ice Field from behind, and, remembering the sacred
trust committed to his charge--Neagle, in these trying
circumstances, was the party to determine when the supreme
moment for action had come, and if he, honestly, acted with
reasonable judgment and discretion, the law justifies him,
even if he erred. But who will have the courage to stand up in
the presence of the facts developed by the testimony in this
case, and say that he fired the smallest fraction of a second
too soon?

"In our judgment he acted, under the trying circumstances
surrounding him, in good faith and with consummate courage,
judgment, and discretion. The homicide was, in our opinion,
clearly justifiable in law, and in the forum of sound,
practical common sense commendable. This being so, and the act
having been 'done * * * in pursuance of a law of the United
States,' as we have already seen, it cannot be an offense
against, and he is not amenable to, the laws of the State."

The petitioner was accordingly discharged from arrest.

[1] NOTE.--I find the following apt illustrations of this doctrine
in a journal of the day:

If a military or naval officer of the United States, in the
necessary suppression of a mutiny or enforcement of obedience,
should wound or take the life of a subordinate, would it
be contended that, if arrested for that act by the State
authority, he could not be released on _habeas corpus_,
because no statute expressly authorized the performance of the
act? If the commander of a revenue cutter should be directed
to pursue and retake a vessel which, after seizure, had
escaped from the custody of the law, and the officer in the
performance of that duty, and when necessary to overcome
resistance, should injure or kill a member of the crew of the
vessel he was ordered to recapture, and if for that act
he should be arrested and accused of crime under the State
authority, will any sensible person maintain that the
provisions of the _habeas corpus_ act could not be invoked for
his release, notwithstanding that no statute could be shown
which directly authorized the act for which he was arrested?
If by command of the President a company of troops were
marched into this city to protect the subtreasury from
threatened pillage, and in so doing life were taken, would not
the act of the off