The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-04

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I House was not Identical with the Con
gressional Record. nor was the latter to
| be regarded as wholly publication of the
! Journal. The publication complained Of
he claimed. was never part of the
Journal and Sever a part of the proceed
ings of the House. and hence not within
the privileged publications. and that, while
for the purposes of the case, ii was not
necessary to consider the question of Mr..
| Lodges responsibility. yet even If such
publication was privileged as 10 him the
| privilege was personal and did not extend
: to Mr.. Palmer
Mr. \, neatley cited the famous Hallett
Nllhourn case. where Thompson, the Ser
Seant-at-Arms of the House. held
| responsible for the arrest of Klbourn I'M
! der 4 warrant of the House when the
| llouse had no jurisdiction to try Kilbourn
| OF the offence charged, and where the
! constitutional privilege Of members of
either house was helu to eXonefate the
members of the House of Representa-
| tives who ordered the arrest.
Chief Justice Bingham, In his decision.
| held that the general leave to print,
which constituted Mr.. Palmer's only au-
! thority for the printing, publishing. and
circulating Of the matter complained of,
! could not be construed to extend to a di-
J rection to Mr.. Palmer to invade the vest
cd rights of the plaintiff in his work.
| That even had the direction to him been
specific and designated this particular
matter for printing, 1t would have af-
acts the court states, had given to au-
thors certain privileges, and when they
awaited themselves OF them properly they
secured TO them certaSs property rights
in what they produced of which they
could not he Invested save by due process
Of law. The Government under our sys-
| TEN, the court said, is no more above and
| beyond the law than the individual, and
| owed the same respect to Mr. Giyens
| property rights as does an individual. If,
/ instead of the simple direction by one
/ branch Of the legislative part of our Gov
! eminent, had this printing been directed
/ by both houses of Congress, with the as
sent of the Executive and with all the
| formalities of a Legislative enactment. the
| court held. itwoUld have been Intellectual
| as contrary 10 the Constitution. This be-
1 ing beyond the power of the House to do.
no officer who executed the will of the
! House or any member Of it, in printing
and publishing the work, could be ex-
onerated from answering for damages to
! the party to whom injury had been done.
Under this construction of the law Chief
Justice Bingham overruied the demurrer
to the declaration. The case will now be
| set for trial in the near future.
/ An incident occurred during the trial of
J Logan Scott. colored. two weeks ago
I which goes to prove that 1t is nearly i'm
( possible to completely hide the evidences
| of q crime committed even ever so long
/ ago. Scott was tried and convicted of at
! tempting to secure a pension from the
Government for services alleged to have
| been rendered by him as soldier in the
| Union Army during the civil war. The
/ testimony showed that Scott was endeav-
oring to represent himself as Lewis Scott
/ the real soldier who did duty on the firing
! line.
| In testifying In his own defence Scott
/ stated at the outset that IT was not his in
! tention to lie about anything which was
/ asked him. He said he never told but one
| lie in his life and that was told upon
! himself and resulted in his being sent to
! Jail With the exception Of this single
! time he declared that he had never been
/ in prison. Scott originally came from
| Maryland, and Assistant District Attor-
! ney Thomas G. Taylor, who was conduct
ing the prosecution for the Government
] had secured copies of the records Of the
/ courts OF that State which proved that
! the defendant had. forty years before,
| been convicted and sentenced to the peni-
| Tertiary in that State for larceny. The
! most damaging evidence against Scott at
| his trial in MARYLAND, nearly half a cen
! fury ago, Was the fact that four of his
| toes on his right foot had been amputated
| when very young. 1t was the absence
of these toes which resulted in Scott's
conviction.
At his trial before Justice Barnard in
Criminal Court No. ! recently, Scott
denied his identity with the Logan
Scott who was convicted in Maryland
during the SOS. However, when pinned
down he admitted thai there were four
toes missing from his right foot, but still
persisted that he was not convicted OF
crime hut once before in his life The
Jury which heard the testimony did not
agree with Scott. and upon his convic-
ton he was sentenced by Justice Barnard
TO three years Imprisonment In the penf-
Tertiary at Moundsvile w. Va
william a. Ferguson. who is under in
diciment charging him with obtaining
money under false pretences, win be called
TO trial on Wednesday next Ferguson is
specifically charged with representing him
self TO be DIR. r. Peyre Porcher," Of
Charleston, S. G. and prevailing upon
DR.. A. r. Stands. Of this city 20 loan
him Sc. Ferguson Is also said to be Frank
lin J. Moses. notorious as the Governor of
South Carolina during the days OF recon-
struction just after the civil war