, 1866-04-06
nIsTRIcr COURT.


wyche presiding, commenced ON Monday last
The names of the Grand and Petit JaFymen have
already been published. We append synop-
sis of the Judges charge to the Grand Jury, to-
eether with list of the cases disposed Of up 70 |
Thursday evening. We may here add that the
business of the Court is progressing satisfaeto.
rily, and that there is every reason to oeleVe
that the docket will be cleared before the end
Of the term.
CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY
Judge Wyche's charge to the Grand Jury was
not written out and so we are unable to lay II
before readers-but represent some Of the
leading features of the charge;
The Court said that the attention of the Jury
vould be briefly called to their duties as stated
in the oath Just administered to them-lmpress-
ing upon them the Importance OF keeping tneH
proceedings strictly secret, and OF lmparnng IN
formation of their doings to no one, eIther oi-
rectly or by intimations or Suggestions! anu
calling the attention of the Jury to the spiri. IN
which they should investigate cases brought pc
fore tbem-that they should in the jury room
have neither friends or foes and that every Slti
zen whose name might be before tnem, s ua
a right to have his case investigated, Iairy anu
impartially and without either favor OF mAIloeI
~ The Conf then stated that there were num-
ber of prisoners in Jail aud on Dali, aWaitine
their action, and the Court then proceeded 70
state briefly the law in reference 10 tne seYeraI
charges thew would in these cases be required to
irvestigate What constituted murder and It's
degrees in Our statute, and what mansiAdghter,
Us eSnIafned to the jury, and what consti-
tptea periury was stated-the swearing would
have to be not only false, but knowingly and
wilfuily false, and to some matter material in
the case bat if the matter was material-it did
did not matter as to its degree-if the matter
tended to determine the question at issue that
was all the materiality required, and the Court
then stated while it required clear case for
conviction in perjury and so the Jury should be
considerate in finding bill of that kind, and
vet in proper case the highest considerations
required that the Perjurer should be punished,
as there was, unless perhaps murder was ex-
cepted, no darker crime; as beside the injury
that might be done in a particular case, the per-
iurer might be considered as an enemy of man
kind, and destroyer of all civil government, as
npon the sanctity of an oath and the faith re-
posed in statements made under OATH the whole
| fabric of civil government reposed, and if the
time should ever come when no faith could be
reposed on an oath-then would the adminstra-
ton of all law be impracticable, and force and
| fraud, rather than law and justice, rule the
! land,
| Some observations were then made upon the
| statute in reference to exhibiting dangerous
weapons in crowd of two or more persons;
/ and the Court said it was quite too common to
| draw out pistols or knives ir crowds and SLosh
| around with them in a way to endanger life and
| limb, and that the practice should be promptly
and properly punished.
The Court tnen made some observations on
larceny and robbery, and called the attention of
the Jury to the estray law, and stated that it had
been suggested to the Court, that it was getting
to be common in some neig bborhoods for par
ties to take up estrays and use them without
| paving auy attention to the requirements of the
| law; and the Court requested the jury to look
into this matter, and stated if such custom
was growing up it was wrong, and bad exam
| ple to set before the young, and indeed before
I All and that could not be too careful to
strictly observe the distinction between what
| belongs to us and what TO others.
| The Court then called the attention Of the iu-
| ry to the investigation of the condition of the
Jail and Of the official conduct of the officers of
| the County; and of the financial condition gen.
orally of the County-the expense of keeping
| the paupets-the amount of taxes collected, and
the expenses Of the County, generally-remark-
| ing that there ought to be some law requiring
| the County Commissioners to publish once
year a full statement and exhibit of the 6nan-
| cial condition Of the County, but as there was
| no such law it would be for the public interest
| to have such a statement and exhibit made BY
| the Grand Jury, and that the finances of the
| County would, generally, be improved by Civ
! ing to the public all the information possible
| The Court also called the Jury'J attention to
| the sale fthe school lands of the County, and
stated it to be question of grave doubt wheth-
| er the Legislature had any lawful authority to
authorize a sale of the school lands of the Ter
ritory. If there was proper authority to sell
these lands, whether it was policy now to sell
them or not, was . question upon which no
| opinion was expressed; but the Court said the
school fund was a sacred fund, and so regarded
in every civilized country, and that in the pres
ent attitude of this matter it was thought advi-
| sable to direct attention to this subject.
| The Court stated that in reference to the sale
of the school lands and the management gene
rally of the affairs of the County, it was not in
tended by anything here said to reflect upon the
| Commissioners as no complaint had been made
| by any one of the Commissioners, and both the
citizens and the Court were fully satisfied that
| the Commissioners were among our best citi-
zensi and were managing the affairs Of the
| County with the intention to advance the best
interests of the County.
The Grand Jury reported having Investigated
| the following cases and found no Bills:
Territory vs.. James Boice-Charged with
| manslaughter
Territory vs.. Ah Ghee-Charged with keep
ing gaming house.
Territory ITS. b. Weller-Charged with pass
ing counterfeit gold dust
Territory VS.. Geo. Waggonsr-Charged with
an assault and battery with deadly weapon.
The following bills have been presented by
the Grand Jury at this term, to-Wit:
Territory Of Washington W. Thomas M'Clnre
| -MisdemeAnor.
Territory Of Washington VS.. Thomas Davis and
| Lewis Allerton-Robbery.
Territory of Washington Ts..Thonas Donohue
| Murder.
| -o~~-|~~N~>~--<op-~~~~~~N~~-~-
" BOOMING" y The Walla Walla river
and the various other streams that drain our
Valley have been booming" for several
days back, and SO high has been the water
that many places in the lower part of the VAL
ley have been submerged. The stages in
making the trip to Wallula have been COM
PEELED to keep on high ground, thus mate-
rally lengthening the trip. The water in