Harrison County v. Hurst
Harrison County v. Hurst
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appeal in each of these cases is from the judgment of the circuit court of Harrison county awarding appellees each the statutory reward of one hundred dollars for the arrest of a fleeing homicide. The claim of Mr. Hurst to this award and his right of recovery were denied and challenged by the board of supervisors, for -the reason that at'the time he arrested the negro, who had committed murder, he was accompanied by Mr. Duckworth, the regular deputy sheriff of the county. It is contended by counsel for appellant that the presence of the officer characterized appellee as a special deputy assisting the regular officer of the law in making the arrest. We have examined the facts, and find that the circuit court was justified in believing thát Mr
It is- contended that Mr. Curtis should not recover because he did not deliver up the prisoner in accordance with the statute. The facts are that Mr. Curtis arrested one Sidney Payne, a fleeing homicide, in Alabama, and thereupon notified the regular sheriff of Harrison county, Miss., of the arrest, and held the prisoner until the sheriff arrived in Alabama, when he turned the prisoner over to the regular sheriff to be brought back to Mississippi for trial. It is contended that the statute imposed upon Mr. Curtis the duty and expense of bringing the fugitive back to Mississippi and delivering him to the authorities of Harrison county. We cannot give to the statute such a strict and narrow construction. It is conceded that the party arrested was under indictment for murder, and was a fugitive from justice, and was arrested and held by appellee until the sheriff of' Harrison county arrived. There was no duty imposed upon the appellee to make the arrest, as was the case in Gould v. Chickasaw County, 85 Miss. 123, 37 So. 710. There is a statement 'in the opinion rendered by the court in .the Could Case that seems to justify the contention of appellant in the present case; but the truth is the opinion was controlled by the fact that the claimant in
There is not the slightest evidence of collusion in either of these cases, and the statute, as said by Whitfield, C. J., in Ex parte Webb, 96 Miss. 8, 49 So. 567, ‘‘must be given a liberal construction in aid of parties arresting fleeing homicides.”
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Harrison County v. Hurst Same v. Curtis
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- Syllabus
- 1. Rewards. Sufficiency of services. Arrest and detention in another state. Construction of statute. In an action by plaintiff against a county for the statutory reward of one hundred dollars for arresting a fleeing homicide, where plaintiff had initiated the search in the nighttime and was on his way to arrest the fleeing homicide some nine miles from the scene of killing and did make the arrest and the prisoner was afterward convicted, the fact that he was joined in the search' by an officer to whom he turned over the prisoner after he had arrested him and who assisted him in handcuffing the prisoner, did not prevent plaintiff from being entitled to the reward. 2. Rewards. Performance of service. Arrest in another state. When plaintiff arrested a fleeing homicide in another state and notified the sheriff of the county in Mississippi where the homicide occurred of such arrest, and held the prisoner until the sheriff arrived, when he turned the prisoner over to him and the sheriff brought him back for trial, the fact that he so delivered the prisoner and did not incur any expense in returning him to the state did not destroy his right to the statutory penalty for arresting a fleeing homicide. 3. Reward. Construction of statute. The statute providing for a reward for arresting a fleeing homicide' must be given a liberal construction in aid of parties making; such arrest.