The Placer herald., 1856-02-16
Report of Grand Jury.
honorable Court of Sessions

NS"''o''"
ofMe County of Placer
The Grand Jury having disposed Of all matters
brought before them, and to which their attention
was directed by the charge of the Court, beg leave
to report as follows: That they have found nine
true bills of Indictment to-wit: two for murder;
three for assault with intent to commit murder;
two for grand larceny; one for burglary; one for
robbery The Grand Jury would add that they
have dismissed several cases, deemng them TOO
frivolous to occupy the attention of this Court.
We have examined the County Jail and condl-
tiOn of prisoners and offer our full approval OF
the conduct of It's affairs.
We have visited the offices of the different coun-
.y officers and believe that they are discharging
their several duties with proper care and ability
The Board of Supervisors having more direct
supervision of county affairs. and they having
better opportunities of examining into the books
and accounts of the officers, we rely upon them
for information touching the general conduct OF
county official business and in this connection we
would request the attention of that Board to the
general complaint of negligence attributed to the
road overseers.
We would further remark that the fact has been
developed by the examination of witnesses
brought before that gaming is practised to
considerable extent in Auburn We allude to the
Chinese gambling houses in this town. We have
not deemed it proper, however. to present any IN
dictment under this charge, not being sufficiently
advised to enable us to Judge whether the species
included in the act, now in full force to suppress
gaming. We further believe. that the prosecution
for that oense can be conducted with less expense
if done before the Justice of the Peace, than by
Indictment and trial by this Court. They are also
of opinion, that Justice will be done if the Chi
nese would be notified that the practice was un-
lawful and must be discontinued under pain of
prosecution Their open violation of the law,
and their ready admission of the practice, war
rants the suppostion that they are ignorant of its
existence. We refer the matter to the District
Attorney Complaint has been made to us of the
existence, throughout the county. of many houses
of prostitution; and citizens have called upon us
to take steps for their suppression. The lncon-
venence of procuring witnesses at the late hour
of our session. has been one cause of our having
failed to do so. AS in the case OF gaming, we be-
leve that such matters had better be tried before
a magistrate, both on account of economy and
convenience of witnesses The evil is serious
one, and requires prompt and thorough action on
the part OF the officers of the law. Those who
annoyed by these houses should lay the matter be-
fore the magistrates, they having full jurisdiction
in such cases.
Another source of annoyance to the community
is the noise and roous conduct nightly emanatlng
from dance houses and other disorderly houses of
public resort, in almost every town in the county.
The same reasons that have governed us in the
preceding cases have deferred us from attempting
prosecution of the last species of misdemeanor,
the multitude of such cases in the county, makes
it unpleasant to us to make example, and we
deem it unadvisable to commence general pros
ecuton-we prefer to leave the matter to the To-
cal officers.
This Court is sustained at great expense to the
county; and the attendance of jurors and witness
es is source of great personal inconvenience and
expense to them; we hope, therefore, to be excused
for not bringing matters before this costly trbu-
nal which properly belongs to the magistrates
court
Our attention has been called to a case involv-
ing charge OF perjury, on the part OF a citizen
of this county, in giving in the amount of his tax
able property. AS the charge of perjury is a
heinOus one, we have seen fit to entertain hope
that it might have been misapprehension of the
nature of the Revenue Law. We recommend to
the Assessor that he in all cases. all species
of property liable to taxation, and that all future
evasions of the law meet with just punishment
1t has been shown to us that much of the prop
erty tax of 1854, which has been returned dein-
quent, has been actually paid to and receipts Civ
en- by the Deputy Collectors of that year. We re-
quest that the County Clerk and Sheriff be re-
quired to notify the Board of Supervisors of this
fact, and that that body will institute suit against
the bonds of the Collector for the amount of all
discovered defalcations, and for all costs to which
said defalcations have subjected the county.
Much dissatisfaction exists at this time at the |
manner in which delinquent license payers have |
been prosecuted. The Grand Jury therefore, re-
commend that the District Attorney adopt the
remedy provided in the Revenue Law of 1855,
which makes non-payment of license a cause of
civil action, and not of criminal prosecution
We return our thanks to the District Attorney
and to the Sheriff and his deputies for their cour-
tesy and attention during our session.
Having thus, to the best of our abilities, dis
charged the duties devolving upon us as Grand
Jurors, respectfully ask to be discharged.
HIRAM R. HAWKINS, Foreman.
D. H. Brewster, John Echols,
II. 1. Holmes, Hiram W. Rice,
George Bishop, j. H. Baker,
a. DeLand, r. Cummings,
Charles H. Watt, William Frey,
jacob Keep, Charles Dye,
=: L. Harlan, W. II. Seaman,
WIN. H. Smith, M. Hyneman,
>. T. Huntress, Gould Osborn,
James Murphy. VIM. Patterson,
f. Mandel.
Ordered, That the report of the Grand Jury be
published in the Placer Herald and Placer Press,