Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1897-09-09
HIS DUTY AS HE SAW IT.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
 Merritt Interviewed.


 ! white men who gave their names as Jack Whitney and Patsy Ryan. These men had in their possession a quantity of razors and pocket knives. After the men had been put through a sweating" process, one o1 them confessed that he cutlery in their possession had been stolen: that they had bufglarized store at Crowley, l.... The Louisiana otii- cials were notified of the arrests and Sheriff E. W. Lyon, of Arcadia par ish. in company with Mr. T. J. Toler, whose store had been bur Giarized, started for Pine Bluff, armed with rcduisition papers, after ! the burglars. Before they reached Pine Bluff, however, the burglars were taken before a magistrate, tried and convicted of the charge of bringing stolen goods into the state. The fines and costs against the two men amounted to about $90, and now the Louisiana officials can not get possession of the burglars with out paying these tines and costs. The sheriff has travelled about 300 miles to get possession of the men, and says that with them he could break up u gang of robbers and thieves who have been operating in Arcadia parish for many months. He is willing to pay $50 to secure them, but tlIe $90 is little te 0 steep for his purse.
 A GRAPHIC reporter, this afternoon, afteryiewed Assiatant Prosecuting Attorney Merritt concerning the status of these cases. when he said:
 "On the day following the arrest of these parties by the police, l was informed by Mir. A. J. Stewart, the chief, that he had such parties under arrest and that they had confessed to having bnrglarized a store at Crowley, La: that they had been peddling pocket knives around the city, and when arrested had in pos session about ten or twelve pocket knives and razor, which they con- fessed were q part of the goods stol- ell from the store burglarized as above stated. I told Mir. Stewart that they had violated the criminal statutes of this state i'll bringing the stolen property into this state, and had preferred q charge against them under section l949. Sandel < Hil's digest, which reads as follows:
 Every person who shall steal or obtain by robbery the property of another in any other state or coun- try, whether the same be within the jurisdictional limits of the United States or not, aud shall bring the same within this state, may be in- dicted, tried and punished for lar eeny, in the same manner as if such property had been feloniously stol- en or taken within this state; and in any such case the larceny may be charged to have been committed in any c0unty y into or through which such stolen property may have been taken
 .'On the trial Whitney plead guilty to the charge, and exonerated his confederate by stating that he 1 Whitney, brought the goods here and incidentally met Ryan and gave him part of the stolen goods to sell; that Ryan knew nothing about the manner in which he got possession of the goods. At this iuncture l re- aljzed that I was about to lose my grip on very tough looking char acter, when Mir. A. ]. Stewart, who was present, came to my relief by suggesting that Ryan vas guilty of peddling without license, whereupon made this charge against both Ryan and Whitney, to which they both promptly plead guilty"
 "On yesterday morning the Louis jana sheriff appeared at the sheriff s office with warrant from Gov. Jones for these parties, issued upon a requisition of the Governor of Louisiana. Mir, Triplett, the sheriff, called me in consultation with the Louisiana sheriff, and I told him that the parties could not be released and that Gov. Jones would not have issued his warrant had he known the parties were under con- viction. Whereupon Mir. Trlplett tclephoned the Governor. informing him of the facts; and the latter rep'i- ed that his jurisdiction or power to deliver them to the Louisiana authorities was at an end or words to that effect