The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-02-04
Our Court.

Our Court.
The regular February Term Of our
Court convened on Monday the I'd inst.
His Honor Judge Thcutss Thomson, pro-
siding. and Solicitor Cothran at his post.
A. this was the first tine His Honor has
held Court here, at his own home, there
was great curiosity and desire to see him
ON the Bench and all we're struck with
the ease, dignity ant familiarity with
which he dischargedthe duties of his
high office. 4 new feature at this Court
i. tho dock in which prisoners are tried,
and which hitherto lns been discarded.
It reminds us very mitch of an enclosure
TO graves in a country Church Yard, and
must be very suggestive to the unEor-
tunates who have TO o.cupyit Upon the
assembly of the Court his Honor sub
mitted the following charge to the Grand
Jury:
Gentlemen Of tn Grand jury:
1t is YOUR duty to SEQ that there Is no
neglectof the lays in year County. AS
in the olden tiuts the Roman Dictator
had the nowert okive life or infict death
md to see that MP injury befell the fe-
,uhlic. 40 also id is your province To seq
that the law ia nit violated, and is0pheld
IN it's majesty, lam always brief la my
charge to iuries.| Unless there DO some
reason to departlfrom your established
-nlcs abide nv tlem. know nothing of
nnblic nature b call to your attention.
~ ora hr~onptIface to face. with crime
in ycnr Conrt- df q man violates law he
hrsats the mo;N law by q sanction of
crime II the h was written in 4 book,
on1 :, vonnp m, twenty-one years old
Vas Obliged to abscribe to it, it is as
hin5inc On him liter he becomes 4 citizen
70 ohev and %enfoSce the law. In enfor-
,.iny law iuries d more than enforce it,
theS, Give tome 10 the morals of their
conntrv. For iAhey do not protect their
c;tizens a man Ats out of the traces, re-
h,ses observation-disclosures All outlaw, and
saw he Viii eedess his W WRONGS. 1t
~ 70 1,onr intere& to see that the law is
oShavs,1. f,r the d pense of CRIME is borne
bEy yon' 40 far askne County is concerned,
Saa that crime suppressed.
EThe Judge neil dwelt upon theincreas-
Vnu cr;me Of cafyfng deadly weapons,
Jscatbinn In unn{ ssured terms those who
;ndulyed in this port, and his adherence
Int the,n No duntry who ever carried
nn,naoi.d vSean6{ succeeded. He con
trasted the ItaliI b with his knife, and
the Spaniard with his stilleto to the En-
glish and sturdy Germans. the SPAN
iards and Italiaps being swept away.
He then charged them as otne'r oatns;
the importance OF keeping their couhSel
and that of their eiio~s' II 0leen OCCURS
that a juryman dislikes his observations
TO he made public, n that a }uryman
may unintentionaily disclose nus owl
dmces into the Jury room the counsel of
otbers Th Judge then defined to the
inrv the different offences of arson, bur-
ylary and larceny, forgery II larceny
4 is not necessarily gentlemen, to exam
inc all the witnesses on a Bill OF lndict-
ment. You will bee the letter s opposite
most of the names lof the witnesses, which
means sworn. One may satisfy you In
rendsrinea Bill. If one does not, con-
tinya examining, and IL all do not satisfy
van And No Bill. 1t Is necessary 1or
;wc}ve of you TO agree in rendering Bill
md n in your discretion no good will re-
.,,It rom such finding throw 1t out.
number of you ought to visit u
nnhlic offices, and penal u charitaoie
{~nstitutions and make report as 70 them'
Petititions for selling spirituons liquors
In vour county, If any such have been
filed. YOU are to be guided by what you
think will be the best results. II you
think any particular spot OF your county
will be more benefited, on proper security
grant the license; but IL, OH tne otngI
hand, O think damage and INJURY VIII
arise, bringing about homicides, aisncui-
ties and quarrels between neiHnuois'
Greater than the amount paid for license,
refuse 1t.
w. 8. Richarsou, ESQ.,, on q certificate
from DIR. J. J. Boazman, at Ninety-Six,
was excused from serving as a juror.
Mr.. ], G. E. Brenyan excused-over
age.
MI. A. NJ. Erwin excused, he being a
school trustee.
Mr.. Berry Deason excused.
The Court then adjourned until two
o'clock.
Upon assembling Of the Court, the
Grand Jury returned "True Bills in the
following cases:
The State VS.. Walter Collier, arson.
The State vs.. George Bowie, larceny
from the field.
The State VS.. Jim Brown, arson.
TIE State vs.. Owls Parker, grand lar
ceny.
The State VS.. SIN Williams. John Nc
Chloe, Butler Sherman and Stewart Cole
man, forgery. Tue bill as to all the par
ties except LewiSherman, and no bill as
to him. In thiscase Sam Williams and
John McGhee, tb only parties arrested,
upon being questioned separately, plead
ed guilty and ased for the clemency o.
the Court. One ,annot write, and the
other is only abldo sign his name, thus
verifying the saying that a little knowl-
edge Is q Dangerous thing" and lacking
the influence ofnoral training, his first
application Of acknowledge was to a for-
gerry.
Col. NJ. L. Bochm, jr., submitted all
an order for the dlsaarge of Lewis Sher-
man.
In the case of Boon Samson and Ben
Seawright, who wer,convicted at the last
term Of the Court of hrglary and larceny,
Mr.. Graydon, who btained a new trial
for them before tn Supreme Court,
stated that for the prpose of obviating
habeas corpus. he VOID ask for an order
from the Courtto remind the prisoners to
the jail, Shich the Goernor would sign,
and the Superintendent Of the Peniten-
tiary would deliver to prisoners to the
Sheriff.
The first case tried rs the State VS..
Lewis Parker burglar. and grand lar
eny Messrs. Parker& MCGOWAN for
the defense. Ajury VIII ]. o. Hemin-
ger, Esq, as foreman, was empanelled
and rendered. q verdict guilty.
w. C. Benst Esq. sublitted an order
that sealed verdict agaiu Geo. McKet-
trick be opened by the ckk of Court to
allow him to get the recI to 60 TO the
Supreme Court.
The State VS.. Henry Hdson and John
Wilson. burglary. E. B.sary, Esq, ap-
peared for Henry Hudsonand Mr.. o. T.
Calhoun for John Wilson.
Mr.. Gary moved to quah the indict-
ment apainst Hudson on tk ground that