Evening star., 1898-03-21
N THE SUPREME COURT
Right Of . Governor to Remove hallway
Commissioners.
i<ecI<.s Case Restored to the Docket-
Authority Of PFinary Patent
once Exaniner.

In the United States Supreme Court to-
day the case Of J. w. Wilson agt. the
state OF North Carolina. in relation of 1.
G. Caldwell. was dismissed on the ground
that the court was without jurisdiction.
The case involves the right of the gov
ernor Of North Carolina to remove mem
bers Of the railroad commissidn from Office
under the state law Of 1901, and this right
was sustained BY today's decision. Mr..
Wilson was formerly chairman of the rail-
road commission and was summarily re-
moved on the ground that was railroad
stockholder contrary to law. and l. c.
Caldwell appointed in his stead.
Mr.. Wilson refused to vacate and Mr..
against him to test the title to the Office
The state courts decided against Wilson's
contentious, and this view was Practically
sustained by the decision rendered today
holding the United States court 30 be with
out Jurisdiction. Justice Peckham in decid-
Ing the case said that as the office was
exclusively state Office the United States
court had to deal only with the question
whether Mr.. Wilson was deprived Of any
right guaranteed him by the federal Con-
stitution. He had not been so deprived,
and accordingly the court was without jur-
isdiction.
The case also involved a proceeding, on
motion OF Mir. Wilson. to punish Mr.. Cald-
veil for contempt in proceeding upon the
judgment of the state court while the case
was pending in the United States court.
This case was also dismissed because it
appeared that Caldwell was ignorant OF
the fact that the court had taken cogniz-
ance OF the contempt proceeding.
Keck's Case Restored.
The Supreme Court today restored to the
docket the case Of Herman Keck, the Gin
cinnati merchant who is under sentence
OF imprisonment for attempting to SNUG
gle diamonds into the United States
through the Philadelphia port. The court
recently affirmed the decision of the court
below by divided court before Justice
will now be considered by the full bench
on printed briefs.
Authority Of an Examiner.
Justice Brown handed down the opinion
Of the court in the case Of the Mccormick
Harvesting Machine Company versus Ault-
man and 9th ers. The case involved the
authority of primary examiner in the
patent Office to reject as invalid claims Of
an original patent which were incorporated
In an application for a reissue, the patents
at issue being two covering automatic
twine binders foS harvesting machines.
Ine nrtfa5as. case came met to the Supreme Court on
cult court of appeals for the sixth circuit.
In replying to the question, the court held
that upon the issue Of the original patent,
the patent office had no power to revoke,
cancel or annul it. The office had, he said,
lost jurisdiction over the patent when It
was once signed and did not regain juris-
diction by an application for reissue.
Upon application being made for reissue -
he continued. 'the patent office was au-
thorized to deal with all its claims the
original as well as those inserted first in
the application, and might declare them to
be invalid. but such action would not affect
the claims of the original patent, which re-
msined in full force II the application for q
reissue were rejected or abandoned"