Arizona republican., 1895-11-05
JOE OF MANY TRIALS. A Change of Venue for
 Sortillon. His Case Taken to the Yuma District Court. Three Years in Prison Charged with the Murder of an Infant
 Child.

Sadness prevails in the county jail because Jose Maria SortiElon, chfer Of the kangaroo court, was removed last night to Yuma.
 Yesterday morning U. s. District Attorney Ellinwood arrived in the city and upon his heels came Sheriff Mel Greenleaf of Yuma county. The sher- if has been watching for this move for some weeks. Yesterday afternoon Attorney Ellinwood made motion be- fore Judge Baker that the case of the United States against Jose Maria Sor- tillon, for murder, be dismissed. As soon as Judge Baker dismissed the case Sheriff Greenleaf, who was pres ent, went quietly down stairs to the jail. Sortillon was called to the grating and immediately recognized the officer. Hello, Joe," said the sher- if, ''how do you like being turned loose; your case has been GiTnissed.' Sorti,lon's face was immediately il- prison pallor. The sheriff's next words, however, caused the look of joy to be only transitory You can now con- sider yourself under arrest again" said Greenleaf, reading a warrant. You can put on a boiled shirt and prepare to go with me to Yuma this evening" said the sheriff in parting. All right" answered Sortillon. T have been in jail so long it makes little dif- ference when l go."
 Everybody is familiar with the crime of which Sortillon is charged. In Mo- venber, 1892, on the reservation near Yuma the 1-day-old child of an Indian woman was buried alive. Sortillon was charged and arrested for the crime Some months after a true bill was found against the prisoner by the United States grand jury sitting in Phoenix. When the trial came off the jury failed to agree and the prisoner was renanded back to jail until the May term of court Of the following year. At the second trial he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged on July 27. Judge Kibbey, the prisoners attorney, appealed the case to the supreme court on the grounds that Judge Baker had erred in instructing the jury. Ire supreme court reversed the decision of Judge Baker and the prisoner was granted a new trial. The United States now has nothing further to do with the case, but It will be pushed by the territory. SortMlon will remain in he county jail at Yuma until the meeting Of the grand jury next month
 Attorney Ellinwood's reason for turning the man out of the custody of the United States is based upon com mon law ruling of a superior court of the United States that child must ever be considered to bear the nativity of it's father. The case has twice been tried in the local United States court on the hypothesis that the child. born of an Indian mother and of an un- known father. is an Indian. It has. however, been established as near aa such fact may be established that Sortil,on is the father of the murdered babe. If such be the case, then t.o United States court ceases to have jur- isdiction, for Sortiiion, though called a Mexican. is not a governmental ward and his child must be considered in the same category as himself.
 The opinion Of MT Ellinwood rela- tive to the case was founded on de- States circuit court of the Southern California district, to be found in the 42d Federal Reports.
 The same ruling is deemed by law yers to hold good in the case of Juana Walker, the Indian daughter of John D. Walker, deceased, that most cele- brated of Arizona suits. On a con- trary construction the case was de- cided in the district court of Pinal county and the decision affirmed in the supreme court The case will again come up on petition for rehear- ing, and this Ross decision will be one of the main contentious of the appel 1ants