San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1896-02-04
a MONTANA APPEAL.
The'Defendant Was Not Within the Ju.
risdictiOn of the Court.

VI tAAO NouEIs
The supreme court of Montana ter
. ritory, in its infancy, was much bur
dened with appeals, in many of tn,
cases a mixing of bad Indian and wors
whisky being the moving cause of tn,
trouble. Judicial proceedings wer,
then conducted without the formality
: and decorum of the present day. TIL,
law of Charlemagne, that the judges
should sit on an empty stomach fol
fear that they would be too lenient
with offenders, did not then and there
obtain. The refnements of the com
mon law and code system of the east
had not been adopted.
The lawyers frequently combined
some kindred business with that OF
law, and an ingenious fellow an.
nounced to the public that he was a
lawyer and barber, and would cheer.
fully shave his customers in both ca
pacities.
In reviewing the early annals of the
court / find the interesting case of
United States VS.. John Smith. Smith
had been convicted of selling whisky
to the Indians, but escaped from jail
before sentence was passed upon him.
His attorney moved for new trial,
which was denied, whereupon he ap.
pealed to the supreme court of Mon
tana territory. The district attorney
for the United States moved to dis
miss the appeal on these grounds:
That no final judgment has yet been
rendered in the court below. The
court has no jurisdiction of this case
until the rendition of final Judgment
and the bringing up of the whole rec
ord.
1.-THE appellant has availed himself
of that species of bail known in com.
mon parlance as leg ball. the forfeit
ure of which brings the government
no revenue. He has gone to the Indian
country, from which bourne no travel
er returns virtuous, and but few rich.
His inconsiderate departure has de.
prived the court of a case, the United
States marshal of a guest, and his
counsel of client.
ut is presumption of law that
when an attorney enters an appear
ance, he is duly authorized to do So
But that presumption is weakened
when a client abandOns a case before
its termination, and that, too, in such
unseemly haste as to neglect the part
ing civilities which obtain among gem
tlemen of good breeding.
This is serious case for the United
States. The. presence of appellant is
respectfully, but earnestly, solicited.
Let the wanderer return. Let him
cease to prefer the hardships of the
prairie to the home comforts of the
penitentiary. His case in the district
court can then be happily terminated,
and he will be suitably rewarded for
his trouble. AS it is the pleasure
which the court would experience in
hearing and deciding this case will be
clouded by an unwholesome suspicion
that its judgment will not meet with
prompt and courteous obedience.
The persistent absence of appellant is
a waiver of all claim to a new trial,
and betrays a lack of interest in
judicial proceedings.
There is no equity in appellants
case. His indiscretion has not only
proved embarrassing to the court, but
has rendered the marshal and his dep
uties the jest of the worldly-minded,
who continually ask: Have you heard
from Smith?
Equity follows law, and law fol-
lows Smith, but unhappily Smith has
the advantage of an early start, and
more intimate acquaintance with the
topography of the country.
This case should be dismissed and
sent to the district court to await de-
PENDANTS appearance. In that court
he left this case, and there he will
confidently expect to find it on his re-
turn"
Signed by the district attorney"
Our system of Jurisprudence is not
so dry" as laymen would make it, and
if we had more lawyers with a vein Of
humor pervading their systems, kim
dred TO that of the district attorney
for the Third district of Montana ter
ritory, unfortunate suffers might find
their experience in the courts more
agreeable.-D. Lindsay Russell, in
Detroit Free Press.