Trial Report, 5–19 January 1843, as Published in Reports [Extradition of JS for Accessory to Assault]
Source Note
Trial Report, [, Sangamon Co., IL], 5–19 Jan. 1843, Extradition of JS for Accessory to Assault (United States Circuit Court for the District of IL 1843). Published in John McLean, Reports of Cases Argued and Decided in the Circuit Court of the United States, for the Seventh Circuit, vol. 3, Cincinnati: Derby, Bradley and Co., 1847, pp. 121–139. Includes typeset signature marks.
and apprehend the said Joseph Smith, if he be found within the limits of the aforesaid, and cause him to be safely kept and delivered to the custody of , who has been duly constituted the agent of the said state of , to receive said fugitive from the justice of said , he paying all fees and charges for the arrest and apprehension of said Joseph Smith, and make due return to the executive department of this , the manner in which this writ may be executed.
“In testimony whereof,” &c.
The case was set for hearing on the 4th day of January, 1843, on which day , attorney general of the state of , appeared, and moved to dismiss the proceedings, and filed the following objection to the jurisdiction of the court, viz:
“1st. The arrest and detention of Smith was not under or by color of authority of the , or of any officers of the , but under and by color of authority of the state of , by the officers of .
“2d. When a fugitive from justice is arrested by authority of the governor of any state, upon the requisition of the governor of another state, the courts of justice neither state nor federal, have any authority or jurisdiction to inquire into any facts behind the writ.”
The counsel of the said Joseph Smith then offered to read in evidence affidavits of several persons, showing conclusively that the said Joseph Smith was at , in the county of and state of , on the whole of the 6th and 7th days of May, in the year 1842, and on the evenings of those days, more than three hundred miles distant from , in the state of , where it is alleged that the said was shot, and that he had not been in the state of at any time between the 10th day of February and the 1st day of July, 1842, the said per [p. 124]