The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-25

1 makes 1t diff1cult either to capture or | to bring to justice this class of robbers. | Stato officials are not so we'll equipped | for the apprehension of these depredatocs 1 upon the countrys commerce as are the
 marshals of the United States. Moreover, | these creedless, Christless banditt,s by | escaping across border lines from one State to another can easily baffle and
 defeat tho efforts of sheriffs and their posses to arrest them
 Tho passage of the pending measure | would not interfere in any wise or man. ner with the Jurisdiction of the State courts over the crimes described therein,
 because they are all punishable at the
 common law. To pass the bill will, in my
 judgment, give increased security to lifs
 and property, and will largely contribute to the suppression of these cruel and in- | human crimes against the civilization of
 this enlightened age.
 The knight of the road" who. crouch
 ing by the wayside springs from his hid
 ing place as some unsuspecting victim passes by, and, with a drawn dagger in
 hand. glittering in the light of the moon. demands his purse or his life, Is no more | a felon, worthy of death, than the outlaw who wrecks train. robs the mail. rifles i the pockets of passengers, and burglar | izes an express car.
 | A train wrecker in every instance Is an l assassin at heart. The atrocious scoun- | drel who will loot defenseless passenger would not hesitate to kill sleeping vic | tim without a word of warning. He is not only a red-handed murderer, but a
 black-hearted poitroon: and ought not to receive any consideration of mercy or in- | dulgence. either at the bar of public | opinion or in the halls of Congress There | Is no reason why a railway marauder, | the most odious. in my opinion, of all | criminals. should not be put upon the same level and De punished just as se- verely as the ancient robber of the king s
 highway. Romance has woven charm about the names of Dick Turpin. Captain Hawk Paul Clifford. Rob Roy, and many | other bandits of the Old World, who live
 in song and story. They are pictured as worthy of the poets pen apd minstrers s | lay. In roseate colors they. are repre-
 scented vividly as being. brave. generous | and magnanimous as ever ready to de- l fend tho weak and confront the strong;
 but as they held no law in awe. they
 of heavenly light in comparison with the ! train robbers of recent years, like Jesse
 James. Rube Burroughs, and those of | that ilk.
 Some gentlemen, however seem to man. | fest a peculiar, indefinable, inexpressible
 and incomprehensible sort of sympathy | for these incarhate demons who kill pas- | sengers, wreck trains, and pillage express cars. They show their sympathy by ob- l jecting to any and all efforts which seek | to confer upon the United States courts.
 concurrently with the State tribunals, | Jurisdiction to try these heinous offenses. even whero the person robbed or mur- | dered is a passenger travelling from one | State to another or where the matter of | freight or commerce involved in the rail- way carriage Is shipment or conslgn- | ment interstate in it's character, and that. | too, when every lawyer or well-informed man knows that the Constitution of the | United States confers ample and exclus- | i've authority upon Congress to legislate l in respect to subjects of this nature. | Congress alone has the right or power l ''to regulate commerce with foreign na- | tions. among the several States, and with | the Indian tribes"
 The reason why our forefathers con | farred this exclusive authority upon Con-
 gross Is most interestingly set forth by 1 Chief Justice Marshall in the celebrated case of Brown V. The State of Maryland,
 reported in 12 Wheaton, page AS. He
 discussed this subject very ably and clap | orately and in delivering the unanimous | opinion of the court used the following language:
 "The degraded state of commerce previ- ous to the adoption of the Constitution l can scarcely be forgotten. It was regu- | view to their own interests: and our dis united efforts to counteract their restric-
 tion were rendered nugatory by want Of
 combination. To construe this power so as to impair it's efficacy would tend to | defeat m obj jact in the attainment of | which the American people took, and justly took, that strong interest which | comes from a full conviction of it's ne- | cessity. The pOwe' to regulate commerce | among the States Is coextensive with tho l subject on which it acts. and can not be l stopped at the external boundary or a | State, but must enter its interior. | Ut has been observed that the powers | remaining with a State may be so eXer- cised as to come in conflict with those | vested in Congress. When this happens
 that which is rot supreme must yield to
 that. which Is supreme. This great and
 universal truth is inseparable from the
 nature of things, and the Constitution has l applied it to the often interfering powers of the General and State governments as
 a. vital principle of perpetual operation" | The bill now under consideration ex- pressly limits the jurisdiction of the Fed eral courts to the trial of robberies against railway trains engaged In carry ing interstate commerce or operated with
 in the Territories of the United States. | The favorable report of the Judiciary Committee, acompanying this bill, pre-
 sents a clean-cut statement of this great
 and growing evil and the reasons for
 enacting legislation to suppress the same | It was prepared by the distinguished gen.
 tleman from California (Mr. kahn) I
 read it for the information and consider
 ation of the House:
 "The Committee on the Judiciary, to
 whom was referred the bill (H. R. 114l2J,
 for the suppression of train robberies in
 the territories of the United States and
 other places, and for other purposes, sub
 init the following report:
 "The purport of this bil l.s to give the | United States authorities jurisdiction n all cases of train robberies where the trains are engaged in interstate conI-
 
 | or district of the United States. The
 crir.e of train robbery has been for many | years on the increase. While it is true | that most of the States have passed leg
 islation imposing heavy penalties upon | those who are convicted for the commits | sion of thls olfense experience has de-
 monstrated the fact that such legislation has been for the most part entirely, in- | adequate and ineffective.
 | ITO commi. train robbery requires 10
 skill, but it does require certain amount of courage and daring-qualities that oftea apepal to the vicious, ignorant and de-
 prayed elements Tn community. And l thus it has happened in many localities | that the offenders in such eases have been | given protection and shelter when closely | pursued by the officers of the law. As a | rule the crime is committed in an iSo- lated and sparsely settled locality, where l pursuit and capture are dep endent larg ely | upon the efforts of volunteer posses, | the latter being frequently stimu- | in many cases the size of the reward gauges the zeal of the pursuers. But it l invariably happens that before the rail-
 road and express companies can have
 offered a reward, considerable time | elapses, and so by the time the posse is
 organized the robbe.s have had ample | opportunity to cover up their tracks, and pursuit is futile.
 | We are frequently accustomed to sne ," | at the impOtent efforts of countries like | Spain, Italy, Turkey and Greece to break | up the institItion known as brigandags, | but this system of robbery and often at l tendant murder is no more atrociOus than | Is the crime of train robbery. and this
 great Government of ours should certainly afford the traveller on a railroad train. ! so far as security to his iif' anl property | is concerned, as great measure of pro-