the sheriff In executing any
process obStructed before; they were
clearly not needed nor called for because
Of any resistance offered the sherif in the
discharge Of any official duty. The chief
justice must have known this. But were
It otherwise, we have already seen that
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