The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1904-07-06
aEeaRDERs CANNOT
SENTENCE 70 eHalAeaAa.

SeAiEhGE I'D GhaIAGAhG.
Federal Judge Emory Spssr Upos
Haheas corans Writ Releases
Nan Sentenced by Ma
cons Recorder.
Says Saeh imprisonment Is Without An.
thority and Unconstitutional.
Macon, Ca, June 23.-United Sta
tes District Judge Emory Speer of
the western division Of the southern
district Of Georgia today rendered an
opinion Of far reaching Importance,
involTing the authority Of municipal
courts ali over the country to sentence
riolasoss Of municipal ordinances to
local chain gangs. The case came be-
fore Judge Spec, on writ OF habeas
corpus applied for by Henry Jamison,
3 peCro. for release from the custody
Of E. a. Wimbish, superintendent or
the Bibb county, Ga, chain gang.
Judge Speer in a lengthy opinion
decided that the superintendent vas
{ wisheut authority to hold the prisoner
and directed has immediate release:
Ia passing upon the case Judge
Speer called attention 70 che Sacs tnas
the commitment from the recorders
court was a sentence and nosn!ng
more. . and that thers was no hnding
tas guilt or innocence by the recorder;
ssss. The question involved, said
.Jrdge Speer, sis whether the recor-
der Of Macon can, without any sort OF
criminal pleading and without the
inservention Of a jury convict clsl-
zen twice for violation OF q munich
nal ordinance and sentence him to
saren months at hard labor on the
public changing, the punishment to
s be suffered in branch OF the PEN
Tertiary ;, Continuing, he said:
SstC Gan it be maintained in the light
of the constitution that one man, un-
der any form Of procedure devised or
I 10 he devised BY local legislation can
consign men, women and cnlloren 20
changing for such trivial onenses
as are within the jurisdiction OF a
police magistrate?''
NVECTIVE INDUCED.
rndge Speey severely scored the
chain gang methods and said:
eIndeed IL may be with entire ac-
enracy declared that the Volumlnous
and exhaustive preparation OF sne casy
attorney and the subsequent examlna,
ton by the court has evoked no snreo
Of authority, either American or Eng
I;sh. where sentence by police
magistrate to q public chalngang, with
the ignominous accessories or fetters,
/ fha striues, lash and Of the degrade
ton of convict life has been sustained
ar even palliased. Under the Ameri-
can system the chain gang has no
place in the jurisdiction AND procedure
Of police courts where trial by Jury is
nos right of the accused. -
He then declared the sentence OF
the recorder void, for want OF due
process of law and because enc man
cannot be Judge OF infamy. Llke
thousands of oppressed and downtroo-
5 dem. J, be said. g through all the coun-
tries since that glorious day IN the
history Of the human liberty Wnen
the great charter naae forever lmpel-
3 ishable the principle that no freeman
may be taken or imprisoned but oy
The lawful judgment OF his peers OF
by the law Of the land he appneo
: for the great writ or fight, tne rlse
of habeas corpus, and he humbly
seeks the portals Of the court whose
iiudees are sworn to know no differ
@snes between the rich and the poor,
wnere Justice ever bends the listening
ear to eatch the piaiEt Of the humote
end the lowly. IT, he said further,
the prayer Of the petitioner must be
denied. then the statute authorizing
fhe United States courts and the
& indres thereof to issue the writ OF
habeas corpus 60 protect the rights OF
tha citizen guaranteed by the nation
s II constitution have at last been sue
cessfnlly uullifec. .
TIE COLOR LINE.
judge Speer declared that the argu:,
) nasnt had been advanced by a road
Commissioners that while a sentence to
she chain gang would forever ruin q
.,ghite man previously respectable 1t
had no such effect on respectable ne
\ GRO He held that such considerations
do not appeal to court charged with
the eoual enforcement Of the Law, and
he. did not believe they met the appro-
baton of the best people Of the South
ern States nor were they conducive TO
fse welfare of the south or hopeful ror
its future. -,
Judge Speer concludes with an ar
gument made by him 20 years ago
and which he reafrms, An TINS ne
said that 50 though the color line ex-
nert NAV SO declare, this is no color
fine case. It will be white man.
ave white child and white woman
tomorrow. In this court the iaV is
equal and for all.
e..:oa;,c Pue;noee