Evening star., 1909-02-18
TO. SECURE DEFENDANTS
District Attorney Baker Tells Of
Plan of Prosecution.
PRESS NOT ATTACKED, HE SAYS
Declares That It Is Merely License
That Is Opposed-Department
of Justice Statement.

No effort will be made to arrest the
publisher and editors of the New York
| World and the owners of the Indianap-
oils News, who were indicted Yesterday
! for criminal libel on telegra phic orders.
nor will they be taken into custody until
the proper papers have been prepared
! here and forwarded to the United States
commissioners in whose jurisdiction the
several defendants reside. The district
attorney is treating the case as an or
dinary one. and the papers will be pre-
pared and sent in the usual manner.
Procedure to Be Observed.
when asked the procedure. and how
this court would obtain jurisdiction over
the defendants United States District At
torney Baker said today:
The corporate defendant. the Press
Publishing Company. has an office here.
and does business here in the District of
! Columbia. and summons will be served
on Mr. Otto Carmichael. who is in charge
of the office here. and in this way juris-
diction will be obtained over the corporate
defendant. This is the same way in which
jurisdiction is obtained in civil proceed
lngs, and has been applied to a number of
/ criminal cases where corporations have
been defendants. and has not yet been
assailed. So far the natural defend
ants are concerned. all of them are nom
residents of the Districts of Columbia and
1t will be necessary, unless they appear
voluntarily and plead to the indictment.
| to take steps under section 1014 of the
Revised Statutes to obtain their removal
to this District
! This is no new proceeding. as great
number of people have been brought from
| out the District of Columbia for trial
! here. The suggestion that the defendants
were never here in fact is answered by
Dthe statement that if they committed
! crime in the District of Columbia they
are liable to it's laws and subject to
moval. In the case of the United States
aSt. Hyde this was DONE Mr.. Hyde claim
| ing that he had never been in the Dis
| trict of Columbia. The same also the
case with Benson and Schneider in the
same case. but the Supreme Court of the
! United States held that if the offense was
| committed in the District of Columbia the
| parties committing it were constructively
| in the District at the time, and the gov
ernment. in order to have trial in the
/ proper forum, had right to remove the
defendants to the District, under section
| 1914
The Dana Case Not Authority Now.
"A great deal has been said about the
Dana case and about common law Of
| fenses not being removable. The Dana
case, however. is no longer an authority
| for the removal of persons charged with
common law offenses, both because it has
| been overruled and because the offense
! OF libel is now punishab BILE by statu in the
| District of Columbia. section SD of the
| code, and the offense is statutory offense
against the United States. In the Dana
case the court held that a common law
offense was not an offense against the
United States within the meaning of sec
tion 1014. but this case has been over
ruled by the later case of Wimsatt agt
United States 161 Federal Reporter. 0S6),
in which case the district court for the
southern district of New York decides
| that it is immaterial whether the offense
| be common law offense or a statutory
| offense, as in the District of Columbia
| common law offenseS against the
| United States as the local sovereign,
and therefore offenses against the
United States within the meaning of sec
! tion 1014. In that case it is said:
THE removal of the accused from a
federal district to the District Of Column
bia for trial cannot be defeated because
the acts charged in the indictment are
common-law offenseS, the District of Co.
| lumbia being a part of the United States
and the commission OF a crime therein
being an indctable offense against the
| United States
This was decided February %,
1905. and Wmsatt appeared in the Dis
trict, of Columbia. pleaded guilty to the
indictment and was sentenced to two
years in the penitentiary."
A;,,oa1 T;ca,ea Nat T;har%-