In re Orpen

86 F. 760, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2336
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern California
DecidedApril 11, 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 86 F. 760 (In re Orpen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Northern California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Orpen, 86 F. 760, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2336 (circtndca 1898).

Opinion

MORROW, Circuit Judge

(sitting as committing magistrate). This is an application by tjie British consul general at San Francisco, as the representative of the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, for the extradition of Arthur Herbert Orpen for the crime of murder alleged to have been committed at Auckland, colony of New Zealand, on December 25, 1897. The application for the apprehension of the accused was made on January 13, 1898. A warrant of arrest was duly issued and served by the United States marshal on January 19, 1898.

Miss Susan Harriet Campbell McCallum died at a private hospital in the city of Auckland, New Zealand, on Saturday night, December 25, 1897. She had been under the care of Dr. Arthur Herbert Orpen. At about 11:30 a. m. of that day Dr. Orpen, in the name of Arthur Herbert, purchased a steerage passage on the steamship Alameda, for San Francisco, and took passage on the vessel under the name of Arthur Herbert. The vessel sailed for San Francisco on the afternoon of December 25, 1897, and arrived in San Francisco, with Dr. Orpen on board, on January 19, 1898. On January 13, Mr. J. W. Warburton, her British majesty’s consul [761]*761general at San Francisco, made affidavit before me, charging, upon information and belief, that Arthur Herbert Orpen, sometimes known as Arthur Herbert, did, on the 25 th day of December, A. D. 1897, at the city Auckland, in the colony of New Zealand, within the dominion and jurisdiction of her Britannic majesty, commit the crime of murder upon Susan Harriet Campbell McCallum, by means to the affiant unknown. It was alleged, in the affidavit, among other things, that the accused was a fugitive from justice, and was seeking an asylum within Hie territory of the United States; that the facts had been communicated to affiant in part by cable from lite chief of police at Wellington in said colony of New Zealand, and in part by telegram from Sir Julian i’auncefote, her Britannic majesty's ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the United Stales. Application was made for a warrant of arrest, to be issued for the apprehension of the accused, under the provisions of the treaty between Great Britain anil (he United States proclaimed November 10, 1842. A warrant was thereupon issued, the accused was arrested, and held to await the arrival of the evidence tending to establish his guilt. The identity of the prisoner is admitted.

In support of the complaint, certain papers were presented and admitted in evidence provisionally, subject to objections which were to be further considerad. It is objected that these papers have not been certified so as to entitle them to be admitted in evidence. The certificate is as follows:

“American Embassy, Uondon, February 25, 1898.
“I, Ilenry “White, chargó d’affaires ad interim of the United States of America, hereby certify that the annexed papers, being copies of the warrant of arrest and the information and depositions and exhibit upon which the said warrant was granted, proposed to be used upon an application for the extradition from the United States of Arthur Herbert Orpen, charged with the crime of murder, alleged to have been committed in the British colony of New Zealand, are properly and legally authenticated, so as to entitle them to be received in evidence for similar purposes by the tribunals of Great Britain and her colonies, as required by the act of congress of August 3, 1882. And I further certify that the signature ‘F. H. Villiers,’ on the page numbered (2) of these documents, at the foot thereof, is the proper handwriting of the lion. F. H. Villiers, one of the assistant undersecretaries of state for the foreign affairs of her Britannic majesty.
“In witness whereof I hereto sign my name and cause the seal of this embassy to be affixed this 25th day of February, 1898.
“[Seal.] Henry White,
“Ohargé d’Affaires Ad Interim of the United Stat<* to Great Britain.”

Section 5 of the act of August 3, 1882, provides as follows:

“That in all cases where any depositions, warrants, or other papers or copies thereof shall be offered in evidence upon the hearing of any extradition case under title sixty-six of the Bcvised Statutes of the United States, such depositions, warrants, and other papers, or the copies thereof, shall he received and admitted as evidence on such hearing for all tire purposes of such hearing if they shall ho properly and legally authenticated so as to entitle them to be received for similar purposes by the tribunals of the foreign country from which the accused party shall have escaped, and the certificate of the principal diplomatic or consular officer of the United States resident In such foreign country shall be proof that any deposition, warrant or other paper or copies thereof, so offered, are authenticated in the manner required by this act.” 22 Stab 21G.

[762]*762It is objected that the certificate of Henry White, chargé d’affaires ad interim of the United States to Great Britain, is not the certificate of the principal diplomatic or consular officer of the United States, resident in such foreign country. I am of the opinion that this objection is covered by the decision of Judge Brewer in Be Herres, 33 Fed. 165, whére the court took judicial notice that a vice consul, who was temporarily filling the place of the consul, was the principal consular officer of the United States in the province of Ontario, in the dominion of Canada. The same rule would authorize me to take judicial notice that Henry White was, on the 25th day of February, 1898, the principal diplomatic officer in London. But whatever doubt I may have had on this subject has been removed by the following certificate received by telegraph from the secretary of state at Washington:

“Washington, D. O., April 9th, 1898.
“Hon. W. W. Morrow, Circuit Judge of the TJ. S., San Francisco, Cal.: In the matter of the extradition case of Arthur Herbert Orphen, alias Arthur Orpen, now before you, I have the honor to inform you, at the instance of the British ambassador here, that on February twenty-fifth, 1898, Mr. Henry White was-chargé d’affaires ad interim of the United States in London, and was the principal diplomatic officer of the United States resident in Great Britain on that day. Sherman.”

It is further objected that no requisition has been made upon this government by the British government for the return of the-accused, and no mandate has been issued by this government as a foundation for the present proceedings. The requisition and mandate are not required preliminarily by section 5270 of the Bevised Statutes. In the case of In re Herres, supra, this question was considered, and it was held that a preliminary mandate was unnecessary to initiate proceedings before the committing magistrate, and it was sufficient if it appeared by the proceedings that the complaining witness was acting for the foreign government. To the same effect are In re Mineau, 45 Fed. 189, and In re Adutt, 55 Fed. 376, and the proceedings in Benson v. McMahon, 127 U. S. 457, 8 Sup. Ct. 1240. In the present case it sufficiently appears that the-consul general is acting.for and on behalf of the British government in prosecuting the complaint against the accused.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 F. 760, 1898 U.S. App. LEXIS 2336, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-orpen-circtndca-1898.