Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-12-15
THE COURT RULING.
J0dgo Woods Decision In the
Great A. r, y. Case.
pEBs AND HIS COLLEAGUES WRONG.

osaA q the Americas Railway Unioa
Owen M nosshs esd Esch q the Di.
ssseoss Three Months IN Jsn for Their
nm IN the Pullman Boyeost-asbsss
Csrpas 70 Be Appealed % BY the DE-
sssss-Polnss from IN Importsas Legal
0pi.ses.
CHICAGO, Dec. 15.-"Guilty ~ charged"
h the finding announced against Eugene
Dsbs and the other leaders Of the great
Pullman boycott. The chief Of the labor
forces now has before him the prospect Of
term In the county jail. Six months for
President Debs and three months for Vice
President Howard, Secretary Keliher
Treasurer Rogers and Directors Burns,
Elliott, Hogan and Goodwin was i'm
posed. Sentence was suspended in the
case Of Macvean. The decision Of United
States Judge Woods in the contempt pro-
ceedings shat have been pending since
last summer against Debs and his asso-
ciates In the American Railway Union,
- = result Of their obstructing trains in de-
hance Of injunctions Of the federal courts,
was long and exhaustive one, covering
ever ninety pages Of closely type written
paper.
Important In It's Besrings.
1t Is rs important ne IL IL long. So i'm
portant is 10 that the case will probably
10 taken To the supreme court Of the Unit
ed States for final decision. The defend
ants did not appear particularly crushed
by the punishment, and 10 was evident
that all had expected much more severe
sentences. Dcbs instructed his friends to
say nothing for publication setting. them
an example by refusing to discuss the case
at all. After n short consultation with their
attorneys they left the court room. At
torney barrow secured n stay of execution
for ten days. Eve shall" said barrow,
=" take out writ Of habcas corpus before
some court. AS To the decision think it
Q barbarous one, though for the offense
a. construed by the court the punishment
was very light and lcnient''
The Judge sets Forth the Charge.
The judge began his opinion with re-
cital Of the facts in the case and the claim
OF the defense that there had been no vio-
lation Of the injunction, which was in
valid anyhow, because the court had no
Jurisdiction, for one thing. The juris-
diction case Is taken up in its order and
afgucd to the conclusion that there Is no
doubt Of the courts jurisdiction, for which
conclusion n number Of authorities are
cited. The judge says Of the charges
against the DEFENDANTS: THE charge
made against the defendants was that
they were engaged in conspiracy to
hinder and interrupt Interstate commerce
and the carriage Of the mails upon the
railroads centering In Chicago by means
and In n manner Co constitute. within the
Il
Defines the Word Nuisance.
"A Nuisance Is anything that unlaw-
fully worketh hurt, Inconvenience or dam
age "A public nuisance IL such an in
convenience or troublesome offense rs m
noys the whole community in general,
and not merely some particular person.
"A public nuisance Is n violation of pub
lie right, either by direct cncrOachment
upon public rights or property, or by do
ing some net which tends to n common
injury, or by emitting to do so some act
which the common good requires, and
which It Is the duty Of n person to do. and
the omission to do which results injur-
iously to the public" The first two def
nitions wcre from Blackstone and the
third from Wood
Another Sort Of Nuisance.
The judge then proceeded: "A form Of
public nuisance Of which cognizance has
been taken by the courts of equity in Eng.
land and In this country Is called purpres-
ture, which Is defined to be IN cncrOach-
ment upon lands or rights and easements
incident thereto belonging to the public
and TO which the public have q right Of
access or of enjoyment, and cncroach-
ment upon nnviRnble streams" He
thcn put In m argument rs to powers Of
court Of equity In regard to nuisances,
saying "Accr-diugly 1t Is commended,
and numerous SIS and text writer's are
cited 60 show, that equity hns jurisdic-
tion To restrain public nuisances upon
bill Of Information filed by the attorney
general ON behalf Of the people The SUI
prone court Of the United States has
spoken on the subject" The judge quotes
~ Peters, 81, 9s.
6hc 1 Avn AAIn PIE AeeeAee