The Lake Charles echo., 1883-09-08

Judicial District Court
We. the G. and Jury, duly empanneled and
sworn to enquire into the violations of the
| laws Of the state, beg leave to report that:
We have diligently enguired into every re-
| ported infringement Of the law, and have
| found in all sixteen true bills, which have
! been reported to your honor, and have dis
| posed Of every ease which has been brought
/ before US
We have enquired into the condition Of the
| public roads Of the parish, and we find that
| they are not III as good condition as they
| should be, but have not been able to elicit
testimony that would Justify us in finding
| true bill agaiust any of the OVerseers.
We examined the Jail and found it in as
| good condition, possibly, as the officials can
keep it. We find the jaiISa miserably poor
! excuse for parish prison. 1t is both unsafe
and unhealthy, and it would be difficult 10
! improve its sanitary condition. We would
recommend, especially, that pipe be put il
the north room Uf the Jail similar, or larger,
than the one now in the south room, to tacil-
itate the removal Of NTH from the jail and
also tina. both OF these pipes be pFuVi led with
mouth pieces, Or basins, suitable IOT the OC
casiOu and also that same be provided with
stays and rests,
We would respectfully call your attention
to the fact that the parish is sadly in need OF
a comfortable grand jury room. The one i'll
present use can better be compared to a bake
|
unfit for the purpose.
We regret to report that during our ses-
sion, our attention has been called to com
plants for disturbing public worship, in VIC
latiOu Of section 229, revised statutes OF the
state for 1870. While we did not find sutii-
cient evidence to find true bills against the
alleged offenders, nevertheless We feel salts
fed that the complaints are not without fOun-
datiOn and should further evidence be pro-
duCed, We recommend that the district attOT-
ney will prosecute by information anyone
thus 70 nd violating the law. This is all
offense which should not be passed lightly
over, as 1t addresses itself to the whole com
muntty Where persons are Assem- 0Ied, COM
posed of men, women and children in u de
fenseless position, for the purposes of wor-
Shipping God according to the dictates OF their
own COnsCienCes, 1t Is COWardly in the eX-
treme for anyone to disturb them and it is
degree of ruffani6m that does not belong to
civilized society to be guilty of such al of
fense and it is to be hoped that such con
duct will not be repeated again III our parish.
Our attention has also been called to ir-
regularties in the offices of sheriff and asses-
sOr, aud upon examination We ind that the
sheriff has been guilty OF making excessive
charges for conveying prisoners to the state
pententiary aud luuatics to the asylum. We
find that on February 20, 1883, and July 10,
1888, that the police jury did approve bills Of
the sheriff fOT such charges, which were large
ly il excess OF the amount allowed by law.
And we further find that in approving these
excessive bills, the police jury were acting
without authority in the case and to sub
staDtiate our conclusions we would respect
fully refer your honor to sections 1864 and
3565, revised statutes, which read as follows
Sec. S564.-The sheritfs throughout this
state shall be entitled to demand for trans
portation Of prisoners for mileage six cents
for each mile he may necessarily travel, both |
In going aud returning, and for the expenses
OF one prisoner conveyed as aforesaid, he |
shall receive five cents per mile for going
only and for each additional prisoner thus
conveyed, the sum Of three cents for each |
mile.
Article 1865 No sum shall be paid to anv |
sheriff for any services as speCined IN the |
preceding section, unless his account shall
name the prisoners SO conveyed, and when
certified by the judge, as regards the distance
shall be paid on the warrant Of such judge.
We have to report that we also find that
irregularities exist also in the office OF the
assessor. We find that the assessor has, in
numerous instances, made double assess
ments on property. We hnd, luftheflhoFe,
that the assessors salary or compensation IL
based Oh the amount Ot is as%e"@llent, a!id
that Therefore t4is double a5sa&sLueIi ot The
assessor lpuFes b. the profit G! the assessor,
and to tn detriIDeD- Of tie state and parish.
We find, aihO, thai the asses or has, contrary
to law. assessed poll tax on women We
|
on which be bases his claims
for services and the pages or columns which
make up that recapitulation, and that that
discrepancy stands unaeconnted Tor on the
books of the assessor.
We therefore recommend that the district
attorney use all diligence to ascertain to the
fullest extent the nature and magnitude of
all irregularities and msdoings IN both of
these offces-sherif and assessor-and we
further, that the district attor-
ney take steps to recover from either or both
of the aforementioned offices any money
which he may lind has been illegally wrung
from the state and parish and that ii either,
or both, are found to have eriminally violated
the laws of the state, that they be held to an
swer for the same.
We would also report that We find that the
police jurors are subject 10. and ought to un-
dergo the same legal investigation. for audit
ing the accounts of the sheriff, for which
they had no authority.
c. p. HAMPTON,
Foreman Grand Jury, August term 1888.