The Shasta courier., 1865-05-13
Grand Jury System.

will take the first case for the purpose of
comment. That of the people VS.. Baurser.
In this case defendant stole from his en-
ployer two hundred and seventy dollars in
coin, and horse, saddle and bride. He
was arrested after few days hunt, and near
II all the property recovered Defendant
acknowledged his guilt, and the formula of
an examination before a Justice and his
commitment to the county Jail. to await a
regular sitting of the Grand Humbuc was
gone through with. For some three months
he has waited ut an expense to the county of
FIVE dollars per day jailor's fees, and the
further cost Of his board, which probably
amounts to another dollar The Grand jury
met, the same witnesses were examined, the
same formula gone through with to find the
guilt OF the man, as was had before the JUS
tice. The Grand Jury of course found two
bills of indictmont-one for stealing the
money, and one for stealing the horse saddle
aud bride. Counsel is appointed by the
Court to defend, for the prisoner has mary
red" Counsel demurs to Indictment No. l.
because the District Attorney failed to state
IN the indictment how much of gold, and how
much of silver the man stole-that the money
was not sufficiently described. The Court
sustained the demurrer.
And now comes Mo. . Counsel demurred
to No. =, because the saddle and bride were
not separately valued. District Attorney had
stated a specific value for the horse, and af-
ter describing the saddle and bride. valued
those two articles at fifteen dollars. when un-
der the precious rulings of the Supreme
Court, on such grave questions, the prosecu.
ton should have placed specific value on
each. Demurrer sustained, and prisoner
remanded to await the sitting of the next
Grand Jury
And now comes the District Attorney into
Ceur! and moves, as Al matter Of economy.
that the prisoner be discharged on his own
recogEizance in the amount of $500, in
gold Cr silver coin of the United States. This
last step was only necessary to make the
finale grandiy ludicrous. The defendant,
alter much trouble to officers and expense to
complainant, is caught, confesses hrs guilt
ofa crime that, under the law. would send
him to the Penitentiary, is found guilty of
this high crime by the Justice. and again
by the Grand Jury. and then. because GER
tain paper in t,le case fails in some trivial
form, the criminal, unwhippcd of justice,
unpunisl4ed for his great crime, is turned
loose upon the community to repeat his ex
plots at viii, and perhaps more successfully,
because of his past experience, and certainly
with more confidence because of the knowl
edge he has recently acquired of the Grand
Jury system.
Now, is there good reason for continu-
ing this confounded Grand Jury system ?
Cannot laws be so framed that man may
be convicted of the crime of stealing gold and
silver coin, even if complainant don't know
or don't happen to state on piece of paper
a mile long the specific amount of each class
of the morey o. property he had stolen from
him Is petit jury wiser. to determine the
guilt or innocence of an accused party, by
having the charge surrounded by ten thous,
and tcchnicaities, than it would be to deter
mine the same fact, if plainly and straight
forwarby set before them in plain English
Is the Court itself any better prepared? If
g man has stolen money or property of the
value of fifty dollars or under, he has COM
mitted petit larceny, if over that sum, grand
larceny. The law says SO, and says it plain
". Now bring the party charged with
larceny into court. Give him fair cha-c ce
to prepare a defence, then try him. If it is
proved that he stole property, and the value
also proven, why then the case is in a nut
she'll. and easily determined whether he is
guilty of the higher or lower crime. and the
whole matter summarily disposed of. Sim.
plfy the mode oftrying criminals; give them
no loophole for escape except in the fact of
ihinbcehce, .and blow is struck at crime that
will lessen it, s..~
The reason of the almost impossibility of
convictinga wealthy criminal consists in this
c;rcumlocution system of bringing them to
trial. and the reason of our criminal Courts
being so expensive is due to the same " q
fory'' and nonsensical enactments. While
it is fashionable to suggest amendments to
the Constitution of the U. S. we recommend
that it be so amended as to do away with
that ancient institution.
CAPTAIN PIERCE, of the Eleventh Kansas,
is six feet six inches in his stockings. Daring
the Price raid he lost uniform. and was return
ing in citizens clothes. While seated at the
dinner table at Monticello. he heard little