The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-09-27
HUGH I;:JRNEY
 P/CoNTEMPT Secretary of Embassy is
 Fined. WAS SPEEDING HIS AUTO Claimed Immunity from Arr
 rest for Crime. stnte Department Was Notified and Governor of Massachusetts Asked
 to Correct Violation of
 International Law.

Pittsfeld. Mass, Sept. 2s.-Hugh Gurney secretary of the British em- bassy was today fined in the police court at Lee. on two charges. One for contempt of court he was fined s25. A similar fne was imposed in a case charging him with speeding his automobile in Stockbridge Sunday.
 Mir. Gurney when arraigned posi- lively refused to plead. claiming that as he was the third secretary of his tBrittanic majesty. he could not under for any crime"
 Special Judge Phelps said he did not recognize international law in his court and informed the defendant that he must enter a plea. Mir. Gurney per sisted in his refusal. Then a fine was imposed for contempt of court.
 Mir. Gurney did not have in his pos session sufficient money to pay the fine and he was committed in the charge of the officer who made the arrest. The officer accompanied Mir. Gurney to Lenox where the money was secured.
 State Department Notified.
 Washington. Sept. 2s.-Notice of the action of special justice at Lee. Mass. in flning Hugh Gurney. third secretary of the British Embassy. was received at the State Department in a telegram from MT. Raikes first secretary of the embassy who is at Lenox The De- partment immediately transmitted this telegram in substance to the Governor of Massachusetts with the suggestion that he do whatever might be necessary to secure the diplomatic immunity of Mir. Gurney.
 It is believed at the department that the matter be far more serious than -7F-an al T
 gard it. In the first place, by consti- tutional and statutory law, the persons attached to an embassy are expressly relieved from any legal responsibility and the exemption even extends to do nestle servants.
 Section -4as3. Revised Statutes. de- clares that any writ prosecuted in any court of the United States or of a State or by any judge or justice intended to cause the arrest and imprisonment of any public minister or his servant. shall be void. The succeeding Section, 4O64. Revised Statutes. provides that every person by whom any such arrest is ob- tained or prosecuted. whether as party or attorney. and every officer concerned in its execution. shall be deemed a vio- lator of the law of nations and a dis turber of the public repose and shall be imprisoned for not more than three years and fined at the discretion of the court.
 It will remain for the Governor of Massachusetts to take initial action ih this case. which will require prompt redress. The last precedent occurred in 1892 at the picnic resort of Bay Ridge, near Baltimore. when Georg, an attache of the Swiss legation in Washington. was arrested by a deputy sherir on the charge of being a pick. pocket and was searched and otherwise treated in a humiliating manner by the local authorities
 The State Department secured re- lease at an early moment through the Governor of Maryland. who also caused the dismissal of the offending deputy and extended an apology for the incl dent Though the Swiss Minister might have pressed further punishment. he accepted what had been done as suf- ficient. but the matter was deemed of such importance that he could not give this notice to our Government until the Swiss Federal Council had for mally considered the case and expressed itself satisfied.
 Sir Henry UnaIarmed. Sir Henry Mortimer Durand the British Ambassador. this afternoon re- ceived a telegram from Lenox. telling of the arrest of Mir. Gurney. and stat Ing that the matter had been referred to the State Department. The Ambas- sador took no action in the matter, nor does he expect that 1t will be necessary for him to do SO He expressed conf dence tonight that the State Depart ment will take whatever action fss 1 proper. He expects to leave Washing ' ton tomorrow morning to return to Lenox as he had originally planned.