Greensborough (NC) Patriot

January 15, 1863

Page 2

From the Raleigh Standard

The Writ of Habeas Corpus Resisted

We publish below the Card of Mr. Badham, of this City, detailing the circumstances attending the resistance to the haheas corpus in the case of Mr. Loftin. Comment is not necessary in so plain a matter. That great writ is secured by the Constitution and the laws of this State to every person who is arrested and held in prison. Its object is to give a hearing to the suspected party, in order that if good cause exists for his imprisonment, the imprisonment shall continue until a trial can be had; and if no good cause exists, he shall be set at liberty. This was all Mr. Loftin asked, but this was denied him. We are neither his champion nor apologist, for we know nothing of the facts in his case, ---we are simply contending for a great principle as old as civil liberty itself. If Mr. Loftin has committed treason, or adhered to our enemies, we trust he will be punished; but if he be innocent of this great crime, or of any crime, he is entitled to his liberty. He has demanded an investigation of his case, which has been denied him. Meanwhile he languishes in the Bastile at Salisbury under the iron hand of military power, with many others, who have asked in vain that their cases may be investigated. The Judge who issued the writ in his case has backed, and the judicial ermine has been lowered and dragged in the dust at the feet of a subordinate military officer:--

MR. HOLDEN:--In a late number of the law Standard, you stated that I had sued out a writ of habeas corpus in behalf of W. C. Loftin, a prisoner confined in the Confederate prison at Salisbury. In the State Journal of the 3^rd inst., in the leading editorial, the following statement is made:

“We saw in the leading Conservative organ of the State a day or two since, that a lawyer of this City had sued out a writ of habeas corpus before a Judge of this City, in behalf of a prisoner confined at Salisbury. We presume the same remedy is open to all others. Why do they not avail themselves of the remedy? The great writ is intended as the bulwark of the citizen against arbitrary power.”

I have no comments to make on the above, or the editorial in which it occurs; and in calling attention to it, my object solely is to place you in possession of the facts connected with this particular case. On the morning the writ was issued you had the kindness to telegraph the Editor of the Salisbury Watchman, requesting him to inform Loftin that a writ had been sued out, and that I would be in Salisbury the next morning to present it to the Commandant of that military post. Your friend, the Editor of the Watchman, not being in his office at the reception of the telegram, his Assistant, Mr. James, immediately sought an interview with Capt. McCoy, the Commandant. Not finding the Captain in his office, Mr. James procured a conveyance, and although the day, (Tuesday last was an inclement one) went out to the Confederate prison, where he found the Commandant, who refused to allow him either to see the prisoner, Loftin, or communicate to him the substance of the dispatch. On Tuesday morning (as telegraphed would be done,) I presented the writ of habeas corpus to Capt. Henry McCoy. He refused to obey the writ, and responded in writing that the writ of habeas corpus was suspended at Salisbury by the Confederate government. I requested the privilege to see the prisoner. This was denied me, the Captain informing me that grave and serious charges were preferred against Loftin, and he was instructed to allow no one to see him. I then suggested that if the charges against Loftin were so serious, that he should have a trial, and investigation by the proper officer had, and if found guilty, punished, and that promptly, so that evil disposed persons might be deterred from committing like offences; but whether guilty or innocent, he should be allowed the benefit of counsel. This you know, Mr. Editor, is allowed the most degraded and abandoned, and if they are unable to employ it is made obligatory on the Judges to assign them counsel. You are aware that we have a statutory provision declaring any citizen or officer refusing to obey the writ of habeas corpus guilty of a high misdemeanor, and for the first offence, subject to a fine of five hundred dollars—for the second, one thousand. I reminded Capt. McCoy of this provision, and inquired of him what would be his course should I cause a writ to be issued by one of the Justices of the Peace of Rowan county, requiring him to be bound over to answer an indictment to be preferred for the commission of this high misdemeanor. He answered me that he would not be arrested. I said to him I did not know what course the Judge granting the writ would take to compel him to obey it, but if an attachment was issued against him for contempt, and if the Sheriff of Rowan county was commanded to summon the posse to enable him to execute the writ, what would he then do? The reply was, I have two hundred bayonets or muskets possibly was named; and upon further inquiring of him whether he had two hundred good men to use them, I was informed he had.

This is a succinct statement of the facts. And I must further ask your indulgence to say, that Captain McCoy treated me courteously and kindly. I found him to be a gentleman of high intelligence possessing a will and determination to carry out the orders of superior officers.

H. A. BADHAM

I had forgot to state on my return to Raleigh, my associate counsel, Col. D. G. Fowle waited on the Judge who declined to take any further steps in the case.

Raleigh, Jan. 6, 1863 B