The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-28
HE INSTRUCTs M'COLLUM
Mr.. Spencer Says His Evidence Must
Agree With Charge.

City Attorney Charles F. Spencer to-
day wrote to Chief of Police McCOI-
lum letter advising him to make no
more arrests ''on view except in GER
tain specified kinds of cases. The letter
is the result of the failure of a number
of prosecutions attempted by Chief Nc
COllum in which the only evidence adj
mitted by the court was that which
the policeman who made the arrest was
able to give.
TT is unwise and almost criminal, -
said City Attorney Spencer Ito make
arrests on view when the district
court has ruled so strictly that the
evidence must be limited to what is
obtained at the time the arrest is made.
1t simply makes court costs for the
city to pay. My letter to Chief Nc
Collum is simply intended to be 81
friendly suggestion that care be exer-
cised in making arrests"
Mr.. Spencer stated that the letter to
Chief McCollum was not intended as
a private communication, but was in
the nature of an open letter 1t is as
Sumed that Mr.. Spencer wants his posi-
ton to be known to the public, so that
if McCollum keeps on making arrests
on view, the city attorney will not get
the blame for the failure of subsequent
prosecutions.
Several cases have recently been tried
in the district court which involved the
points mentioned in Mr.. Spencer's let
ter. The letter after a reference 10 she
diSOrderly house decision is as follows.
I also take this occasion to suggest,
as / have already done before num-
Der of times that under the we'll es-
tablished rule of law in cases where
there has been an arrest on view, the
evidence must be confined to the Of
Tense viewed by the officer at the time
of the arrest and for which the de-
PENDANT was arrested. Judge Hazen
followed this rule in the introduction
of testimony in the trial of Mike Han
ley on the charge of vagrancy last
Tuesday.
1T should be at once apparent that
arrest on view cannot be made prac-
ticaIy applicable and effective In va
grancy cases and rarely effective in
many other cases. Cases of this kind
should be prosecuted on written COM
plants so that any competent and ma
terial evidence can be used on the trial.
There are, in fact, but comparatively
few instances in which prosecutions IN
cases of arrest on view can be made
effective.
In most cases it is necessary to sup
plement the evidence with other evil
denca than that which can be useo
where the arrest is on view. Prosecu-
lions in cases of arrest on view shou!o
be confined to cases where the OffenSe
is complete in some specific act. Among
the cases in which arrest on view car
he made effective are such as leaving
team unhitched. riding bicycle on the
sidewalk, selling or serving liquor OF
being found in the possession of liquors
in a place having the usual joint fix
lures, and gambling. However, in
many of these cases the prosecution
| can be made much more effective or
a written complaint.
1.-The material question involved is
not whether arrest on view is legal
| but whether an offense was being com
mitted in the presence of the officer a
| the time of the arrest for which the
| defendant can be convicted.
Il am ready at all times in the fu-
ture as in the past, to advise with an6