Year: 1874

1ue EN08lo0 lC00e0l O08Cs


A dishonest paymsster, or some other
officer having chance at the army chest
OF the Spanish forces in Cuba, appropriates
the modest sum of $780, 900 and absconds to
New Orleans. He probably selects this
country with the knowledge that there is
no extradition treaty between us and Spain.
Full particulars and q description of the
thief are telegraphed to the Spanish consul
at this port who communicates his infor-
nation to our police. When the vessel
bearing the defaulter and his plunder
reaches New Orleans his trunk goes into
the hands Of the Customhouse officials, in
the regular course Of business, aud is exam
ined in the usual way. In it is found the
stolen money. In the meantime the police,
acting on information which they had every
reason to believe true, and which subse-
quent events prove to be correct, arrest the
culprit. While in custody, the fact that his
captors had full proof of his guilt being
brought to his knowledge, he voluntarily
makes written confession and surrenders
to the Spanish consul his ill-gotten spoils.





property seized at the Same time.


Here are all the elements necessary for
conviction of crime; time, place, thing
taken, with proof of taking, the offender in
custody, and in addition a confession and
voluntary surrender of the stolen property
to the proper custodian.


Every circumstance justi6es the action of
the police But there was technical
omission, and to take advantage Of it was
the subsequent thought Of the confessed
convict, suggested by convenient attor-
ney. A writ of habeas corpus restored him
to his liberty after all these facts had be-
come things Of the past The maintenance
OF this writ had, however. merely the effect
to establish the technical omission. The
fugitive was still liable to arrest should the
consul think proper to prosecute when he
had already regained the property.


But matters are suddenly reversed, and
by the exceedingly simple process of max
ing an affidavit. The defaulter accuses the
legal representative of the government he
has defrauded with robbing him of the
funds he himself has stolen. In addition to
this, he includes the chief officers Of our
police department as accomplices, and with
unblushing effrontery, denies his confession
of guilt. So far, the case is ridiculous
enough to have q parallel, but his next
step is sublime in isolated impotence. He
procures search warrant, directed against
the premises Of the consul, to regain by
judicial forms the money he had illegally
obtained, and which had been wrested
from him by the owner, aided by the Off
GERS of the law. Such use OF the writ was
pre- viouslv unheard of. Without noticing
the acknowledged sanctity Of premises pro-
tected by the flag of country with whom
we are at peace, the suggestion of crimi-
nal rising superior to authority, and alleg-
ing his own crime as his title, attempting
to deprive one of what is technically his
own property, by using the law against the
law. is enough to show the falsity of the
positions assumed.


The money was stolen, and the owner has
recovered possession. Who can take it from
him7 Has not everyone the right to take
his own wherever he finds 1T The police
found the robber and seized him. Did not
the subsequent events prove the justness of
their suspicions9 If their prisoner had been
an innocent man they might have been CEN
sured for not being more secure. in their be.
lief. But as he was guilty they might have
acted on still less information aud been JUS
titled, for he has no clean hands to show.
What is the evidence which will convic: the
consul of robbery when he laid his hands
on the money of his government! What
will support the allegation Of felonious in
tent of the police against the confession Of
the criminal, and the tact Of restoration OF
the money!


We may have no extradition treaty with
Spain, but that is NO reason why great
CITY like New Orleans can not by her po-
lice protect herself from that country's
fugitive criminals. If she could not, she
would simply be an undisguised fence
where spoils could be ''spouted" without
fear of justice.


The police have done no wrong, and we
doubt not, if the cases come to a trial.
iury of their fellow-citizens will sustain
them in what they have done.