The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1875-04-17
A SIGNAL GUN OF DISTRESS!

Under the above caption we char
acterisc and publish the following:
To the People Of Washington Go.
The undersigned members of the
Grand Jury selected by the Board
of Supervisors of your county, to
serve at the April term, 1875, Of
the Circuit Court, decming it due
not only to you but yourselves to
explain the events which were
taken as pretext by the Hon. G. G.
Sllacklcford, for dismissing the
sand Grand Jury this 18th day of
April, 1875, and of ordering anoth-
er Grand Jury to be summoned in
our stead, beg to submit the fol-
lowing statements:
Before the Sheriff called the roll Of
the members from the lst Super
yisor's district, w. Il. Trigg. Esq,
called the attention of the Court
to the fact that the namc of Wade
Hampton, jr., from said LIST district
had not been called, and upon this
being done, the Sheriff stated that
he had not called the names from
that district, and-thcrcupon called
tho names, and said Hampton,
upon being called, took his place.
When the name Of Mcrr(l viii
liams was called, a statement was
made to the Court, that said VIII
liams was a Levec Inspector and
desired to be excused, but that Mr..
w. w. Worthington was present
IN court. and would serve in his
stead. The Court then excused
the said Williams and directed the
Sheriff TO summons a person in
his stead, thereupon the Sheriff
summoned The said w. W.Wor-
thington who was duly sworn as to
his qualifications, and thcrupon q
challenge was made to the array by
W. Il. Trigg, Esq, npon the
grounds that the said Wade Hamp-
ton, jr., had not been summoned
and that the said w. w. Worth
ington was a substitute and there
upon the court answered that In
regard to tho the latter tho facts
were not us stated by counsel and
not in accordance with the records,
ami directed the Clerk to have the
records show distinctly that the
said w. w. .Wortllington had been
summoned BY the Sheriff..
And thecourt moreover stated that
the said Wade Hampton, jr., had
been selected by the Board Of Su.
pcrvisors as q member Of the
Grand Jury, and whether sum-
mnned or not was present in court
and a member 0f the Jury; and
thorcupon tho court charged the
Jury and thcyretircd to their room
and they continued IN session from
day TO day, until they adjourned
OH Saturday the 10th inst, to meet
at . O'Clock a. IN. on Monday the
18th inst. before the court met
on the 18th the rumor was prcva.
lent and had come to the ears o1
some Of the Grand Jury that the
Judge intended TO dismiss tho jury
and hayc another summoned In III
place.
When the court met and as soon
as the Grand jury had met II
their room We were summoned IN
| the presence Of the court and there
dismissed. The court assigned a;
a reason therefore thn; the sale
Wade Hanpton,jr., had not been
summoned aud that the said w
w. Worthington was u substitute,
These facts, as far as above stated
can be substantiated by the orig
| inal records made at the time, as
well as by all present in court.
Believing that the rights Of the
community have been tramplct
upon, and one OF thesafc- -gaurds o.
liberty broken down by tho arbi-
trary action Of the court in the
premises. and that you have d
right to know the prctext offered
for depriving you of the Greut
Jury selected by your represent.
atives, we respectfully submit tht
foregoing statement for your coll
sidcraJioll.
Wade Hampton, jr.,
S.G. French,
George V. Ward,
Moses Baily,
II Calvin Harrison,
v Alex. Waters.
Ira Bundly,
Adam Metealf,
Augustine Chew.
| II. II, Harvey,