The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1910-10-14

paratory to final judgment in the
case
Immediately following the Virginia
case, the court will hear the famous
peonage cases from Florida. Only
the favorable action of the supreme
court, it is said, can now save several
men from going to the federal peni-
tentiary for alleged violations of the
laws against compulsory service. w. S.
Harlan, general manager of the Jack
son Lumber company, with big mills
near Lockhart, Ala, has been sentenc-
ed to serve eighteen months at hard
labor in the federal penitentiary at
Atlanta, Ga. and pay fine of $4,000;
Robert Gallagher, logging superintend-
ent, to fifteen months and fine of
$1,000; c. c. Hilton and S. E. Muggins,
employees, to thirteen months and a
fine of $1,000, all for having conspired
to commit the offence known as peon-
age. The accused are seeking to be
released on writs of habeas corpus,
the claim being that the sentence to
hard labor was illegal, that the trial
court had no jurisdiction and that the
grand jury was not constituted accord
ing to law
Scarcely OF less interest in the labor
world will be the cases involving the
constitutionality of the employers liza
bility law of 1908. This law was pass
ed by congress to take the place of
the act nullified by the supreme court
because it applied to intra-state com
merce as well as to interstate The
present law has been attacked along
the same lines.
OF even greater interest is the case
involving the contempt proceedings
against the officials of the American
Federation of Labor, Samuel Gompers,
president of the federation is under
sentence to serve twelve months in
Jail; John Mitchell, formerly president
of the United Mine Workers. nine
months; and Frank Morrison, secre-
tary of the federation, six months, all
for alleged contempt of the supreme
court of the District of Columbia in
that they disregarded the injunction
to cease interfering with the business
of the Bucks Stove & Range company,
of st. Louis, which had brought suit
against them to prevent them from
boycotting it. All the points in the
controversy are to be laid before the
court for final decision.
The Missouri two-cent passenger
rate law and the maximum freight
rate law of that state have been set
for argument after the contempt cases.
The constitutionality of these laws is
attacked. Owing to the veto by Gov
ernor Hughes of the New York two
cent fare bill, his attitude as a member
of the court toward the Missouri cases
will be watched with interest
The court was to have given a second
hearing at the beginning of the term
to the Baltimore and Ohio Southwest
ern railroad cases, involving the ques-
tion as to what should be the unit for
the assessment of penalties for viola
tions of the twenty-eight hour law,
governing the shipment of livestock.
LAST year the court stood four in favor
of holding the train-load to be the unit
and four in favor of making the unit
the separate shipments. In view of
the tie vote, it is now believed the
case will await the filing of the va
cancies.
A case involving the constitutional
ity of the California law of 1906, pro-
viding for the quieting of title to real
estate in case of the loss or destruc-
tion of public records, as by earth
quake, will be heard according to pres
ent arrangements early in the term.
A long list of prosecutions under
federal laws were also put forward at
the head of the calendar for the com
ing term. Among these are the appeal
of the government from the action of
the New York federal courts in setting
aside the indictment against F. Angus
tus Heinze on charges of intent to de-
fraud the Mercantile National Bank
of New York City, of which he was
president; the appeal of the govern
ment from similar treatment of the in
dictment against George Kissel, a
New York broker, and Thomas B.
Larned, of Philadelphia, on charges
of having conspired with the Ameri-
can Sugar company to restrain inter
state commerce in violation of the
Sherman antitrust act by preventing
the Pennsylvania Sugar Refining com
pany from doing business; and several