The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-06-05
SMITH GOES
TO PRISON
SUPREME COURT SUsTAINS THE
CIRCUIT COURT
EN- BANG
HOLDS THE EDITOR GUILTY OF
CONTEMPT.
The McSwillegan Cartoon Declared to
Be at the Time it Was Published a
Contempt of Court.

The Supreme Court this afternoon
handed down a decision affirming the
judgment of the Circuit Court en- banc
in the Walter G. Smith contempt case
and Smith was remanded to the Gus
tody of the High Sheriff.
There are three written opinions in
the case.
Smith was found guilty of contempt of
court by Judges Humphreys, Gear and
Robinson in publishing the so called
MCSwillegan cartoon, while the case
to which it had reference was still
pending.
He was sentenced to thirty days i'm
prisonment
The syllabus of the decision is as fol-
lows:
"On habeas corpus to test the valid
ity of a judgment for contempt the
court may consider questions of juris-
diction only and not questions of mere
irregularity or error.
"All reasonable intendments are
made in favor of the jurisdiction of su-
perior court of record when their judg-
ments are attacked collaterally.
Whether an answer under oath by
one cited for contempt operates as a
burger or not depends on the circum-
stances.
whether all three judges of the First
Circuit may act together as a court or
not is immaterial of, when they do sit
together, the presiding judge for the
term substantially conducts the pro-
ceedngs and finally pronounces judg
ment as if he alone constituted the
court, the others being deemed to act
in an advisory capacity only.
The opinion remanding Smith to the
custody of the High Sheriff, was writ
ten by Chief Justice Frear. Justice
Galbraith wrote a concurrent opinion
while Justice Perry dissented.
Associate Justice Perry closes his
dissenting opinion with the following
conclusions;
In my opinion the sentence and COM
mitment for a constructive contempt
are illegal and invalid for lack of juris-
diction on the part of the court to pun
ish for such cOntempts, and if. for a
direct contempt are illegal and invalid
for lack of jurisdiction on the part of
the court to impose such sentence or or
der such commitment, no judgment of
guilty of such offence having been rem
dered. The Petitioner should be dis
charged"
The counsel for Smith will probably
take the matter to the Federal court
now.
The decision was filed at o'clock
Each of the three Justices of the Su-
preme Court files a separate opinion
The decision of the court however sus-
tains the circuit court, but each JUS
tice saw fit to write an opinion.
Smith was found guilty of contempt
by the Circuit Court March IS, and
sentenced to serve 30 days. The alleg-
ed contempt consisted of a cartoon
wherein Circuit Judge Gear was rep
resented as in the act of prOnouncing
approval over a man in the act of Bit
ing a wOmans ear off. The man doing
the biting was supposed to have been
the notorious shipping master McCar-
! thy, who was being tried in Gears
| court for exactly such a crime.
1t was alleged by the defendant that
| the cartoon referred to a previous
hearing of the case on the charge OF
mayhem before Gear, which had beer
closed, whereas, Mccarthy was to be
retired on a subsequent charge of as
| sault and battery on the day that the
| cartoon was published in the Adver'
/ tiser