The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-03
QUEER LEGAL DECISIONS.
a Negroes Head Held to Be a Deadly
Weapon.


An entertaining periodical is Law
Notes, a monthly magazine for law
yers, published in New York. The last
number is full of things of interest to
| laymen, as well as to lawyers.
A case of great interest that is told Of
/ in this magazine is that Of the cele-
| brated Botkin candy poisoning. Law
| Notes says of it: Mrs. Botkin was
! accused three years ago last summer of
sending poisoned candy from San
| Francisco to two women in Dover, Del.
A grand jury in Delaware indicted her,
the governor Of Delaware granted re-
QUESTION papers and an officer from
Delaware went to San Francisco to
get her As soon as she was arrested
her lawyers secured her release under
a writ of habeas corpus, alleging that
never having been in Delaware, and
never having committed a crime in
Delaware. she could not be a fugitive
from justice from that state. Then
Mrs. BOtlkin was indicted in California
for murder. was tried, convicted and
sentenced to life Imprisonment. Her
lawyers appealed to the supreme court
of California, which ordered d new
trial. Before this trial could be had
her lawyers appealed to the United
States supreme court, claiming that
California had no jurisdiction. The
supreme court will now have TO settle
the question of where jurisdiction lies
whether il is in the state in which
death occurs or in the state from which
the poisonous article is alleged to have
been sent. There is no federal law
upon such a question, so that the ruI-
ing of the supreme court is awaited
with much interest. Mrs. Botkin still
has the right to a new trial in Cali
fOrnia if the United States supreme
court decides that California has ju-
risdiction."
Among the other items ehrOnicIed are
the following:
A eoroner's jury in Michigan held an
inquest upon the body of a 4man who
had committed suicide and returned a
long verdict which ended this way;
And so the jurors aforesaid upon theil
oath aforesaid say that the said P. A
then and there in the manner afOre-.
said, as a felOn of himself voluntarily
and of his malice aforethought. him
self killed and murdered against the
peace and dignity of the people of the
state Of Michigan"
A Mississippi justice of the peace has
lately held that the head of a negro is
a deadly weapon. This has long been
known TO those familiar with tn
negro and his butting abiI-
tiles. but it is the first time it has
received judicial recognition. The
owner of the head in question was
known as "Buttin' jim and he was a
terror to the neighborhOOd. At last /
Ne butted man to death and threat /
ened 10 butt another man, who shot /
MIN dead. and, when arrested for kill /
he Il. IL i
he was discharged from custody on /
the ground that the negro was abouf 1
70 assault him with deadly weapon. /
to-wit, his head.
A case that ought to be of interest tn .
liquor sellers in Kansas and other pro- /
hlbItlOn states has recently been de- 4
clded by the supreme court. of Maine 4
The decision was that where a wife /
mad been injured in her means of sun
port by reason of the death of her b1Is
band, caused by his intoxication she
had a right to recover damages from /
the person who sold him the LIQUOR
that caused the intoxication.
In Texas the supreme court has re-
Gently reversed a judgment Convfcting
a man Of murder and has ordered a
new triaI because the court erred in
permitting the sheriff to testify thai
body of the murdered man. The fact
that the accused would not look at the
body was thus used in his trial as
'Flmlnauve fact against him. The su
preme court says that if a refusal of
MS KIND could be used against a man
accused OF crime then his refusal to |
answer questions at all might with
squal justice be used against him as
Confession Of the truth of statements
made in his presence.
The supreme court of West Virginia
las reversed a conviction in felony
.ase for the following reason. which
seems almost trivial: In the trial of
he case the examination of a witness
vas begun while the prisoner was ont
y the room. The only questions asked
ne witness were as 10 her name and
ne name Of her husband. and then the
curt noticed the absence Of the Dris-
ner and stopped the examination nm
Il the prisoner returned to the court
oom- The two preliminary questions
we're Teasked and reanswered in exact
J the same way as before. and the
aWyerS Tor the prisoner made no oh
ectlon on the grounds Of irreeuIarit.-.
nd yet the supreme court reversed 4i7a
ase, holding that it was the constifu-
ional right of prisoner 10 be present
i ali stages OF his trial, and this right
prisoner cannot waive, he cannot be
eprived of, and such error cannot he
ured.
Other decisions made by supreme
ourts recently are.
divorced man is a widower
A man cannot have his marriage an
ulied because his wife concealed the
act that &e had a glass eve untD
fter the marriage.
a VIE mas no right to keep a dog
Without her husbands consent
Publishing a newsDaper is NOT
manufacturing industry.
It is essential to health and comfort
haze NM II. l., -+,-o.-a