134 The Pinkerton Labor Spy.
their prisoner. On the contrary, there was a persistent rumor that General Bell would arrest Judge Stevens.
When it became clear to the attorneys for the Federation that the military would not obey the District Court, they applied to. the Supreme Court for relief, and that tribunal, on April 15th, issued a writ of habeas corpus, ordering the military commaders at Telluride to produce the body of Charles H. Moyer before it on April 21st, 1904.
The reader remembers the case of Victor Poole. The governor hac, by formal executive proclamation, attempted to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in the case of Victor Poole. The Supreme Court, despite the governor's proclamation, issued a writ of habeas corpus for the prisoner. Governor Peabody practically admitted that he had acted. unlawfully by turning Poole over to the civil authorities, in order to evade an issue which he knew would result unfavorably to him.
The Victor Poole case taught His Excellency a valuable lesson, and that he profited by it is evidenced by the Moyer case.
The militia, which had had no scruple in disobeying the orders of District Judge Stevens, treated the Supreme Court with more consideration, and, while challenging the jurisdiction of that court in the Moyer case, they nevertheless brought Mr. Moyer before the court on the return day of the writ.
It now seemed that the headlong course of the governor and his soldiers would be checked. It was hard to assume any other outcome to this case than a victory for decency, law and order. It was impossible to conceive that the court of last resort of a great State had, like the executive and