The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-03-16
PEONACE LAW VALID
Supreme Court Of United
States UphoIds Statute.
CLYATT CASE is DECIDED
On Technicality the Finding Of Court
Was in Favor of Georgia Turpen-
tine Operator Summary OF
the Noted Case.

tine OpeI IdIOT ~
the Noted Case.
| The supreme court of the United
States in decision handed down Mon
day. sustains the contentious OF Sen
| ator Bacon and Representative Brant'
ley in the C1yatt peonage case, brought
LID from the Florida courts last year.
The decision of the lower court is
reversed, and while the supreme court
orders a new trial for .Clyatt Senator
Bacon is CT the opinion that the de-
fendant will be free man and that
the other cases pending in the courts,
numbering several hundred, will be
dismissed.
The Clyatt case was regarded as
test of the validity of the indictment
under the cases where cases where
brought into court.
The decision incidentally reVerses
the Judgment rendered by Judge Chas.
Swayne, who tried the case originally,
though Clyatt is from Lowndes coun-
ty, Georgia, and the alleged offense
was committed there.
Clyatt, who resided in Georgia, was
charged with taking two negro men,
Gordon and Ridley, in custody Wnlle
they were employed in Florida. Tne
proceedings therefore originated in the
latter state.
Sections 1890 and 5526 of the Re.
yised Statues were involved. The,
court sustained their constitut1onahty,
saying:
1--WE entertain no doubt OF the va
lidity of this legislation or OF us ap-
plicability to the case Of any person
holding another in state OF peonage
and this whether there be municipal
or ordinance for state law SANCTION
ing such holding. It operates directly
on every citizen of the republic, where
ever his residence may be"
| {rSllln2 dLI6ullOu " SAS oS
the indictment the justice said:
at was essential to show that cor
don and Ridley had been in a condi-
tion of peonage to which by the act
of the defendant they were returned.
We are not at liberty to transform
this Indictment into one charging that
the defendant held them in state OF
peonage or that he arrested them with
q view Of placing them In such a STATE
"The testimony discloses that the
defendant with another party went 20
Florida and caused the arrest OF cor
don and Ridley on warrants issued
bv q magistrate OF Georgia nor lar
cenv but there can be little doubt
that these criminal proceedings were
only an excuse for securing the Gus
xody of Gordon and Ridley and taking
them back to Georgia to work out q
debt. While this is true, there is not
a scintilla of testimony to show Cor
don and Ridley were ever therefore IN
a condition of peonage. We are con-
strained therefore to order reversal
Of the Judgment and remand the case
for a new trial"
Justice Brewer said the trial court
should on this account have taken the
case from the jury.
Justice Harlan dissented, saying
that in his opinion there was evidence
tending to make a case within the
statute.
The accused made no objection to
the submission of the case to the Jury,
he said "and it is going very far
IN hold in a case like this disclosing
barbarities of the worst kind against
these negroes that the trial court err.
ed in sending the case to the jury.
Both on account Of the prominence
of the defendant and Of the ASTort-
ance of the questions involved IN MS
case the decision of the supreme court
has been awaited with considerao!S
interest all over the south.
In this case the thirteenth amend
nent To the constitution of the United
States was for the first time presented
to the supreme court for constructlon
and Interpretation. The constitution
slity of the peonage laws were also
called into question and several otner
important issues Of law were 1nvofv-
ed. The peonage laws were enacted
in 1857 and were directed, though NOT
expressly, to New Mexico, in wnicn
territory the old Mexican law PROVO.
Ing for and sanctioning a system Oh
peonage had not been abolished. Inc
nalpable intention of the law was 10 re-
neal the laws legalizing peonage, OF
seryitude for debt, in the territory OF
New Mexico. 1t. lay unnoticed on the
statute books until about 1900 ano inc
c,vatt case is the first test OF the law
submitted to the supreme court OF
the United States.
>-a~een "a MEw COUNTY,