The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-05-08
THE COURTS YESTERDAY.
Inferier Court.

| Inferier Court.
The court met at ten o'clock yesterday
morning, Judge Lee presiding. The gran6
! fury came into court with the following pre-
Esentment:
To His Honor George Lee, Judge of the CTinai
nal Court of Charleston County:
The grand jury, duly drawn and empaneileo
in and for the County of Charleston, 90 re.
spectfully present TO this honorable court lnal
they have made rigid examination touching
all matters and things with which they have
been charged by law, and pursuant 10 the IN:
structions OF his Honor, they hrst dirscteo
their attention to the finances Of the county,
| which, they are sorry 10 say, are IN worse
condition tnan when they made their last pre-
sentiment, setting forth the mal-administra-
tion OF the county treasurer and commission.
ers, who are the judiciary officers Of the
county. All the evils complained OF in our
| former report seem still to exist, and are
rapidly Increasing, nothing having been
| done 10 remedy them. Neither fear OF the
law nor decent regard for public opinion re-
strain the Offenders, aDd The people and the
county continue to be the victims Of the NAL.
feasance OF these officers. Notwithstanding
the taxes, abundant for every purpose, col
bankrupt for the past Two years, and to-day Is
largely in debt and Without the means even to
feed the prisoners in the county jail, or to
maintain the homeless poor, as required by
law.
In examining the Office of county commits.
sioners, they found the books and records IN
very Irregular condition, and Notwithstanding
the law requiring all three OF the comisslon-
ers to be present tor the trans lction Of busi-
ness, yet nearly all of the bills have been au-
dljed by two commissioners only, Messrs. Nc
Laughlin and Gregorle, In the absence OF the
Other commissioner To the great surprise OF
the grand jury, Mr.. R. NJ Gregorle stated that
be invariably signed the bills, without any ex.
animation, upon the representation Oh Mr NJ.
Mclaughlin, In whom ne reposed great conn'
dence.
Mr.. F. C, Miller, chairman of the board,
stated to the grand jury that he was unable to
say whether or not these accounts were cor
rect, he never having examined any of them.
as they were audited during his absence. TO
this report we attach his statements TO tne
grand jury.
We also attach statement of the checks
That have been Issued for these accounts.
IL will be perceived that many OF these
checks were Issued In favor Of fspeculators VINO
are not In the service Of the county, while at
the same time that many Of the county omcers
are unpaid. 1t will also be perceived tnat, 10
direct violation Of law me co%mrss.Gners ,oe
much larger SUN than he has ever reported.
MoTeovers they commenced drawing orders
On The treasurer long before he had made the
required report, nearly all of which checks
the treasurer has paid, Notwithstanding such
checks were dated prior TO his report.
It is a startling fact that nearly the entire
oyer.issue is In the hands of one of the COM
missioners, viz: Mr.. N. Mclaughlin, many of
them being endorsed by the parties In whose
favor they were drawn.
In reference to this matter We present the
afidaylts of Messrs. ]. R. Brennan and Edward
Perry.
By the affidavit of Mr.. E. Perry 1t will be
seen that Mr.. NJ. Mclaughlin has been purcha-
sing orders upon the county treasurer, In d.
rect violation of the law upon the subject.
We would therefore recommend that the 30
licitor Immediately draw an Indictment for this
offence In order that the grand jury may at once
act, We would further recommend that indie
ments be drawn against The guilty parties for
The Illegal and over-issue OF checks. and that an
order be Issued requiring Mr.. N. Mclaughlin
TO AT once deliver into possession of this court
all checks now In his possession. We desire,
in bringing to The attention Of the court, that
the clerk OF the board Of The county commits.
sloners has not been sworn in compliance with
law.
We visited the Jail and found the same In
good condition, also the prisoners, consisting
Of about fUrty-6ve persons, appeared TO be IN
good health. We regret again to call the al
tention of the court 10 our last recommends
tIon, VIZ: That drip basins Do attached 10 each
floor OF the Jail, and, likewise, that boiler be
turnist ed Tor the purpose Of heating water, 80
that the prisoners may have 1t to USE In cleans
iog themselves during the winter season. We
were unable TO give such proper attention to
trial justices as they deserve, but 30 far as Vls-
tied we were well satisfied, but regret exceed
ingIy that the bill introduced 10 the last ses-
sion of the General Assembly diminishing the
number of trial Justices lor this county did not
become q law, as We believe the county would
be better of with three-fourths less than what
now exist.
The grand jury also visited the Orphanhouse
in George street, and regret there has been no
improvements made since we last visited.
There is now one hundred and torty-fve
children (all colored) being cared for, and,
from information given through some OF the
trustees, they feared O suspension of the In.
slilution for want of funds to meet the neces.
sary requirements and demands. We noticed
q portion of the building is reserved for school
purposes. The larger girls and boys are In
strucled by Miss Jennie Weston, and the
smaller girls and boys are instructed by Miss
Mary RYAN. Both of these ladies' devote
every attention to the chiliren for the benefit
of their moral and intellectual Improvement
The grand jury desire 10 return their sincere
thanks TO the officers of this honorable court
lor their cordial cooperation in the discharge
,f rbair dntioa RpsnpctfIIlly Snbmftte0