Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1901-02-17
The 8ismartk Ttihnne.
BIZ NJ. H. JEWELL.
, THE CASE.

u III SpAu AV1SCf IL AAA AOoPSSso3 SN
now receiving the attention of the press.
The decision of the circuit court of ap-
peals in: the Mckenzie contempt case is
so severe and the wording of the decision
so unusual and seemingly improper the
case is attracting world wide attention
and no little discussion. The Seattle
Post Intelligencer, the leading news
paper on the Pacific coast, in its issue of
the 18th inst, contains the following lead
ing editorial in relation to this case,
headed Extraordinary Language:
Whatever may be thought of the &C.
ton of the circuit court Of appeals In
San Francisco in sentencing Alexander
Mckenzie to a years imprisonment for
contempt of court, there can be no two
opinions concerning the gross %improprie-
ty of the language that it employed in
speaking of the federal court in Alaska
and Of the situation there. It says that
MeKenzie's action was lin furtherance
of the high-handed and grossly illegal
proceedings initiated almost as soon as
Judge Moves and Mckenzie had set foot
on Alaskan territory at Nome, and which
may be safely and fortunately said to
have no parallel in the jurisprudence OF
this country" Equally incorporate, and
even more shocking, when uttered from
the bench, is the following: 1T speaks
we'll for the good, sober sense OF the peo-
ple gathered on that remote and barren
shore that they depended solely IN the
courts for the correction OF the wrongs
sperpetrated among and against Them
These extracts are most extraordinary;
and, to quote their own words, it is for
tunate that they have no parallel. Here
is one federal court passing in review
the work of another; not its equal in
authority, it is. true, but its equal in
dignity and honor until the contrary
shall have been established. The fed
eral court at Nome was not on trial
before the circuit, court of appeals at
San Francisco. If the judge of it has
either exceeded or fallen short of his
duty, there is a remedy. But it does not
lie in scanGalous denunciations from the
bench.
It has long been apparent to the out
side public that there were some curious
things on both sides of this great contro-
versy at Nome. That there are two
sides, and not one only, would appear to
have been established by the fact, an
nounced a few days ago, that a settle
'ment had been made between the parties
by which all litigation was to be discon-
tinued. Where the interests involved
are as great as they were here, no COM
promise is reached, especially or the
basis of a cash payment, unless there is
something to be said for each. What
that something is, the public is not
likely now to discover at any time; but
the circumstances are such as to make
the declaration of the court as ridiculous,
in its assumption of unsullied virtue on
one side and unqualified rascality on the
other, as the language employed is inap-
Spropriate and incorporate.
We have only to add to this the con-
graduation which the court addresses to
the people of Nome upon their modera-
ation il refraining from lynch law, to make
the picture complete. Judge Noyes re.
mains on the bench at Nome. Before
his tribunal will come for settlement the
disputes of other litigants there. And
both parties can bring with them to the
court room, for use in case of disappoint-
ment, the opinion of the circuit court of
appeals that they are to be praised if
they refrain from lynching the success
iul party, and will not be held to a too
severe accountability if they do. No
matter what may be the equities of the
original dispute, no matterif the facts
should prove to be as the circuit court
ates them, every member of that court
who put his name to such a decision as
this is a fit subject for impeachment
proceedings. Our courts cannot afford
ITO be dragged into the muck of partisan
ship and passion, and the language of
this decision should be rebuked and the
authors of it subjected to that punish
ment which the dignity, honor and i'm
partiality of the federal judiciary de-
mand. .sz &@ 49,
from another source-an' individual
now in Seattle and who is thoroughly
acquainted with the facts and condi-
rons-comes the following
"Ithink the decision is a rank one to
say the least, but the remarks of the
court are beyond comprehension. The
fucts are those San Francisco people
went up to Nome and filed hundreds of.
sso-called powers Of attorneys obtained
from those natives, who saw the
papers executed, his x mark and
tried to steal the whole country. When
Mckenzie arrived there he took the
matter up and would have arranged
everything satisfactory to all, had he
been let alone, but they rushed to San
Francisco, and as has been their custom
for years, they, with the assistance OF
the court, started in to take the whole.
country. Why did they not let the
courts i Alaska try the propositions,
and il the decision went against them,
appeal to the higher: courts? This would
have been the proper line OF procedure.
time for San Francisco to control
this coast has passed, and they will find.
at out SOON ~ III
At is understood that an effort will be
made Il obtain another hearing in the
United States Supreme court on habeas
corpus proceedings, failing in which the
only appeal will be to presidential elem
g.sncy.
The Grand Forks Herald says: Tho
McKenzieNoyes case viii probably oc~
d large share Of public attention