The Story of Civil Liberty in the United States
The Story of Civil Liberty in the United States - Civil Liberty and Labor (1870-1917) - Page 229
EXTRADITION VERSUS KIDNAPPING
A new form of illegal arrest developed in the industrial struggle was the sudden and forcible extradition of labor leaders from one state for trial on charges in a second state, under circumstances which prevented them from exercising their constitutional rights.
The first important case was the seizure of John Moyer, who was wanted for trial along with W. D. Haywood and G. A. Pettibone, all officers of the Western Federation of Miners. This was on a charge of having murdered the former Governor of Idaho, Frank Steunenberg, on Dec. 30, 1905 at Caldwell, Idaho, by exploding a bomb at his gate. Moyer averred, in his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, that he had not been in the State of Idaho for more than ten years and that the Governor of Idaho knew he had not been in the state the day the murder was committed nor at any time near it. The actual events as stated by Supreme Court Justice McKenna were:
A conspiracy is alleged between the Governor of Idaho and his advisers, and that the Governor of Colorado took part in this conspiracy, the purpose of which was “to avoid the Constitution of the United States … and to prevent the accused from asserting his constitutional right under clause 2, section 2, of Article IV…. The agent of the State of Idaho arrived in Denver, Thursday, February 15, but it was agreed between him and the officers of Colorado that the arrest … should not be made until some time in the night of Saturday, after business hours—after the courts had closed and judges and lawyers departed for their homes; that the arrest should be kept secret, and the body of the accused should be clandestinely
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