Newspaper Page Text
ESTABLISHED 1866.
VOL. XL.
SUPERIOR COURT.
MARCH TERM. 1907.
The March Term of the Superior Court convened here Monday at
10 a. m., with Judge T. A. Parker presiding, and Solicitor General
John W. Bennett lookiug after the interest of the state. Sheriff \V ...
B. I,yens, assisted by his special Court Bailiffs, Messrs. F. A. Lyons,
John H. Harvey, Jas. Harper, H. D. Highsmith, Frank Bennett,
West B. Bennett and Dan Strickland, was ably performing the duti .s
of his office.
The array of attorneys at the opeuing of the court was perhaps the
largest that ever attended the court here in a body before. The visit
ing lawyers were as follows:
From Brunswick, Judge Coirrtland Symmes, Judge Jos. W. Bennett,
J. D. Sparks, A. D. Gale, F. li. Harris, H. F. Dunwoody, E. C. Butts
and D. W. Krauss. From Waycross, besides the Judge and Solicitor
eneral were, Judge J.|L. Sweat, S. W. Hitch, .Tlo. C. McDonald and
ion A. Wilson. From Baxley were Messrs. \V. W.-Bennett, J. B.
Moore and C. H. Parker.
The local bar present were: Hon. Jos. A. Morris, Jas. R. Thomas,
C. C. Tindall, R. L. Bennett, J. \V . Poppell, D. M. Clark and Judge
S. R. Harris.
Court was opened by an invocation led by Rev. 0. J. Purcell.
The Grand Jury was called and as organized consisted of the fol
lowing citizens: E. B. Jones, M. L. McKinnon, J. W. Kickligliter,
Jos. 8. Lee, I). A. Dent, T. C. Slover, J.B. Clary, J. C. Ritch, Walton
LoDg. J. C. Hatcher, F. M. Mosley, W. B. Bennett, W. H. Ogden,
B. 0. Middleton, J. S Kennedy, T. W. Middletou, D. H. Car
ter, C. J. Purcell, I. S. Bennett., Isham Roberson, A. B.
Kelly, Henry L. Harris, Richard Bennett and W. C.
Rogers, who retired and upon returning reported that they had se
lected B. O. Middletou as Foreman, and ti. W. Hilton, Bailiff. So
licitor General Jonn W. Bennett administered the oath to the Fore
man, to the Grand Jurors and to the Bailiff.
Judge T. A. Parker then delivered li is charge to the Grand Jury as
follows:
Gentlemen of the Grand Jury:
In obedience to the requirements
of the law we have come together for the purpose of transacting the
public business of this court. We have uot come here as a matter of
personal desire, but are here to perform a solemn duty. You have a
great duty resting upon you by reason of the fact that you have been
sworn as the Grand Jurors of this court. There rests upon every citi
zen a ce'-tain degree of responsibility as a good citizen, but that res
ponsildl.itv has been increased by reason cf ,the fact that you have
be< n chosen, and that you have just taken the oath or obligation
which has been administered to you as Grand Jurors, and for the
time being you are the guardians of the interests of this county. You
are charged with the duty of setting in motion the machinery of the
law, so that those violating the law may be brought to trial or pre
sented.
IS. is impossible for the Court, however much it may ’desire to ad
minister the law aud punish those who are guilty of violating it, to
take any action whatever unless you first set iu motion the machinery
of the law hv either indicting or presenting those who have violated
it. No man can be put upon trial here, however guilty he may be,
until that mar. has been presented or indicted. That is the only
method known tc the law. Andjr.-t m-re i will say, gentlemen of
the Grand Jury, that if a man is charged with a crime he ought Jjto be
indicted or presented, and brought into this court aud here put upon
trial, and if he is innocent have a public vindication; if he is guilty,
he should be convicted and punished.
And again I desire to call your attention to the fact that it is not a
question of your wisdom, that it is not a question of the wisdom or
the want of wisdom of a statute that you are to consider. Some
times the jury mistate3 the purpose and intent of the law, and has a
disregard of the obligations which rest upon them and they under
take, £ me r.v or other. to mete out what (hey t 'link
ought to bi done, without gar ! to the obligation- resting upon I
them. This :s not right Why lately I have hoard < f a Grand
who were 11 st : atn r t • case of a poor man and tl y an tl: ,t if;
he wore indicted, tried and convicted, it would cost him $75.00 aud for
that roa rd 1 o t- i
he was guilty of the crime alleged. Well the grand juror that takes
tliat view of such a case ought not to have his name in the jury box,:
He has mistaken his duty as a grand juror, and the obligation resting!
upon him, and sadly so, because you are not in that box for the pur-;
pose f showing favors to anybody, you are not there to vent your per-;
sonai spleen on anybody; you are not there to shield your friend :
from the law if he has violated the law; and when you liave taken the ;
oath and obligation that you have just taken, and have carefully con
sidered its full meaning, you will find that it takes a high standard .
of manhood to measur tq nacit-v of a era' *
the law measures him.
You have all just sworn that you will diligently inquin
into and true presentment mad' of all matter-brought to your j
attention. That means more than a ca»ual inquiry. It means that,
you are t . make a diligent, a careful inquiry, and a full, a true pre-,
sen tun. rak" upon all question a considered by you. Yon have
SfiOT: 1 that you writ present acne irpta hatred or Eunice; tantyou nil
m Mi. 3 S ♦
“WE APPLAUD THE EIGHT AND CONDEMN Tlx^ B -hta
JESUP, GA., MARCH aist, 1907.
leave no one unpresented from fear of evil or punishment or hone of
reward. You have sworn that you will keep silent as to what trans
pires during your investigations, unless called upon to give evidence
in some court of law of this state. This secrecy ;that should be ob
served here, is, I regret to say, not always adhered to. Men learn on
Iv too often that true bills are found against them and when the
proper officers afterwards try to apprehend them, they find that those
w - an ted have hidden themselves in the tall timbers and cannot be
f OU[ld . Another reason why this secrecy should be observed, I think,
j 8 ^at men w ho have violated the law would undertake to hal'd those
w howere instrumental in presenting them to personal account.
j£ence, this secrecy of the proceedings that take place in the grand
jury room is a protection to the Grand Jurors. When you go into
that jury room you ought to do so resting on the assurance that what
transpires there will be kept a secret. I desire to call attention to
the fact that there are persons who think that every white citizen who
lives in the county is entitled to have his name in the jury box. That
; 8 no t true. The law has fixed a standard, a high one, for jurors, and
unless a man measures up to that standard that is fixed by the law,
a nd besides is at the same time a moral and an intellectual man he
; 9 no t entitled to have his name in the jury box. The man who does
uot understand or if he understands does 110^ properly regard his
true duties ns a citizen is not qualified under the law to serve,as a
juror. It requires a good intelligent citizen to make a good juror.
The fact is, the good citizen is the man that loves the law, that
loves his county and his government fur the ’many benefits Jtliat he
gets under the law. We get a great nlany benefits under the law.
When you are at home with your family even at the midnight hour
when yob are asleep the arms of the law are reaching out’about yon
and protecting you from those that would do you harm or who would
take that which belongs to you. The constitution under which we
live guarantees to every man life, liberty and the pursuits of happi
ness. These privileges every man is entitled to under the law. We
have no right to set up a double standard for the inforcement cf the
law. I care uot-how poor or humble a man maybe or how rich or
influential, we have but one set of laws, and when we set up astand
ard by which one set. of men should be tried, and another with
which to try another set, we have no proper regard far the majesty
of- the law. •**
There are men who will undertake to justify certain violations of
tbe law. For instance there are men who will stand jup and justify
lynch law. The law says that no man shall be deprived of his life or
liberty except by due process of law, and that duo process of law
means that he shall be brought into the court house and put upon
trial before twelve of his fellow citizens. Any man who is deprived
ot his life or liberty without hating stood trial, is unlawfully depriv
ed of his right as a citizen, and those who engage in this unlawful
punishment become themselves violators of the law. The man or
set of men who undertake to pass judgment on another man, whether
living in the county or not, and go out ftud take into their own hands
the law and inflict the death penalty upon a citizen of the state be
comes themselves murderers,
I am uot a pessimist, 1 hope I am not, but I see certain tendencies that
ought to be checked. One of these is a disregard for the marriage
relations, the frequency of divorce, and those asked for and granted
upon the most trival grounds. It is at last the sacreduess of the home
upon which wo depend largely for the preservation of our nation, aud
whenever you destroy that, you destroy the last hope of the continua
tion and preservation of our people as a great nation. Throughout
this state of ours you will find this general disregard of tho marriage
relations. People seek divorces upon the moat trival and uncalled
for grounds. This wholesale granting of divorce upon trival, unwar
ranted ground should be checked,
Another thing it seems to me to be a serious tendency of,our time
is the spirit of commercialism which has gotten hold of our people.
They have run mad for gold and for increase of property. A man
will fish around and find another who has had title to a piece of
land for years, and through some way take it away from him, aud I
am tired of this. It ought to be stopped. I believe m business en
terprises. I believe in diligence in business. But I don’t believe
that a man has the right to undermine another and deprive him uu
justly of his property. The man who does this is a bad citizen. We
ought to liave high regard for moral force of character, for honesty in
the individual, and tne preservation of a nation depends upon'tils
character,of its citizens. After all it is the moral character of its
citizens that makes a nation great. Wealth or a high state of intel
lectual advancement, withour a high standard of moral character,
will never make a nation great, but such nation possessing the form
er and not the latter will soon totter and fall. If intelligence alone
would preserve a nation, Greece with all her ancient glory and kuowl
edge would yet indure, but such is not the case becauce the morals of
her people were not good. Rome from whom we have received
of our customs and laws, reached a greatness attained by few nations,
but she too could not continue as a government, for her people
not possess high moral character necessary. And we will follow their
example uuless we are willing to enforce the law. The hope of
ervatiofi ot our nation dependsupon the moral character ot our men j
aud the virtues of our women. i
There are various things that the law says shall be given m charge !
to the Grand Jury at each term of the court. There are many things
that are violations ot. law, upon which it is not necessary ,for me to 1
charge you. For instance I am not required to cliarge you especially I
about murder, things of that kind. But the ’av.ter.'Mr 1 tb* court
(C’ojffift^cd' on fourth page)
$1.00 PEE YEAR
NO. 12.
Teachers’ Programme.
rp| 1R ^ e 0 ollll!v Tcueln rs
A880ciation wil j hoid l]ieu . neXt ,
mee tj llg j„ the Jesup Hi<di (School
Building on Saturday, April 20th,
-jqq- The following is the pro
gramme:
1. Opening Exercises under di
rection el the County School
■Commissioner.
2. The First Eight Weeks in
Reading, subject matter outlined,
method illustrated. All teachers
are requested to bring with them
their First Readers, W. D. Greene.
8. Literature in the Rural
Schools, Miss Lena Jones.
4. Language Work and Gram
mar, E. A. Lewis.
5. Recitation, Miss Blanche
Morrison.
6 : Local School Taxation as
•provided fpr by the MoMiohael
haw, T R. Hartig.
7. Number Words for the"Pri
mary Grades, W. D. Greene.
8. Remarks and Announce
ments by the County School Com
missioner.
Those who did not respond at
the last meeting are requested to
come prepared on their formerly
assigned subject at this meeting.
It is hoped that all teachers will
attend.
B. I). Purcell.
44*
COUNCIL PROCEEDINGS.
The Mayor and the Board of
Aldermen met in regular semi
monthly session at the Council
Chamber lust. Monday night at
7:30 o’clock.
Those present were Mayor D.
M. Clark presiding, and Mossrs.
Breen, Price, Thomas, Morris,
Wilkins and Dye, aldermen.
The minutes of tho last regular
meeting were read and confirmed.
In critizismof the illegal action
of both of the town newspapers as
to their methods in making bids
for the town printing, a motion
was made and carried that tin ac
tion of the council in granting
=aid town printing to the Wayne
County News bo rocinded, and
that new bids ;r 1 for th
town papers.
The following bills wvi • read
and ordered paid:
Jesup Mercantile Co. $5.25
Jesup Sentinel, 10.00
Knight’s Pharmacy, .70
Flash Lights, 1U5
The tax ordinance for the year
1907 was read twice ambupon mo
tion was passed.
The ordinance to prohibit the
keeping for sale of intoxicating
liquors was read twice arid j- seed.
Upon motion thf Oil noil ad
joiirned to meet on Monday, Mar,
25th, at 8:00p. in.
WEDDING AT HORTENSE.
On Sunday March 17, iust. at
2 o’clock j). m. Mr. Q. H. Middle*
ton and Miss Avie'J. Bag ley were
married at the bride’s iiojiiu
and Mrs. J. W. Bugle/. Rev.
A. G. Horton of Jesup, officiating,
Mr. Middletou is on, of H or tense
prominent, youug men t
congratulate him in winning all'
an J accomplished young hridb •«»
Miss^Bagley,
Mr. Middleton todk his bride, to
liis beautiful'reaidenco,- 4' inch- he”
had prepared bofor . Wc ,Lh
US? -T.no i. Ve- rt, ' 1