The Washington herald., 1911-06-01

That the State of Virginia un-
lawfully holds in confinement 300
persons at Occoquan, and that he
wanted writS of habeas corpus look
ing to the release of two of them,
was what Matthew E. O'Brien, an
attorney of the District of Colum-
bia, told Judge Edmund Waddill,
jr., in Norfolk yesterday, and Judge
Waddill granted the writs for i'm
mediate service on Supt. Whitaker.
Edgar Fiske was sentenced re-
Gently in a District of Columbia
court to one years Imprisonment in
the jail in the District of Columbia,
and not long after William Alexan-
der received a penalty of 364 days
confinement in the same Jail.
SAYS 1T IS ILLEGAL.
Both OF these men were taken out of
the District Of Columbia and confined
in Occoquan- Attorney O'Brien holds
this removal beyond the jurisdiction Of
the Commissioners Of the District of
Columbia is an illegal act.
What right" asked Mr.. O'Brien. have
the Commissioners Of the District OF
Columbia to modify or change a sentence
OF the court? No possible construction
of language will make the workhouse at
Occoquan the Jail in the District of
Columbia. Penal statutes must always
be interpreted exactly and literally.
When a man is sentenced to a longer
term Of Imprisonment than one year.
the law says exactly he shall be SEN
fenced to confinement for the period in
a penitentiary. which the Attorney Gen.
eral shall designate.
But for sentences Of less than one
year. the prisoner shall be committed
to the jail in the District Of Columbia
Under such circumstances. he is not to
be taken out of the District Of Columbia.
for that is beyond the Jurisdiction OF the
Commissioners of the District, whose au-
thority does not and cannot extend be-
yond the boundaries of the District
There has been a bungle in this mat
ter all the way through. When the Dis
trict wanted to buy the land at Occoquan,
II found II could not get title to II. The
United States could not condemn land
in Virginia for this purpose. so they got
around the difficulty by taking title in
the name of the United States. Then
the District Of Columbia built this build
ctah
within the limits Of another State with
out the permission Of that State.
A Penal Colony.
For, while in the act Of cession Of ter
ritory under which Virginia gave Alexan-
dria and other parts to the United States
for the erection of the ten miles square,
there is a clause which includes such other
land as the United States may require.
1t is clearly against the expressed or i'm
piled language and the intent Of that
clause that land should be taken at any
future time under 1t for the establish |
ment of a penal colony.
These two men and all the other pris |
oners at Occoquan are held unlawfully |
for these and for other good reason. |
The reasons advanced in court to-day |
were good enough to cause the marshal
Of Richmond to serve writs Of habeas |
corpus on the superintendent of Occo- |
guam for the release of these two men. |
and If these two should prove to be held |
all the rest Of the prisoners !
also are wrongfully detained"
L. L. Lewis, United States attorney for |
the eastern section Of Virginia, appeared |
for the Occoquan side Of the question. 1t |
was settled the case should come up for |
argument on July 3 at Alexandria, when |
Judge Waddill holds his sitting Of the |
court there. |
An agreement was made with the |
court that IL the five prisoners who |
have recently escaped from Occoquan |
shall be apprehended before the sitting |