Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-16
THE WARDEN AT FAULT
III
Judge Cox Says He 4H ff No Right to Re-
take Prisoner.
Walter Boda Was Sent to Jail, Re-
leased, CapturaG Again. and
Ut
Now at Liberty.

On the 18th of lasI month Walter Roda.
British subject, was committed to Jail
by the Police Court 10 await the action of
the grand jury a charge of grand lar
ceny. On the 25tf OF that month the
charge was nolle pressed and the prison.
er's discharge directed. He was discharged
by Warden Leonard the next day. the Goth.
Some days later 1t was disc overed by the
Jail officials that the day before the 25th
Of October, Roda was sentenced by the
Police Court on a charge Of petty larceny
to sixty days in jail. 'tThereupon efforts to
recapture the wrongly liberated man were
made. but not until the 9th of this month
did Louis Pierce, a jail guard succeed in
taking him and landing him again in Jail.
This morning Mr.. Calderon Carlisle, coun-
sci for the British embassy, filed before
Judge Cox a petition for the mans dis
these matters were set forth, and
the release Of the petitioner prayed
on the ground that the man had
been recaptured in violation of law
Judge. Cox directed that the writ, return
able before him at il o'clock, be issued.
Shortly after that hour Deputy Warden
Russ, with the prisoner, and represented
by Assistant District Attorney Armes,
made a return to the writ by answering
that the man was held in Jail by virtue of a
commitment of the Police Court, dated
October %, on a sentence of sixty days on
conviction Of petty larceny. The release
of the man was explained as an ''inad-
vertence," and that he was subsequently
retaken under and by virtue of the COM
nitment by the Police Court of October
% the day previous to his release.
lettering to the return, Mr.. Carlisle re-
marked that 1t was remarkable fact that
the papers in it We're not verified and that
the alleged order of release was merely a
typewriter note, without seal. But, said
Mr.. Carlisle. as the man had been released
on that piece of paper by the warden Of the
Jail, the petitioner had no occasion to COM
plain. 1t was a fact, admitted by the
warden's return to the writ, said MIR. Car
lisie. that the man had been relea sed volun-
tarily by the warden, and that blunder the
warden had sought to remedy by the I'M
lawful recapture of the man. The whole
affair, argued Mr. Carlisle, was so serious
a matter, and the mans rearrest by jail
guard, without the sembance of a war;
rant therefor, such a fragrant violation OF
Law that the prisoner might we'll have
resisted to death. The liberty of not only
the recaptured man, but of the whole peo-
pie of the District had been jeopardized said
Mr.. Carlisle, by such a high-handed pro-
ceeding. and the court could do nothing in
the case but direct the discharge of the
man, and thereby inform the warden of the
Jail that he could not cover his mistakes in
Carlisle, was so simple that he really did
not see the necessity for argument.
In reply, Mr.. Armes commended that while
the warden had Numbered in releasing the
man, still, he was, at the time he was
so released in Jail under a sentence in
f1icted by the Police Court. the warden had
the right to retake him. Mr.. Armes read
several authorities Which, he Contended,
supported his position, and one of his re-
marks led Mr.. VIM q. Johnson, Mr.. Car
isles associate. to rinduire: Who would
take care of the jail, Mr.. Armes. If the
warden and his men had the right to so
about retaking renegade prisoners. Y'
Mr.. Armes said he could not say and
then Judge Cox, without waiting to hear
Mr.. Carlisle again;I discharged the prs-
oner remarking that it was clearly a case
of involuntary escape!t The warden, said
Judge Cox. had no authority whatever to
retake the man I'm the manner described.
Mr.. Arrles stated that he would note an
appeal. and asked Judge Cox to retain the
OF the appeal. Notwithstanding Judge
the man. Mr. Armes continued to urge it,
when Mr.. Carlisle remarked: your hon.
or, while 1 have no objection to Mr..
Armes talking you have discharged the
petitioner, and he Is at liberty to go"
Judge Cox nodded an assent, whereupon
Mr.. Carlisle turned to Roda and said:
you are discharged. You may go, sir.
Roda needed no second intmation, and
picking up his hat he left the court room
with not a little haste, much to the amuse-
ment of the throng.
Judge Cox as Mr. Armes gaZed longingy
at the retreating form, dismissed the mat
ter by peremptorily refusing to longer
hold the man.