Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 3.djvu/139

132 FEDEBAIi BSPOBTEB. �and their comrades, and was no justification or excuse for their firing upon the revenue officers. But, in my view of the facts, his arrest was not unlawful. It is shown by the evidence, and there is no conflieting testimony on tbis point, that this band of five armed men, of whom Koss was one, met the rev- enue officers in the highway, where they were passiug along in the diseharge of their duty, and levelled their guns at them. That Eoss and his comrades knew who the revenue men were, and what their business was, the testimony does not leave in any sort of doubt. Their conduct, therefore, in thus coufro/it- ing, with arms, the revenue officers was a violation of law, and justified the arrest of the whole party. �To hold that these revenue officers, one of whom was also a deputy marshal, should have waited, before making an ar- rest for an offenoe of which they were eye-witnesses, until they could get a United States commissioner and swear ont a warrant, is entirely to misconceive the power and duty of an officer of the law. Their duty was then and there to arrest, if they could, these men who had obstructed them in the discharge of their duty. �The right of the citizens to resist an officer who is wilfuUy acting illegally, without authority, or in excess of his author- ity, is undoubted. I shall always uphold that right; it is essential to ail free govemment. On the other hand, the right of the officer, acting in the line of his duty, to protect his person and his life from unlawful violence, stands upon the highest grounds. �In this case there was a party of 13 men, ail bearing com- missions as deputy colleetors of internai revenue for the dis- trict in which thisunfortunate tragedy occurred. They were required, by their duty and their orders, to go through this neighborhood. They were supposed to be protected by the majesty of the law and the authority of the United States. The revenue laws of the general government were, to say the least, of as great force in Campbell county, and in the vicin- ity of Eed Oak station, as the laws of the state of Georgia. �This posse had as clear a right under the law to break up illicit stills as the collecter of Campbell county had to exact ����