The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1898-01-13


ing Point is Abandoned-True Fountain
Head of the ac-Complications in
Criminal Jurisdiction.
Special Dispatch 10 the Baltimore sun
OAKLAND Md, Jan. 5.-The engi-
neers in charge have nearly completed
the work of surveying and locating
the boundary line between Maryland
and West Virginia. 1t is the purpose of
the.localattorney who issuperintend-
ing the work on the part of Maryland
to locate and lay down on the plats
every tract Of land and every other
object which will in any manner re
feet upon the questions at issue or
which will tend to throw light upon
the controversy between the two
States, so that when the case is sub
mitted to the Supreme Court of the
United States for dicision the tribu-
nal may have before it an accurate
view of the dispute as it appears upon
the ground.
Through all the years which this
dispute has run little, comparatively,
has been done by our Legislature to-
wards the adjustment. True it is
that occasionally a resolution or an
act has been passed, but nothing con
templated by these has ever been car
ried to termination. To those famil-
lar with the history of this contrOv-
ersy it seems the State authorities
have never treated the subject with
the seriousness or gravity which its
Importance demanded. To those cit
liens residing in the Eastern section
of the State the subject may be re-
garded as a mere acquisition of juris-
diction over more or less territory by
the State, but to those persons who
reside in the disputed territory or
near the disputed line it assumes an
entirely different phrase. The former
class look at the matter land natural
ly so) as one affecting the State only,
while the latter are made to suffer in
their personal interests.
DIRPUTED TITLES.
A little more or less territory is
rather a small matter to the State,
but the effect which these unsettled
matters has upon the rights of large
number of citizens is a matter of par
amount importance to them. These
citizens who are so seriously affected
in their persons and property are en-
titled to the protection of the State to
to which they bear allegiance and by
which their allegiance is claimed.
This protection has been denied for a
century and a half, whilst these citi-
zens have been annoyed and in some
instances prosecuted with ejectment
suits involving the titles to these
lands arising from the granting of
patents by each State to different
persons for the same land. In other
eases timber has been cut from large
tracts of land and when payment was
demanded by the owner he was met
with the statement that payment
could not be enforced until the line
was settled by the State, one party
claiming under grant from Mary
land, the other under a grant from
Virginia.
EVILS OF DISPUTED JURISDICTION.
Some of the people living in the dis
puted territory are required to work
on public roads and pay taxes to both
States. The most serious complica-
tions, however, arise in the service of
criminal process in what is known as
the disputed territory. A few years
ago an officer of Garrett county went
into this disputed locality to make
therarrest of a man charged with vio-
lating the law of Maryland. The
party charged informed the officer
that he was citizen of West Virginia
and that he resided in that State and
did not propose to be arrested by the
Maryland authorities. When the
fficerundertook to execute his process
he was split open with an axe. The
party was afterward arrested and in
dicted for assault with intent to kill.
At the trial the questions of the dis.
puted line were urged by the defense
and the trial was one of the most eX.
citing which ever occupied to atten-
tion of the Circuit Court for Garrett
county. The court decided all these
questions in favor of its own iurisdic.
tion and sustained the claims of Mary
land. The West Virginia courts, on
the other hand, when such matters
came before them, sustain the claims
of that State, and the unfortunate
people are, in fact, without protec
ZION and ndhavenorights which anybody
is bound to respect
NEGLECT OF THE BOUNDARY.
One other thing which indicates
pretty clearly that the State has not