Surely, Poole must be a scoundrel of the deepest dye; undoubtedly one of the notorious dynamiters employed by the Federation; or perhaps the military had discovered that he was one of the ringleaders of that monstrous Inner Circle of the Federation which terrorized the entire Rocky Mountain country?
Popular excitement was at the boiling point. Victor Poole, Victor Poole! Wherever you went you were certain to find Victor Poole and habeas corpus the favorite topics of conversation. For the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus is a step so rarely taken by a governor of a state or the President of the United States, that its repeal at any time will arouse and awaken public interest as nothing else can.
98 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
All eyes were now turned to the attorneys for the Federation, who lost no time in taking the case to the Supreme Court of Colorado. This high tribunal could not very well refuse to grant the petitioner the hearing he prayed for; and accordingly issued a writ of habeas corpus for Victor Poole, returnable within a reasonable time.
The governor and the military commanders dared not ignore the order of the State Supreme Court in the same contemptuous manner as they had treated the order of District Judge Seeds. Again, they dared not appear before the Supreme Court with Victor Poole, as they well knew that they had stepped beyond all the limits of the law in suspending the writ of habeas corpus. So they decided that they would evade the issue.
The military released Poole, and turned him over to the civil authorities; and on the day appointed for the return of the writ, attorneys for the State appeared before the Supreme Court, and explained that Victor Poole was no longer in the custody of the State, which fact made it impossible for the State to produce him. The attorneys, therefore, prayed that the case be dismissed. The Supreme Court ordered the case dismissed, as the petitioner had already secured his liberty.