The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1877-05-04
JUDGE MAeKEY's CHARGE.

JUDGE MAeKEY's CHARGE
AT the opening of the April term of the
Chester County Court, Judge Muckey de-
livered, in substance, the following charac-
teristic charge to the Grand Jury, in which
truth, logic and humorous satire are admir-.
ably blended:
Gentlemen Of the Grand Jury: AS this
is the first time you have served in the i'm
portant position to which you have been
called, it is proper that you should be in
struoted in regard to your duties and pow.
ers.
Your first duty will be to act upon all
bills laid before you by the Solicitor-these
bills are accusations, in solemn form, against
some one charged with crime. In acting
upon these. bills, you will examine only
witnesses for the State In all cases Of
ne faats ki,liag isprosed, ,ths
gratd jury must find true BILL The find,
ing of bill is no proof of guilt.
The grand jury may act without assis-
tance from the Solicitor in cases Of nuisance,
such as buying cotton, or other agricultural
products at night whether from the lawful
owner or not To conduct lawful busi-
ness in such way as to endanger the prop
erty of others, or to cause a feeling of inse.
curity, subjects the person thus conducting
his business to indictment. Since this con.
struction Of the law has been applied. this
business of trading at night has fallen off
ninety per cent within the bounds of this
circuit
Your attention is called to a matter of
general concern-the fence law. The crimi.
nal docket of the court is crowded year
after year with cases arising from cattle
breaking into fields where there are grow.
ing crops. Persons shoot down cattle
brcaking into their fields, and the court SEN,
tences those who thus kill the cattle of their
neighbors. Still this thing will be DONE.
will not stand by and see the fruits of their
labor thus destroyed. 1t is proper for this
grand jury to memorabilia the Legislature,
at its session to begin this week, to repea!
the fence law. Carefully prepared stats.
tics show that twenty dollars is expended in
fences to keep out one dollars worth of cat
tic. Chester county contains smaller
quantity of timber than any county Of equal
area in the State, Much Of this timber has
recently been used and is still to be used in
building cur railroads. The people of the
county must rely ppoSs eir timber for fuel.
To needlessly destroy this supply OF fuel in
the construction Of fences is to visit upon
the people great calamity. To enclose
one acre, of land worth FIVE dollars, requires
l6ixefd d6l|aEs worth, Of fencing, Often,
ES IS illnl1( sssxpend hdndreds sois
IIdollnrs to keep Doc one poor starving COW
worth fifteen dolipfs This is an absurdity !;
it is more than hat Il is barbarism, and
should not Be allowed in a civilized State
You may say, in your memorial to the Leg
islature, that the farmers of the county will
act in self-defense; they will give three
months notice, and at the end of that time
will drop all their fences, protect their crops
and test the constitutiouality of the present
fence law.
The fence law was enacted in 1894. 1t
Disseminated against the farmers of that
day, who were spoken of, in the. preamble
of the law, as "ovil minded" and as cntic-
ing horses and cattle into.their fields The
farmers formed but small population at
that time. The fence law, kept in force
from that day to this, still discriminates
very harshly against the farmers. The own
La1Lfa cow is not requiredsto pen the cow
in order TO milk her, but the owner of q
crop is compelled to pen up that crop in or
der to enjoy its benefits and reap its fruits.
A man may be prosecuted in au action for
damages, for milking his neighbor's unpcn-
ned COW, yet he cannot recover for damages
committed by that rowing cow upon his un-
pcnned or unenclosed crop. AS said before
the law is barbarism, and should at once be
abolished.
The attention of the Court has been call
ed to the fact that at point eight miles
north Of Chester is wood pile, owned by
the Charlotte Columbia & Augusta Railroad
and that in the winter of 1875 this wood
pile was incorporated by an act Of the Leg
islature under the name of the "town O
{ Chestnut Grove" Laughter.1 The pop
ulation of. this .wood-pile, SO called town
consists of five whites apafelcven colored
[Renewed laughter.] Tie corperators o
this 50 called town pay. ne taxes, aud yeton
!; {. thisrso. esllec
town government wSs To- levy tax Of 6f
, teen mills The very first act Of the SO call
, ed incorporation was to license two bar
/ rooms. Cato Porter, one of the incorpora
tors. said that the principal object in havin,
{ tho wood pile incorporated was that a grog
: shop might be opened thore. At the Janu
t ary term Of this court, this same Cato POI
ter was convicted of violation of tie Ii
cense laws of the State. The so called tow
of Chestnut Grove consists mainly, as tn
+ Court is informed, of large wood pile
r which always grows smaller after dar
!. night Loud laughter.] This wood pill
!. is the property Of the Charlotte Columbi
d & Augusta Railroad, and the road can, n
/. doubt, protect its property without an at
/. nf incnrnnrafion GI.anc-hterl ]