The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-04
Released by Higher Court.
Continued from First Page


made case within it's jurisdiction to
Junish in the mode pursued here. We
10 not mean to say that this presump-
ion as to jurisdictional facts, about
which the record is silent, may not be
overcome by evidene. On the con-
-rary, if the appellant had alleged
such facts as indicated that the mis-
behavior with which he was charged
vas not such as, under section 725 of
he Revised Statutes, made him liable
% fine or Imprisonment, at the diScre-
Jon of the court, he would have been
entitled to the writ, and upon approx
ng such facts, to have been dis
charged.
May it please your honor" said
Judge Winston, 1--WE fall directly with
n that From page to page of the
'ecord, from corner to corner of it,
he offenSe with which Mr.. Daniels is
sharged is directly excluded by section
i25 of the Revised Statutes, not only
~ opinions, but also by learned COM
mentators without number. The man
Who deliberately goes in the teeth of
hat law does as much violation to
The laws of the land as the man who
loes personal violence by laying hands
Upon his fellow
Then Judge Winston came to the
main point of the case, the law of
Contempt, and read the history of the
Enactment of section 725 by Congress
1881 He cited j 8 Federal cases ex
,arte Paulson, No. 1880, p. 1905,
opinion written in 1885 by Circuit
Judge Baldwin. as follows:
1.-The act of March Z, 1881 a Stat.
1879 limiting the power of the Federal
courts to punish in cases of contempt,
ooh no /, nj Of no vt
O proceed for contempt against one
. publishing in newspaper an article
lending to prejudice or affect the
lights of parties to a suit on trial in
such court
1T is the old salutary right of trial
oy jury commented the speaker.
1.-THE Judge can only protect him.
elf and the court room. If Mr.. Dan
els should try in his paper to obstruct
his court in the administration of JUS
ice, he could not be brought up for
contempt summarily, but could be in
dicted by the grand jury. SO that the
court is not altogether powerless.' On
this line he cited RapaIji on Contempt
PIP. 10, 70, and Gould and fuckers
notes on sec. 1875, Vol. Ill p. So.
Kent's Commentaries, sec. sol, note.
Curtis on Jurisdiction of the U. S.
Courts, p. IT'S. " S. nj. and s.. 18th
Miss, p. 769.
THE chart by which your Honor
will be governed is section 725," as
serted Judge Winston. Judge Pur-
nell copied in his rule the very Ian
guage of that section. He knew his
power lay entirely under that sec
ton" q Fed. 1853, was next cited,
and Judge Winston said: In every
State that we have examined we find
the same construction of that section,
that 1t restraints punishment for con-
tempt except in the cases of misbe-
havior cited
Then came 131 U. S., 274, and in
re Robinson, 18th Wall, p. sos, cited
in the 10th Fed. Rep, at p. 1913, as
follows:
What do we mean by misbehav-
ior?" asked the speaker. "Do the
great things of life constitute misbe-
"The question whether a particular
act constitutes a contempt as we'll as
the mode of proceeding against the Of
fender, was left to be determined &C
cording to such established rules and
principles of the common law as were
applicable to our situation. The act
of 1881, however materially modified
that of 1889, in that it restricted the
power OF the court to infict sum-
mary punishment to certain specified
cases, among which was miSbohaVior
in the presence of the court, or misbe-
havior so near thereto as to obstruct
the administration of justice.
havior? When Horace Greeley sat
upon his tripod and wrote Let the
erring sisters go in peace, when Ray
mond wrote his great articles, were
those things misbehavior? No. My
little boy, when he tears his sister S
frock is guilty of misbehavior. and |
go into the nursery and spank him.
when Harper's weekly comes out next
week if it should contain a cartoon
Of the President even of the United
States that would not be miSbehaVior
No. This act was drawn by President
uchanan. in order that courts could
not Cypress the people, SO that in free
America we could never have such
scenes as in France in 1889. so that
the people, the press the courts Nigh
be free. free as the mountains. free as
the sea.
Here comes Caldwell. He writes
as he sees fit. Here comes 10. Daniels
He does likewise. We strike each 9th
er, next day shake hands It's the
glory of our land that it is so. II
could be so nowhere else but in Amer
lea, which has given us free press, free
courts. free men, free speech. We
are not thin-slxinned here. If a mans
too thin skinned to stand the com
ments Of the press, let him leave The
country. The worlds his home. I've
thanked God that | live among PEG.
ple that always want to see fair play
It's seldom that a man is wronged il
our State, but three years ago an at
tempt was made to impeach two
iudges of our Supreme Court Blu
LAWYERS came together before the Leg
islature and said No. It may be un
popular to say so, but was one of tn,
number that came before that Legis