St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-03-01
BUTLER,s CASE BUSTED.
Ffelden and Schwab Must Stay in
Joliet


WASHINGTON, Feb. 29.-The supreme
court of the United States extinguished
the last hope of the two imprisoned an
archsts by affirming the decision of the
supreme court of illinois and the cir
cult court of the United States for the
! Northern district of Illinois IN the
cases of Samuel Fielden and Michael
| Schwab versus the warden of the Joliet
| penitentiary. These two men were
sentenced to be hanged with Spies and
| the other anarchists for completely in
the famous Haymarket riot in Chicago,
but their sentences were committed to
life Imprisonment by the governor. III
the application for WritS of habeas
corpus, which the court today denied.
counsel for the two men alleged that
| their sentence was violation of
the constitution, because the men were
not III court i'll person when the Illinois
supreme court rendered judgment Sus-
tanning the decision of the circuit court
and resentenced them, and that their
| right to say why sentence shOnld not be
passed upon them had heen denied. 1t
was also cOntended that while the gov
ernor Of Illinois had power to commute
the sentence, no warrant was given by
law for the execution of that communal
ton. Certain other minor points were
also brought in.
Justice Harlan, in his decision. re-
cites the fact that under the common
law it is Indispensable in capital cases
that inquiry be made of defendants, be-
fore Judgment was passed whether he
had anything to say why sentence of
death should not be pronounced upon
him. But" says the justice, "this
Of Ia rhnt nc
clearly show, applied to the court of
original jurisdiction which pronounced
sentence, and not to an appellate court
which upon review Of the proceedings
III the trial court merely atfirus the
final Judgment where no error was com
mitted to the prejudice of the accused,
and does not render a new judgment"
Continuing, he held that it was not
fact that the supreme court of Illinois
pronounced sentence of death. That
sentence was pronounced by the Cook
county court. The supreme court, after
the stay OF proceedings. affirmed the
Judgment in all things. The appellant
failed to establish the contention that
due process of law required his personal
presence at the time the supreme court
of Illinois entered this order affirming
the judgment. No well-cOnSidered case
supports that contention. Neither
reason nor public policy requires that
the defendants shall be personally
present pending proceedings in an APP
pellate court, whose functions are to de-
termine whether there were errors in
the records to the prejudice OF the az
cuSed, and especially where, as in this
case, he had counsel to represent him III
the court of review.
Under some circumstances the ap-
pellate court may require his presence,
but that presence is not essential with
its jurisdiction to proceed with the case.
The judgment of conviction was not
vacated by the writ of error, only its eX-
ecuton was suspended, pending pro-
ceedings i'll the appellate court. The
Joliet penitentiary is made the place for
the confinement of persons sentenced
by the courts, so that the detention of
the appellant by the warden of the pen
itentiary is not i'll violation of any right
secured to him by the United States
constitution.
The above decision was given in the
case of SchWab. In the case of Fielden
the same doctrine is applied by the court
TO meet the point Of absence of the ac
cused when resentenced. The court
also shortly disposes of a constitutional
point raised that the rights of the de-
fendant under the constitution were VlO-
lated by the refusal of the supreme court
of Illinois to amend its record to show
that he was not present in person or by
counsel at the time it affirmed the judy
ment of the trial court, and fixed day
to carry that judgment into execution.
The court says: We take as our duty
the law of Illinois to be as declared by
its highest court; that amendments of
the record of court in derog alton of its
final judgments are not permitted in
that state after the expiration of the
term at which the Judgment was rem
dered. Law is applicable to all persons
within the jurisdiction of that state,
and Its enforcement against the plaintiff
in error cannot there be said to be de-
NAL to him Of the equal protection of
the laws.
In the opinion the judge made no
mention of the point that the governor
could commute the sentence, but could
| not provide for its execution. Ger.
Butler, the counsel for the anarchists.
was present when the announcement
was made. The decision was unani-
nous.