United States V. Jackalow

''United States v. Jackalow'', 66 U.S. (1 Black) 484 (1862), is a U.S. Supreme Court case interpreting the Venue and Vicinage clauses of the United States Constitution. It was an "unusual criminal case" and one of the few constitutional criminal cases from the Taney Court. Jackalow, a mariner from the Ryukyu Kingdom, was suspected of the robbery and murder of the captain of the sloop ''Spray'', Jonathan Leete, and Jonathan's brother Elijah, while the ship was at sea. He was convicted of robbery in the Long Island Sound, but as there was disagreement over the question of jurisdiction between the two judges who heard the post-trial motion (Judge Mahlon Dickerson and Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier), the case was referred to the Supreme Court by certificate of division.

The Supreme Court directed the circuit court for the District of New Jersey to grant Jackalow a new trial. The Court held that while the trial court should determine the description of the boundaries of New York and Connecticut, the ascertainment of their actual boundaries, and the application of those boundaries to the crime in question, should have been a question of fact for the jury. Jackalow was not retried and was released.

The trial attracted significant media interest. According to ''The New York Times'', "every part in and near the Court room was crowded during the trial." The case is viewed as historically significant because even though it occurred during the American Civil War, the federal courts focused on proper legal procedure and jurisprudence in a case unrelated to the war.

Background

Jonathan T. Leete had captained the schooner ''Reaper'', owned by James Frisbie, and crewed by a man of East Asian origin, John Canoe, commonly known as Jackalow, short for John Low or John Lord. After Jonathan gave up command of the ''Reaper'', he and Jackalow worked on Jonathan's father's farm on Sachem's Head in Guilford, Connecticut, where Jackalow was regarded as family. At some point, while in New York, Jackalow had stolen $100 from Jonathan and fled to New Haven. He was returned to New York by the police, but Jonathan refused to testify against him and rehired him. Jonathan and his brother Elijah J. Leete subsequently bought the 30-ton sloop ''Spray'', funded in part by a mortgage their father took out on his farm. Jonathan (the captain), Elijah, and Jackalow sailed the ''Spray'' together for two or three years. By March 1860, Jackalow had sailed with Jonathan for four years.

''Spray''s final voyage

On March 15, 1860, the ''Spray'' departed its home port of Guilford on a voyage to New York City, in the company of other vessels. As well as its normal crew of Jonathan, Elijah and Jackalow, there was a passenger on board: Andrew Foote, of Nut Plains. The ''Spray'' also carried hay and potatoes on consignment from David Benton of Sachem's Head.

The ''Spray'' reached New York City safely and sold its cargo for $500 in gold and bills. Foote returned to Guilford by other means. The ''Spray'' set course for Guilford and was seen at various points along the route. One night, she anchored near Norwalk, where cries of "Murder!" and "Open the Cabin Door!" were allegedly heard. Supposedly, Jackalow had locked the cabin door before dispatching Elijah on the deck. Elijah had yelled "Murder!"; and Jonathan, "Open the Cabin Door!" Then, Jackalow was supposed to have shot Jonathan through the cabin skylight, thrown the bodies overboard, and searched the cabin for the money. Alone, Jackalow was further supposed to have sailed the ''Spray'' to South Brooklyn, purchased supplies, and then sailed south.

At 2 pm on Wednesday, March 21, the ''Spray'' collided with the ''Lucinda'' four miles north of Barnegat, New Jersey, knocking a hole in the ''Spray''s bow that resulted in her filling with water; the ''Lucinda'' also sustained damage. Capt. Willis of the ''Lucinda'' saw no one other than Jackalow (whom he blamed for the collision) on board the ''Spray'', and Jackalow refused to be rescued and taken aboard the ''Lucinda''. Willis observed that the deck of the ''Spray'' was strewn with bedding and other articles from the cabin.

That same day, Jackalow, anchored on a nearby yawl boat and was taken aboard the schooner ''Thomas F. French'' (of Suffolk, Virginia), captained by James Webb, who believed Jackalow to be a kanaka. (Other accounts call him a lascar.) Jackalow gave contradictory accounts of the fate of the Leetes. He told Webb that Jonathan was sick in the cabin and that Elijah had been knocked overboard by the boom, but he subsequently changed his story, claiming that one brother had fallen overboard from the bowsprit, and the other had been knocked overboard by the mainsheet. Webb sailed to Little Egg Harbor, finding the ''Lucinda'' and its captain and hearing Willis's account of the collision. Webb made no attempt to detain Jackalow, who accompanied him ashore in a small row boat before immediately disappearing into a crowd.

The ''Spray'', already stripped of her sails and rigging, and lying on her beam ends, was towed to the New York Harbor. There, the harbor police took charge of the ''Spray'' and began retrieving items from the partially submerged cabin, including the captain's bed, which was stained and splattered with blood. A " heavy three-cornered scraper" also recovered was suspected to be the "instrument with which the bloody deed was committed." A pair of unloaded pistols, one with signs of recent discharge, were also recovered. Other items included a small pine box, suspected to be the captain's money box, that had been broken open, but no bodies or money were found.

Jackalow became a wanted man, and his description was widely disseminated. On March 25, news of the fate of the ''Spray'' reached Guilford. That same day, the pilot boat ''George Steers'' reached the ''Spray'' and towed her to Jersey City