The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-11-29
Letters to The Editor
Intere.t,nx Historleal Incident.

| -r-~.~--N"'~
 Hon. fredeii Mears. of the Whining
 Gp se pamphe G esr as sas so ptss rsse as
 | titude of Governor Glenn. who has | since announced that he was oniy bluffing the railroads when he said that that he would have ordered his mill l tia to surrender if the United States l troops had been ordered out. MT. ton. who states that he is in no way concerned in the railroads, or inter
 eested in the litigation in that State: In
 the Ssrh of his ena. have ae says
 roundly denounced fn this agitation. | These courts, by virtue of the Censti-
 tuition. which makes the National Con
 stitution the paramount law rsas are part art entitled to our respect. They have
 served us wiser than we admit It l has not been many decades ago since l certain of our leading citizens were
 as sy of tns o tfer l liberty. The Supreme Court of tho State issued writ of habeas corpus :.
 the Governor defied 1t and refused to
 States. District Court; then presided
 Brooks, issued its writ of habeas cor. leased by order of the Federal Judge. l The Supreme Court of this State not
 ed on it's own writ that it's power was
 exhausted. This act of the, Federal
 Judge has more than once been ac-
 claimed as entitling his memory. to De
 honored by public monument II
 may be more powerful to protect in-
 dividual liberty than the courts of the
 State, particularly if the Executive
 may defy the mandates of the courts at yNla a1Pntq
 them as unprecedented"
 The writer was in North Caroline
 at the time and well remembers the
 occasion to which MT. Mears refers.
 Governor Holden was violent Repub- lican, and the Legislature Of North Carolina. then largely composed or ne
 groes, carpet -baggers and scalawags
 pressive' legislation led to much bit.
 terness and was roundly denounced
 by leading Democrats. Among them
 naper Mas HUm %as 'esia terror The r
 tion government of the state was greatly incensed, and. under pretense
 that peace was endangered, suspended
 the writ of habeas corpus. The Gov
 ernor organized a regiment of advep.
 turers under Colonel Kirk and sent them into Alamance and other counties
 where they arrested and abused many
 manner of outrage. Chief Justice
 Pearson of the Supreme Court of the State of North Carolina issued wrtts
 of habeas corpus Colonel Kirk treat ed these writs with contempt and Governor Holden sustained him. Chief Justice Pearson endorsed on the wrfts
 hausted." and made no further attempt to enforce the writs. In that emergen- cy the leading members of the bar applied to Federal Judge Brooks. who had been Union man, and was Re- publican, but an honest and fearless judge. The statutes under which the Federal courts could issue writs of ha- beas corpus were then much more re- 1 strictive than now, and were conhned l to cases of persons in prison under the | judge said he had no authority ana l asked the lawyers on what they relied. They replied that the Fourteenth | amendment forbids a State to deprive anyone of liberty without due process
 of law-that the act of Colonel Kirk
 and the Governor was the act of the 1 State; and that there was no authori- | ty to suspend the writ of habeas cor pus, and that the imprisonment was | therefore denial by the State of due
 process to the prisoners. Judge Brooks | finally took that view and issued the writs Governor Holden made the stereotyped reply that the Federal
 court was usurping authority. and for President ordered General Schofleld, in
 command of the Department at Will
 mington, to support the United States
 marshal with his troops in the execu-
 tion of the process of the court. It is
 related that when Colonel Kirk was
 served with the writ. he contemptu-
 ously threw 1t on the ground. His ad- 1utant. who had served in the Federal
 army picked it up and called his att
 tention to the eagle on the seal of | the court and warned him that he had better think awhile" The result was Colonel Kirk. in spite of the or
 ders of Governor Holden, produced the | prisoners in court and Judge Brooks discharged them. Thus 1t was the | first use made of the Fourteenth
 Amendment by the Judiciary was to
 protect the rights of Southern men ih
 a Southern state. Many of our peo-
 pie do not distinguish between the po- | litical part of the Fourteenth amend
 ment and that part of it which de-
 nies to the State the power to do | things which their own Constitutions
 generally forbid :hern to dc; ,,