United States Marshal

“ The only policemen are deputy United States marshals, primarily process-servers and not at all fitted in the majority of cases for any sort of detective work. Their appointment is often dictated and their action often hampered by political considerations. The liquor interest is very strong and knows how to bring pressure to bear against a marshal who is offensively active. They are responsible only to the United States marshal of their district, and he is responsible to the attorney-general, the head of the department of justice. ”

“ The only Acts of Congress upon the Statute Book bearing on this subject are those of the 28th February, 1795, and 3d March, 1807. These authorize the President, after he shall have ascertained that the Marshal, with his posse comitatus, is unable to execute civil or criminal process in any particular case, to call forth the militia, and employ the army and navy to aid him in performing this service—having first, by proclamation, commanded the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective homes within a limited time. ”

“ No community can afford to have it known that the officers who are charged with the preservation of the public peace and the restraint of the criminal classes are themselves the product of fraud or violence. The magistrate is then without respect and the law without sanction. The floods of lawlessness can not be leveed and made to run in one channel. The killing of a United States marshal carrying a writ of arrest for an election offense is full of prompting and suggestion to men who are pursued by a city marshal for a crime against life or property. ”

“ The Navajo bad-man respects a soldier, and he doesn’t respect anything else. He will not be awed by your badge of office. He doesn’t know what it means.”
Evidently the Marshal transmitted my suggestion to his superiors at Washington, for at once, by telegraph, I was challenged by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, who demanded an explanation of my call for troops! The United States Marshal never appeared on the reservation. Guy and his assistant thieves and bullies are still at large, and I suppose they beat women and loot stores whenever the spirit moves them. ”

“ Warrants were issued forthwith, directed to H. H. Kline, a deputy United States Marshal, authorizing him to arrest George Hammond, Joshua Hammond, Nelson Ford, and Noah Buley, persons held to service or labor in the State of Maryland, and to bring them before the said Commissioner. ”

“ There are United States marshals also in Alaska, Hawaii, Porto Rico and the Philippines. They are appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a term of four years, and, besides their duties in connexion with the courts, are employed in the service of the internal revenue, public lands, post office, &c. ”

“ But even the most unquestionable and most universally applicable of state laws, such as those concerning murder, will not be allowed to control the conduct of a marshal of the United States acting under and in pursuance of the laws of the United States. ”

“ Marshal, take the prisoner to Orleans in an armed boat, and deliver him to the naval commander there."
The marshal gave his orders and the prisoner was taken out of court.
"Mr. Marshal," continued old Morgan, "see that no one mentions the United States to the prisoner. Mr. Marshal, make my respects to Lieutenant Mitchell at Orleans, and request him to order that no one shall mention the United States to the prisoner while he is on board ship. You will receive your written orders from the officer on duty here this evening. The court is adjourned without day." ”

“ This duty can not by possibility be performed in a State where no judicial authority exists to issue process, and where there is no Marshal to execute it, and where, even if there were such an officer, the entire population would constitute one sole combination to resist him. ”

“ But if the fugitive slave bill demands the rendition of men from whom service is not justly due—due by the Law of God, or if the Government unconstitutionally aims to do what the Constitution gave it no right to do—then the Marshal was not "in the peace of the United States." ”

“ Clad in the uniform of a brigadier-general of the Virginia Militia, [289] Marshall set out for Smithfield riding at the head of the cavalry, the light infantry and [Pg 105] artillery following by boat. [290] He found all thought of resistance abandoned upon his arrival. A "peaceable search" of Captain Sinclair's house revealed thirteen cannon with ball, grape-shot, and powder. Three more pieces of ordnance were stationed on the shore. Before General Marshall and his cavalry arrived, the United States Marshal had been insulted, and threatened with violence. ”

“ The petitioners remained in hiding until their eventual surrender, some four and a half years later. Prior to their respective surrenders in February and March, 1956, Green and Winston issued press releases announcing their intention to surrender and 'enter prison.' [7] When he turned up on the steps of the courthouse, Green also responded to certain questions put by reporters and stated, among other things, that he intended 'to go to the United States Marshal's office,' this being a requirement found only in the surrender order itself. Winston made a similar statement in his press release. ”

“ The United States marshals in the respective districts, the mayor and chief of police of any town or city, the sheriff of the respective counties in each State, all postmasters and justices of the peace, are authorized to act as special provost-marshals to arrest any officer or private soldier fit for duty who may be found absent from his command without just cause and convey him to the nearest military post or depot. ”

“ The action against the marshal, by suit, may be an inadequate remedy; and under any circumstances it is one of great delay and expense. The provisions of the statute of the United States referred to, give the courts full power to enforce the execution of process. If the marshal shows no sufficient cause for disobedience, he is in contempt; and the injured party has a legal right to compulsory process: as where he does not return a writ or being in the body. ”

“ And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other process when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of the person deprived of the rights conferred by this act. ”

“ It is not unreasonable to charge the marshal, for he has by law all the power necessary for the safe keeping of his prisoners. Laws of the United States, vol. 1, p. 65. He may call out guards, or he may have an officer on purpose to keep his prisoners.
He is bound to deliver over all his prisoners to his successor and if bound to deliver over, he is bound to safe keep them. If those who are confined in the county jails are not in his custody, there are none in his custody. ”

“ The Federalist meetings were designed to show that the "yeomanry," having been "educated," had at last made up its mind in favor of Washington's policy.
Marshall and Carrington arranged for the Richmond gathering. "The disorganizing machinations of a faction [Republicans] ," reported the busy United States Marshal, "are no longer left to be nourished and inculcated on the minds of the credulous by clamorous demagogues, while the great mass of citizens, viewing these, as evils at a distance, remain inactive.... All who are attached to peace and order, ... ”

“ Whether it was admissible to show by parol the appointment and service of a deputy marshal, and whether one can be considered a deputy marshal if sworn in by the clerk of the district court. (2) Whether, under the act of congress above referred to, the offense of killing a posse man or guard came within the jurisdiction of the United States if the killing occurred when the deceased was not actually engaged in performing services. ”

“ Jr. 521, 529, the marshal, who has been engaged, while executing a warrant, in arresting a fugitive, in a bloody encounter, was himself arrested under a warrant of a justice of the peace for assault with intent to kill, which makes the case very analogous to the one now under consideration. He presented to the circuit court of the United States for the eastern district of Pennsylvania a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which was heard before Mr. ”

“ It was "the duty of the military forces to aid the United States marshals." Again, "it is expected the State and municipal governments will maintain peace and good order . . . . Should they fail or be overpowered, the military force will assist them . . "—and this notwithstanding the well-known law on that subject to which allusion was made in the despatch of July 5 from the headquarters of the army. ”

“ That he was ignorant of the true state of affairs is unbelievable in view of the letters and the testimony of those who were below him. Field marshals are not made as are noncommissioned officers. The road is a long one in any army from the position of private to the lofty peak of a field marshal. The defendant would have you believe that his powers were similar to those of a private first class. ”

“ It is impossible to hold that men who are by statute declared to be a part of the army, who may wear its uniform, whose names shall be borne upon its register, who may be assigned by their superior officers to specified duties by detail as other officers are, who are subject to the rules and articles of war, and may be tried, not by a jury, as other citizens are, but by a military court-martial, for any breach of those rules, and who may finally be dismissed on such trial from the service in disgrace, are still not in the military service. ”

“ To this national prejudice the Government decided to bow, and to offer a sacrifice to the popular passion. And thus the world beheld the lamentable spectacle of the commanders who had surrendered the French fortresses to the enemy being subjected to a trial by court-martial under the presidency of Marshal Baraguay d’Hilliers, and the majority of them, on account of their proved incapacity or weakness, deprived of their military honors, at a moment when all had cause to reproach themselves and endeavor to raise up a new structure on the ruins of the past. ”

“ There is not one officer in my suite, or amongst those who have a free access to me, upon whom I could, with the least justification to myself, fix the suspicion; and yet, my uneasiness may deprive me of the usefulness of the worthiest men. It is, I believe, in your excellency's power to do me, and the United States, a very important service, by detecting a wretch who may betray me, and capitally injure the very operations under your immediate direction. ”

“ In the absence of a supporting judicial system responsive to the same government as the military, such as is the case existing in the United States and overseas possessions, and as the law enforcement requirement stems primarily from the immediate unalterable responsibilities of the overseas commander and his subordinate commanders, it is essential that the commander be vested with the law enforcement authority commensurate with his responsibilities. ”

“ Reasons of a special nature may be deemed to exist why the rule should not be applied to military in the same way as it is to civil officers, but the legal applicability to both classes of officers is, it is conceived, the settled construction of the Constitution. It is no answer to this doctrine to say that officers of the army are subject to be deprived of their commissions by the decision of a court-martial. ”

“ Marshall denied that the United States had jurisdiction, concurrent or otherwise, over the place of the murder; "on the contrary, no nation has any jurisdiction at sea but over its own citizens or vessels or offenses against itself." Such "jurisdiction ... is personal, reaching its own citizens only"; therefore American authority "cannot extend to a murder committed by a British sailor on board a British frigate navigating the high seas." ”

“ Rather, it chooses to ignore strong and legitimate governmental interests which support the exercise of court-martial jurisdiction even over 'nonmilitary' crimes.
The United States has a vital interest in creating and maintaining an armed force of honest, upright, and well-disciplined persons, and in preserving the reputation, morale, and integrity of the military services. Furthermore, because its personnel must, perforce, live and work in close proximity to one another, the military has an obligation to protect each of its members from the misconduct of fellow servicemen. ”