Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-07-19
CHARGE
CHARGE
or Judge FTIppln to the Grand Jury Of the
Criminal Court.

Gentlemen of the Grand Jury : You
have been selected as Grand JarOrs with
the belief that you possessed those quail
feations required BY the Law. That is to
say, that you are esteemed in the COM
munity for your integrity, fair character
and sound judgment. You constitute the
grand inquest of the county. Your
duties are not only of the highest i'm
portance to the body polite, but likewise
is often OF an exceedingly delicate char
acter.
1t is made your imperative duty, and
such is the obligation you have just taken
to diligently inquire of each other, and of
your own knowledge, to report such vio-
Iations of the criminal laws as you may
ascertain to have been committed in your
county. There are only two modes by
which you can inquire into otfenses. The
one is upon your own knowledge, or the
knowledge of any one of you, and the
other is upon the testimony Of witnesses.
In your hands the accusing power OF the
government is lodged. So, then, freely
Communicate with each other, and report
ali violations of tina law which have come
under your personal observation. Inquire,
too, into allindictable offensss which rave
been committed, or which can be tried in
the county, and present them to the
court. Lawlessness of every species
must be sternly rebuked by you, and
| swiftly punished by the organized tri-
bunals of the land. If, in your investiga-
tions, you should find any who have
taken the execution of the law into their
own hands, they have thereby become its
chief offenders, and this spirit OF mob
Ocracy must not only be discOuntenanced,
but broken by your vigorous action. The
law as it is, is sufficient to meet all griev-
anceS, whether in person or property, and
1 tn do an wa gn4W rlnuFFa ltl GkTfh fuN and
honest execution.
1t is made my duty TO charge you spe-
cially in reference TO violations Of the
following provisions of the law.
/. Provisions for the sale and use of
bowie-kniYes.
2. Prohibiting the selling or giving Of
certain weapons to minors.
II you learn that any One carries about
his person g bowie-knife, Arkansas tooth
pick, or other knife or weapon of like
form, shape or size, he is guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and it is gOHr duty to fHdiet
him.
II you learn that any one has sold, or
offered to sell, or has brought into the
State for the purpose of selling, giving
away, or otherwise dispOsing OF, any
bowie-knife, or Arkansas tooth-pick, or
any other weapon of like form, shape and
size, indict han.
If you learn that any one has given,
sold or loaned TO any minor any pistol,
bOwie-knifs, dirk, or like dangerous
weapon, except a gun for hunting, or
for defense in travelling, iRdtct him.
If you learn that any one has publicly
or privately carried, or publicly or prf-
vately carries, a dirk, sword-caue, belt or
pocket-pistol, except when he is on a jour
ney to a place out of his county or State,
he does so in violation of law, and you
should indict HIM.
It is not lawful for any one attending
any election in this State, or any fair or
race course, or other public assembly of
the people, to carry about his person any
pistol, knife or other dangerous and
deadly weapon. If you find such q one,
in6ict him. The law has armed you with
authority TO send for witnesses when you
suspect a violation of the law touching
the carrying of concealed weapons, or the
sale of the same to minors, or the sale,
giving or delivery of liquors to minors.
So Jealous is the law for the safety of its
citizens and the preservation of public
morals. The fact is, carrying concealed
weapons is u most r~eprehensible practice,
and surely the time has now come in the
civilization of the age when it should be
effectively stopped. The county looks to
you more than to all Others for its sup
preston. Habituslly handling firearms,
becoming -familiarized with them, too Of
ten induces a desire to try them; such is
human nature; and then upon the i'm
pulse of the moment M citizen, probably
neighbor, slays another, and this so I'M
necessarily and causelessly entails untold
misery on families, and incalculable dam
age to society. As conservators of the
peace it is your sworn duty to arrest this
species of lawlessness, and L invoke you
to do it.
l am instructed to charge you specially
in reference to q violation of the tippling
laws.
No one has a right to sell spirituous or
vinous liquor in less or greater quantity
than a quart, TO be drank at or upon the
place, without first having obtained a
license therefor, and no licensed grocer
or other person in this State shall retail
spirituOus liquors on Sunday. That any
one should be permitted to sell without
a license is defeating the State of its rev.
enue, and an injustice to other dealers
who have complied with the require
ments of the laws. 1 call your special
attention to these provisions, and ask
that you report all violations OF the same.
1t is also a mlsdemeanor for any one to
keep his shop open on election days for
the sale of liquors, and this the law re-
quires me to instruct you.
Again, L charge you specially in refer
ence to illegal voting. The act of 1870,
requires that all voters be required to vote
IN I0G CIVIL uLsLEltL, OF Wdfu, III WHICH
they may reside, with the provision that
sherifs and other officers holding cleo
tons, shall be permitted to vote in any
ward or precinct in which they nay hold
an election. A violation of this statute is
a misdemeanoF. The purity of the ballot
box must be protected. Voting is some
thing more han a mere privilege; it is one
of the dearest rights of freemen, around
which the law has thrO Wn its protecting
ava, .n1 onnEfitnEaG Won a faTfhfuI CAN'T
mel to sound the alarm upon any IN
eroachment upon this estimable right.
To impose too, a false ticket on an Hitter
ate voter IS a misdemesnor, for the law
will not tolerate so gross 8 fraud upon the
exercise OF so great a right. Ignorant
electors may, and do have their decided
preference for men and measures, and /
ask you to see to it that fraud does not
with impunity impose upon misfortune,
and cunning and circumvention thwart
the will of a freeman.
I invite your attention to the law con-
corning gaming. This, perhaps, is the
most seductive and pernicious vice in the
calendar of miSdemeanors. Neither youth
nor age, nor condition, are exempt from
its widespread and baneful Influences,
but alike in the home. and gilded saloon,
gambling in our midst, with its eoncom-
liant vices, goes on almost u~nrebuked by
the officers of the law, feeding its victims
on delGsiye hopes and alluring them on,
sooner or later, TO irremediable ruin. For
the reclamation of the victimized nus
bands of weeping wives, and children OF
grief-stricken parents, now stretch forth
your arm, clad with the power of law,
and strike into subsection this most cruel
crime.
The following classes of cases you are
authorized, when you suspect a violation
of the law, to send for witnesses and K
anime them. In cases: l, of gaming; ?,
illegal voting; 3, tipping; A, disturbances
of public worshipi 5, injuries to public
buildings.
The law requires that you look into the
condition and management of the public
prisons and other county buildings and
institutions within the county.
Into the condition of the county treas
ury and the bonds of all county officers
with regard to their correctness and suffi-
cheney, and into the misconduct in office
of county officers.
Into the obstruction of roads and high
ways.
You have full authority to havs access
at all reasonable hours 10 all county off,
ees and buildings.
And l would here instruct you, if in
your investigations you find any me who
has falsely assumed TO act as a judicial or
ministerial officer, he is guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and report him to the Court.
If anu Ona in R1U official QQDaPitU |