The morning call., 1894-11-15
Claims Made by Counsel i'm Be.
half of the Accused.
POINTS MADE BY MR.. NOUGUES.
A Witness Not the Judge as to
Whether His Testimony Will
Criminate Him,

SACRAMENTO, Nov. 1.-THE case Of
Lewis Cohen, the alleged register suffer,
who came to Sacramento on the wings of
a writ of habeas corpus to escape the dun
geon OF the municipality of San Francisco,
came up before the Supreme Court here
this afternoon. Cohen was accused of hav-
ing registered as voter from the Baldwin
Hotel, San Francisco when be was not
resident of the hotel. and Louis Stern berger
was accused OF having procured such reg
istration to be made. The offeDse being a
felony. Sternberger was taken before Judge
Wallace on preliminary examination.
Cohen was placed on the stand as chief
witness for the prosecution. and when
asked certain pertinent questions touching
upon his guilt or innocence refused to an
swer on the ground that mis- answers might
tend TO convict him Of felony. Judge Wal
lace ruled that the answers Of the witness
could not be used against him, and CON-
manded him to answer questions Upon
the prisoner still refusing, Judge Wallace
ordered Cohen to pay fine of $500 for con-
tempt, and be confined in Jail until he had
made up his mind to obey the order of the
court. A writ of habeas corpus returnable
before the Supreme Court was issued, and
the defendant with counsel was present 10
court to-day.
The people were represented by Joseph
Nougues. The arguments were made be-
fore Justices Garoutte, Harrison and Nc
Farland. Mr.. Nougues said that the de-
sire of ali counsel in the case was that the
matter should be determined upon the
simple merits of the question as to
whether petitioner Cohen had right toide-
cline to answer certain questions that
might tend to convI ct him of felony.
Carroll Cook, for Cohen. objected to the
sufficiency of the return as read by Mr..
Nougues. Mr.. Cook gave an oral history
of the case, and dwelt with emphasis upon
the fact, as he alleged, that Judge Wal
lace was sitting only as a committing z
magistrate. Mr.. Cook read from the cleo
tiOn law in definition of various crimes
against the purity of elections. There
were two distinct offenses in the present
case. namely: the procuring of another to
register and illegal registration itself.
Here Justice Harrison interrupted Cook
by suggesting that he was talking about
matters outside of the record.
"There is nothing of that kind in the
record" said Mr. NOugues.
the present law prosecuting officer could
elect as to what individual should be
exempted from a penalty and as to what
individual should not be so exempted
This. according to the counsel. was special
legislation, prohibited by the constitution
OF the State.
Mr.. Nougues, on behalf Of the people,
denied that Cohen would have criminated
himself if he had answered questions as
70 where he lived and whether he knew
Sternberger. There was and could not be
anything criminal in those questions. The
power of courts to compel witnesses to
answer questions of this kind was uni
versally recognized and even automatic.
"If the witness is to be the judge whether
his testimony will crimnate him or not we
may as well open the prison DOORS" con-
tinued the speaker.
The case was then submitted.