The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1904-07-08
CHAINGANG OUTLAWED.
Beyond the Jurisdiction Of Munich
pal Authorities According to
Judge Speer.

| JuuSe SpeeP.
United States District Judge Emo
ry Speer, Of the western division of
the southern district of Georgia rem
dered an opinion of far reaching i'm
portance last Tuesday, involving the
authority of municipal courts all over
the country to sentence violators of
municipal ordinances to local chain
gangs. The case came before Judge
Speer on writ Of habeas Corpus. sp-
piled for by Henry Jamison, q ,ne4o,
for release from the custody Of E:A.
Wimbish, superintendent of thaBibb
county, Ga, chaingang Judge Speer
in Il lengthy opinion 8 iecided that the
superintendent,was &hout authority
to hold Che prisoner'and directed his
immediate release.
In passing upon, the case Judge
Speer CALLED attention to the fact
| that the commitment from the re-
corder's court was a sentence and
nothing more" and that there was
no finding of guilt or innocence by
the recorder. g.
The. question involved" said
Judge Specr, lis whether the record
er Of Macon can, without any sort of
criminal pleading and without the
Intervention Of jury, convict citi-
zen twice for violation Of a municipal
ordinance and sentence him to seven
months at hard punishment to be
suffered in a branch of the peniten-
tiary." Continuing, be said:
| Of tie constitution that one man, un-
der any form of procedure devised or
| TO be devised by local legislation, can
consign men, women and children to
u chaingang for such trivial offenses
as are within the jurisdiction of po-
lice magistrate:"
| Judge Speer seversly scored the
chaingang methods and said:
| Indeed it may be with entire ac-
curacy declared that the voluminous
and exhaustive preparation of the
city attorney Ind the subsequent ex-
animation by .Hhr-court has evoked
no shred Of authority, either Ameri-
can or English, where sentence by
a police magistrate to q public chain
gang, with the ignomfnious accesso.
ries of fetters, the stripes, lash and
of the degradation Of convict life has
been sustained or even palliated
Under the American system the
chaingang has no place in the juris,
diction and procedure Of police court
where trial by jury is not right Of
| the accused"
| He then declared the sentence Of
| the recorder void, for want Of due
process Of law and because one man
cannot be judge of infamy. "Like
thousands of oppressed and down.
trodden," he said, through all the
centuries since that glorious day in
the history Of the human liberty when
the great charter made forever i'm.
perishable the principle that nc
freeman may be taken or imprisoned
but by the lawful judgement of his
peers or by the law Of the land He
applied for the great writ of right
| the writ Of habeas corpus, and he
humbly seeks the portals of the court
whose Judges are sworn to know nc
| difference between the rich and the
poor, where justice ever bends the
listening ear to catch the plaint o
the humble and the. lowly. IT," he
said further, the prayer OF the petit
toner must be denied, then the stat
ute authorizing the United State.
courts and the judges thereof to is
sue the writ Of habeas corpus to pro
tect the rights Of the citizen guaran
teed by the national constitution ha!
at last been successfully nullified
Judge Speer declared that the ar
gument had been advanced by roaC
commissioner that while sentence
to the chaingang would forever ruir
a white man previously respectabl,
it had no such effect on respectable
negro. He held that such considera
tions do not appeal to a court charged
with the equal enforcement of thu
law, and he did not believe they me-
the appreciation Of the best people o
the southern states nor were they
conducive to the welfare Of the south
or hopeful for its future.
Judge Speer concludes with an ar.
gument made by him 20 years age
and which he realfirms. In this he
said that though the color line ex
pert may so declare, this is no colol
line case. 1t is a negro today. II
will be white man, aye white child
and a white woman tomorrow. IL
this court the law is equa! and fol-
! ALL"