The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1911-02-11
Smith Case at Reno
Apparently Without End
Effort Being Made By Eureka County Officials to Bring
Former President of Eureka County Bank Here for a
Hearing So Far Successfully Opposed by Latter

taken as involving an opinion on the
specific case, il must be said that the
case of the o. J. Smith habeas corpus
matter furnishes an illustration of the
point to be conveyed.
The right to the writ of habeas cor
pus is one of the most important known
to the law. 1t was established as the
bulwark to a species of tyranny and
the denial Of rights that made a bloody
page on the history of England. Kings
and others of less degree but of no less
arbitrary disposition were in the habit
Of clapping persons into Jail without
writ. without process aud without
right. The man might lay there for
ever without having a hearing or any
inquiry into the circumstances or che
justice Of his incarceration. He might
not know what he was penned up for;
the public might not know and grave
wrong flourish without opportunity to
cry out.
This writ was instituted to bring a
man denied OF his liberty speedily be.
fore the bar that the Judge might in.
quire if he were legally in custody. That
is the true purpose Of the writ-to have
the body Of the applicant before the
Judge that he might so inquire and do
justice.
Now, if courts in these latter days
should manifest a disposition to dispose
of such matters hastily it would not be
many years or generations before this
writ would be lost to a free people.
The life of liberty is ~age.long, but the
death OF liberty may begin and progress
slowly, but none the less surely, through
a day or through the years.
The duty Of each generation is to pre-.
serve the laws and the liberties of a free
people and transmit them undiminished
to posterity.
End of Present Case Indefinite
From Reno Journal of Feb. z
IAAttt hShkibk dhkuIhCbbS III TUG W.. u.
Smith habeas corpus case all day
yesterday. Judge Moran continued the
matter until 10 o'clock this morning
and intimated that he was ready to
hear discussed the question of the con-
stitutionality of the State Banking law
on which the prosecution of Smith is
based.
The argument all day yesterday in
which the attorneys for Eureka County
and Judge Glynn for the applicant
participated, was confined to the ques-
ton whether the court should allow
witnesses to be called to settle the
question of jurisdiction raised by the
applicant.
Smith claims that the elements of
the crime as defined by the statute are
lacking. and that there is nothing upon
which jurisdiction can be based. either
here or elsewhere, and that he should
be discharged. He offers to settle this
by calling witnesses. The attorneys
for Eureka County claim that this
question should properly be taken up and
settled at the same time the proceeding
preliminary to and at trial are had in
Eureka County.
With the raising Of the constitution
ality of the law itself to-day will come
the second inquiry in that regard had
on this statute in a comparatively short
time. The Supreme Court has passed
on certain phases of the law. and it is
within the bounds Of possibility that
the District Court may decide the Law
unconstitutional. II this is done there
will be no crime declared.
1t is not believed that either side will
stop at the decision of this court if it is
adverse. There are remedies available
to both sides. and it will not be sur
prising if the Supreme Court is called
ON before the matter is settled.