Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1898-01-13
Ex-PosT FAcTo LAW.

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Was Committed.
ST. Louis, Jan. 6. George Thomp-
son, colored. the alleged murderer, by
poison, of Joseph Cunningham, a church
janitor, in order to secure his job, will
. not be hanged tomorrow. Yesterday
evening. as Thompson was walking in
the Jail yard with two of his death
watch, the jailer handed him o tele-
gram.
Il knew it would come, and that
would not be hanged said Thompson.
His conclusion that the jailer brought
respite from the governor was cor
rect, as the telegram which Capt. Hueb-
Ter brought notified him that the states
chief executive had granted ''a respite
until February T." in order that the at
torneys for the condemned man may
have time to take his case to the SUI
preme court of the United States"
1t is probable that never before in
the history of st. Louis has a con-
demned murderer been removed from
the shadow of the gallows just as
Thompson was.
His attorney, Marion G. Early, has
been untiring in the defense of his
client, and while the governor was
considering the matter of granting the
respite Mr.. Early was laboring to Sc
cure the same end in different way
by having a supersedeas issued on
writ of error. He was successful in
his efforts, and just at the time when
the news was brought to him of
the governors action he was
leaving Judge Shepard Barclay,
chief-justice of the supreme court,
with the necessary papers, duly
signed. The respite granted by the
governor gives Thompson a new lease
of life of 80 days, but the granting of
the writ of error by Judge Barclay
postpones decision in the matter for
possibly another year. The ground on
which the writ of error placing the
matter in the hands of the United
States supreme court was secured are
peculiar and almost without precedent.
To clearly understand the ground on which
the writ of error was issued and the peculiar
manner in which the case goes to the United
States supreme court, a partial knowledge of
the case is necessary. The conviction of Thomp-
son OF numbering Joseph Cunningham was
secured entirely on circumStantial evidence.
most important connecting link in the chain
for strychnine filed at Leo Ruckersfeldt's
pharmacy and signed by Dr. Keber. At the
trial the order was shown to be forged
through the testimony of DIR. Keber. The state
wished to show that the forgery had been COM
mltted by Thompson To do this two detectives
visited Thompson after he was locked up and
induced him to write letter to DR.. Short by
telling him that the doctor wished to know how
he was getting along. The object was to secure
3 specimen of Thompson's penmanship and by
Vic
for strychnine. The detectives WHO saw Thomp-
son write the letter identified it as genuine.
Mr. Early, in behalf of his client, objected to
the introduction of such evidence, but his OBJ
lection was overruled.
The case was appealed, and while the appeal
was pending the legislature passed q law MAX
ing ''extraneous writing admissible in evidence
when proven genuine to form a standard of
comparison" In consequence. when the case
came back, remanded for new trial, the same
letters and same evidence were introduced I'M
der the new law, and the decision was adverse
to the defendant In short, the new law
changed the entire aspect of the case, and ap-
parently invalidated the ground which the
case had been appealed-objection to the intro
duction Of extraneouS writings for purposes OF
comparison in evidence.
Fearing that the governor would not inter
fere to stay the execution Mr.. Early sought a
means Of securing the same end. He sought
authorities, and discovered how to secure eff
1877, in the case of Calder VS.. the State report
Sd Dallas United States supreme court, page
$685. Judge Chase had defined ex-post facto laws,
and in doing so divided his definition in four
parts.
One part of his definition declared that ''any
law which alters the legal rules of evidence and
makes less of different testimony than was ad-
mitted at the time the alleged o1enSe was COM
mitted, or which alters the position of the &C.
cused to his disadvantage is ex-post facto and
void"
In the case Of Kring VS.. the State, reported
in 107 q. S., Justice Miller followed Justice
Chase'S definition. and added to it the words,
''or which makes conviction easier" In the
case of Duncan VS.. Missouri, 1855 q. S. Chief
Justice Fuller followed the same definition.
Mr.. Early found that under the federal statutes
the chief justice or presiding Justice in the
division Of the state supreme court, in which
the cause lies, has power to grant writ of
error to the United States supreme court in
0u2s, cases. With these authorities in hand.
Attorney Early went before Chief-Justice Bar
clay yesterday morning in the consultation room
of the courthouse, and asked that a writ of err
rOr and citation should issue. Judge Barclay
took the matter under advsement, and at four
o'clock yesterday afternoon appended his sig
nature to the documents which sent the case
to the United States supreme court
The writ of error assigned by Judge Barclay
is an unusual document, and reads as follows:
u,
dent Of the United States, to the Honorable
Judges Of the Supreme court of Missouri, Greet
ing: Because, in the record and proceedings,
as also in the rendition of the Judgment of
plea which is in the said supreme court, before
you, at the October term, 1897, thereof, between
the state of Missouri, respondent, and George
Thompson, appellant a manifest error hath
happened, to the great damage of said George
Thompson, appellant, as aforesaid, as by his
complaint appears.
I'VE being willing that error, If any hath
been, should be duly corrected and full and
speedy justice done to the parties aforesaid in
this behalf, do command you, II judgment be
therein given. that then under your seal, dis
tinctly and openly, you send the record and
proceedings aforesaid, with all things con-
corning the same, to the supreme court of
the United States, together with this writ,
SO that you have the same at Wash
ington, D. c., on the not exceeding 80 days
from the date of the citation in said cause, in
the said supreme court, to be then and there
held; that the record and proceedings aforesaid
being inspected. the said supreme court may
cause further to be done therein TO correct the
error, what of right, and according to the laws
and customs of the United States, should be
done"
1t closes with the signatures and attest Of the
clerk of the United States court of the western
district of Missouri and the chief justice of the
supreme court of Missouri The usual form OF
pr ocedure Is to have the writ signed by JUS
tice of the United States supreme court The
citation is addressed Ito the State OF Mis-
souri,, and reads:
You are hereby cited and admonished to be
and appear in the supreme court OF the United
States at Washington, D. c., not exceeding 80
days from and after the day this citation bears
date, pursuant to a writ of error, filed in the
clerks office of the supreme court of Missouri
wherein George Thompson is plaintiff in error,
and you are defendant in error, to show cause, if
any there be, whv the Judgment rendered against
q naintff