Los Angeles Daily Herald

LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE

[The tenor of communications appearing in this column is not necessarily endorsed by the editor of the HERALD. The writer who desires to be heard in it should always accompany his screed with his full name, not necessarily for publication but as a guarantee of good faith.]

Seeking Knowledge.

Editor Herald: By the reported accounts in the morning papers one Taylor and a female were arrested by Officer Botello, without warrant, or complaint made in this State or by requisition of another Territory or State, incarcerated in jail, not permitted to see an attorney, and finally kidnapped out of the State without process of law; and that, too, in defiance of the authority of a Court of competent jurisdiction which had issued its writ of habeas corpus to avoid the service of which writ the kidnapping was done.

As I am a tenderfoot studying law, and knowing the generous nature of yourselves and readers, may I ask the authority for these proceedings? Or is there an "underground road" as in the days of slavery, whereby a man can be forcibly and illegally kidnapped? Are not Botello, the jailor and all parties hereto violating the law, and is any citizen of another State visiting here liable to be seized without process of law and kidnapped at the volition of a detective? What is the authority of a detective? Is he a policeman, constable, sheriff, marshal or what not, that such outrages in defiance of the law are committed?

The jurisdiction of the Courts are confined to the limits of the State; of their officers to their townships, counties and districts. Are not all the parties liable to criminal prosecution for violating the fundamental law, and are they not in contempt of Court? I ask these questions seeking information in my studies, and if the answer to them is in the negative, I have interpreted the law wrong so far as I have gone in my studies.

A LEGAL STUDENT.