Los Angeles daily herald., 1874-11-13


which the following is part: q YOU,
as Foreman of the Grand Jury, will
diligently inquire into all public of
fenses against the people of this state,
committed or triable within this
county. You will present no person
through malice, hatred or ill-will, nor
leave any unpresented through fear,
favor or affection, or for any reward
or hope thereof-so help you God"
In that report the following will be
found: "With regard to the existence
of houses of prostitution, to which
the attention of the Grand Jury was
directed, we would state that rs no
ease of the kind was presented for our
examination and none known to us
personally, we could take no action in
the matter
In another section of the statute
will be found the following: If Il
member of the Grand Jury knows or
has reason to believe that 4 public Of
fense triable in this county has been
committed, he must declare the same
to his fellow-jurors, who must there
upon investigate the same"
In the report of the Grand Jury the
Foreman admits that his attention, as
a Grand Juror, had been directed to
the existence of houses of prostitution
in this county, and yet, rs n member
of that Grand jury, with the law
making it his imperative duty to in
vestigatc the matter, he deliberately
pens and afliXes his signature to n re-
port upon one of the most serious
evils that attiict society, in which,
Notwithstanding the solemn oath uu-
der which he rested, levity, prudery
and atfectation are most eXtraordina-
rily blended
Having sworn TO diligently inquire
into and investigate al lpublic otfenses
of which he had any knowledge or
reason to believe had an existence, he
not only neglects the performance of
his duty, but, as if in q spirit of wall
tonness, he tells those citizens whose
neighborhood is SO contaminated by
the public display of this very oflense
that they are being compelled, for the
safety of their children to abandon
their homes, that as a case of prosti-
tuition was not before the Grand Jury
for their personal observation, and as
they, the pure souls, had never been
personally cognizant of such an act,
they were under no obligations to take
any action in the matter.
This Grand Jury, by their Foreman,
are made to declare that all the bus.-
ness. presented to them had been dis
patched, and this Foreman, under the
responsibility of q solemn oath, asserts
that he had no reason to believe there
was within the borders of this county
such thing as Il house of prostitu-
ton, while every moderately well in
formed inhabitant knows that in some
parts of this city their unblushing
publicity is so great and insufferable
as to drive from those parts the fami-
lies of decent citizens whose repeated
complaints to the Grand Jury have
failed to procure relief.
This Foreman of the Grand Jury
who now seeks to become the chief
magistrate of this city and its first ex-
ecutive officer, unabashed by this dec
of his statement made under oath that
he had no reason to believe there was
in the county a house of ill-fame or
public resort by which the peace,
| comfort or decency of the immediate
| neighborhood was habitually dis
turbed, does most effectually stultify
himself in the same paragraph by
calling the attention of the municipal
authorities to the subject and recon-
mending those authorities to immedi-
ately suppress those houses of prosti-
tuition and to imprison their inmates.
1t would not be alleged by the Fore
man, if he was so inclined, that at the
time of signing and handing that re-
port to the Court, he was ignorant OF
the existence of many houses of pros
titution within the county, because a
confession of ignorance so great would
prove conclusively his incompetency
for the office of Mayor. If on the con-
trary he knew or had reason to be-
lievc that there was one house of this
class within the county and failed to
diligently inquire into the facts, he
committed as wilful perjury, although
less in degree as he who goes into
Court and deliberately swears that a
person accused has committed a crime
when he knows the accused is inno-
cent. <EE
Again: If he had said truthfully
that he had no reason to believe there
was such house in the county, he
would not in the same breath have
called the attention of the city author
tiles to the matter BY thus oalling
upon the city authorities, faithless-
ness to sworn duty is acknowledged,
together with a braZenness of self
stultifying seldom witnessed.
PRUDERCE.