The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1920-02-13
COURTS WERE
.RAVINC MAD
FEDERAL JUDGE BOURQUIN, IN
DENYING HABEAS CORPUS
WRIT, SCORES SEVERITY OF
SENTENCE OF E. Y. STARR.
(Special to the Producers News\

S0pCSAd1 W e1Ac IOuOCcIS 1NeWS)
Helena, Feb. 4.-Although he de-
MED the application of attorneys fol-
E. V. Starr for a writ of habeas cor
pus, Federal Judge Bourquin, in fed
eral court here Saturday, severely and
Escathipgly scored the brand of 100
percent patriotism" which has been
on tap in State Senator Goal Oil
Johnny" Edwards Rosebud county
for the last few years.
Starr was sentenced to not less than
10 years, nor more than 20 years, on
fused to kiss an American flag under
duress when mob of Rosebud pa
trioteers" attempted to make a spec
tacle out Of him during the war. In
addition to the prison sentence, Starr,
who is said to have been in the bad
graces of the stock and banking in
uerests Of Forsyth and vicinity, con-
trolled by Edwards, was sentenced by
the Rosebud county court and jury to
pay a fine of $500.
When the mob ATTEMPTED to force
him to kiss an American flag, Starr
is alleged to have said:
''What is this thing, anyway?
Nothing but piece of cotton with .
little paint on it and some other
markets in the corner there. I'll not
kiss that thing. 1t might be covered
with microbes"
In his decision Judge Bourquin
held:
THAT the one act of course of con-
duct may be an offense against two
sovereignties, the state and the Unit
ed States.
'eThe shocking injustice of the SEN
tence imposed upon the petitioner, if
not Of his conviction, is not material
in habeas GROUPS. That may appeal
to the executive pard0ning power
alone. At the same time, the spirit
of humanity and justice f0rbids that
it be ignored. Obviously the petition
er was more sinned against than sim
ming. It is clear that he was in the
hands of one of those too common
mobs, bent upon vindicating it's pecu-
liar standard of patriotism and its
odd conception of respect for the flag
by compelling him to kiss the latter.
Their conduct, not his just resist
ance nor the trivial and innOcu0us re-
tort into which they g0aded him, was
to degrade the sacred ban
ner and bring it into contempt. They,
not he, should have been punished.
Patriotism, like religion, is yir-
tue so exalted that its excuses pass
with little censure. But when, as
here, it descends to fanaticism, it is
of that reprehensible quality of the
religion that melted the massacre of
st. Bartholomew, the fires of Smith
field, the tortures of the jnquisitiOn,
and. is equally cruel and murderous.
.ssToo often such mObs have been
the last resort of the Stacker, mill
tary and civil, the profiteer and the
enemy sympathizer, masqueradmg as
to divert attention
from their real character.
In speaking Of the sentence Judge
Bourquin said:
."And it, with too many like it,
goes far to justify the observation
Of George Bernard Shaw, the satirist
and cynic, that during the war in
France, bleeding under the German
guns, the courts were very severe; in
England, hearing but the echoes of
those guns, the courts were grossly
unjust, but in the United States,
knowing nothing Of the war but CEN
sored news, the courts were stark,
staring raving mad. The application
is denied"