The weekly Placer herald., 1854-05-13
cRAND JURY REPORT.
1,, The Honorable Court of Sessions for
n,".., Co,satu. .Mau Term, 1854.

'"mner our in which the public officers of every
u;nd have performed the various duties as
nH:aned them. Having performed the said
s'e ,s.v to the best of our judgment and ability
uor leave to present the following
REPORT:
NJ criminal business large number of
.osos have come before us, and several bills
Sound. demonstrating clearly that crime is
:vorcosing rapidly in our midst and showing
!ho absolute necessity for those who are in
.n,sted with the guardianship of the laws to
va that those laws are resolutely and ener-
not;cally enforced without fear or favor; and
fbat all alike, without respect to age, sex,
color. or condition, whether claiming as their
birthplace the land of Wash ngton, the En-
oroldine Isle, or the Celestial Empire should
while obeying the requirements of the law
receive prompt and efficient protection there
from.
We have examined the County Prison and
;rouired into the condition of those who are
conHned therein; we lind the health Of the
nrsoners good and the prison clean, we'll
Ventilated and bearing the marks of a careful
and attentive supervision. The prisoners
sneak in high terms of the treatment they
have received and in short the whole arrange
ments reflect the highest credit upon the OF.
fetal conduct of Sheriff Astin and his depu
ties in this respect, and entitle them to the
hearty commentator Of the public they have
so faithfully served. With regard to the
prison we are of the opinion that some i'm
provements might and ought to be made to
render it more secure.
We have made especial inquiry into the
condition OF the Public Roads throughout the
county Our duty compels us to state that
many of them are in bad condition owing to
Il. 1otf
yisors of Roads have performed their duty;
and we would recommend the Honorable
Court to remove the delinquents and appoint
new ones in their stead.
We find after careful and exact examina-
ton of the books of the Treasurer that the
accounts in that department are correct and
We can cheerfully bear testimony to the in
tegrity and honesty of purpose with which he
has fulfilled the duties of his office. We find
in cash now in the Treasury the sum OF
SS05,10 belonging to the county. and $500
belonging to the State, together with the fur
ther sum of $68l ,67 belonging to the County
School Fund.
We also found on examination of the re-
cords and accounts in the County Clerks Of
fee that they are kept in careful and cor
rect manner, and on thorough investigation
of the Indebtedness Of Placer County find
the amount to be as follows:
DIR.
Amount of scrip issued up to
May Both. 1858, $54,61S1 10
Amount Of scrip issued from
May 80, 1853, to May l, '54, 1885 81
Making total amt issued $1O3 ,O14 32
CIR.
BY vouchers of cancelled scrip
to amount of s75,6S1 81
Scrip on hand in Treasurers ----
office, 556s so
Cash on hand in Treasury, sos 7S
Making total amount of $S2 ,055 10
Which being deducted from the
amount of scrip issued leaves
balance of an outstanding
debt to amount of $2O,o5S SO
And we further report that on investigation
We find the amount of revenue collected for
the last year to be S45 ,314 90, and that in
our opinion although the pro rata Of taxation
for this year has been increased, yet when
we take into consideration the decrease in
value of property since the assessment for
1858, we think that the revenue collected for
the present year will not reach the amount
stated above as collected for the last, and
that at the end of the present fiscal year the
finances of the County will be in nearly the
same position they are at the present time.
And that we the Grand Jury take pleasure in
complimentng the County Clerk for the cor
rect manner in which he has discharged the
duties Of his office.
In the charge to the Grand Jury, their at
tention was called to the fact Of there having
been some two thousand dollars expended by
this County for the collection OF four hundred
from few citizens who were delinquent in
regard to their License.
Upon this subject, the Grand Jury beg
leave to report the following: That after
careful and diligent investigation of this
particular subject, they are forced to the
conclusion that there is lameness in the
laws proving frequently great annoy
ance to many of our citizens, and an en-
ormous expense to the county, that can
only be avoided by the officers whose duty
it is to attend to this particular business,
and in view of this fact, we the Grand
Jury beg leave most respectfully to sug--
gest and request that those officers use all
possible care for the future to learn the
names of those persons (before issuing
warrants,) who are liable to fine, for
trading without license, "and those
only," and thereby avoid great expense
to the county.
We the Grand Jury feel convinced
that some slight blame does attacl, to these
officers in the particular case referred to
in your charge, but they do not feel au-
thOriZed to attach blame to anv nartiCular