Montgomery County sentinel., 1888-03-23
Judge McSherry's Charge to the Grand
Jury.


| mlnlStered 10 you informs you, In measure,
of the nature of the duties which y0u have
been called together to perform, we do not
deem it amiss to suggest, for your considera-
ton, a subject of much Importance, in addi-
ton to those which several penal statutes
expressly require US to bring particularly to
| your attention.
Your powers are great but they are to be
exercised only for the public good. You are
not to be controlled or swayed by prejudice
or passion in pursuing your Investigations.
Neither malice nor other similar motive is
to influence you in making presentments
nor are you at liberty to refrain from bring
| ing to trial any offender by reason of favor,
partiality or other like improper considera-
ton. A conscientious, fearless and Impair
tial discharge of your important and deli
cate duties is not only essential to the due
administration of justice, but will alone
meet the requirements imposed by your re-
| sponsible position upon you. The speedy
punishment of the guilty and the sure pro-
lection of the innocent inspire respect for
and obedience to the law; and the agency
of Grand Jury in securing these results
becomes potent and effective in exact pro-
portion to the zeal, fidelity, fearlessness and
intelligence with which its members enter
upon and execute the trusts committed to
them. A petit jury cann0t try or convict,
and this Court cannot sentence malefac
tor, no matter how iagrant and evident his
guilt, unless you initiate the proceedings
against him. Crime, emboldened by i'm
munty from punishment, will go unre-
buked and unchecked unless the Grand
Jury, after calm and dispassionate inquiry,
tormu!ates accusations upon which its per-
petrators may be brought to trial. Whilst
no guilty person should be permitted to
evade the law, and by false sympathy or by
want Of vigilance escape punishment, it is
equally true that the Grand Jury ought not,
under any pretext, to become an instrument
of oppression or medium of vexatous pros
ecutions You will not forget that it is as
much your duty to protect the innocent
against malicious or untoundei prosecu-
tions, as it is to bring speedily and without
reserve, the guilty to just and merited
punishment.
With these brief observations we proceed
to call your attention TO subject of local
interest.
BY the Act of 1880, Oh. 324, it is made
penal offence to sell within the limits Of this
county any Intoxicating drinks. 1t is a
matter of public notoriety that in some To-
calities the provisions OF the Act are wholly
disregarded. Whether this legislation be wise
or unwise, judicieus or Injudicious, benef-
cial or detrimental are questions with which
you and the Court have nothing to do. We
find the Act upon the statute book and your
and our duty in respect to it Is plain and
unmistakable one. We are required to see
that it is strictly and rigidy enforced. If
the law be good one its beneficial effects |
will be thus fully secured. If,upon the other |
hand it be bad or vicious legislation the sur
est way to procure its speedy repeal will be to |
vigorously carry i: into operation. But these
considerations should have and doubtless |
will have no influence whatever upon you
in dealing, according to your plain duty,
with this subject. The chief difficulty here
toiore encountered in securing the convic-
tion OF offenders against this law, has arisen
from the fact that witnesses who have par
ticipated in or who have been accommo
dated by its violation, have been reluctant
or unwilling to testify against the accused.
But that is not an insuperable difficulty. A
conviction can be had in these cases upon
crcumstantal as well as upon direct evil
dence. 1t is not necessary that you
should have before you the evidence OF an
eye witness. You do not by becoming
Grand Jurors surrender your intelligence
or your reasoning faculties; and in dealing
with this question, beset with this dlstinc'
tive difficulty, you have only TO exercise
that intelligence and those reasoning iacul
ties which you employ, and precisely in the
mode in which you do employ them, in the
ordinary pursuits Of every occupation OF
life. There is nothing mysterious or even
peculiar in regard to circumstantial evi
dence. Many OF the most momentous trans
actions are governed by it in the business
world; and it is only when mentioned in
Court OF Justice that it assumes, to the un
rejecting, the appearance of a technical and
intricate medium of proof In brief il con
ssts merely of the proof Of such facts and
circumstances as naturally and usually &C
company the imputed act. From those facts
and circumstances you infer or deduce as
conclusion the imputed act The degree OF
that conclusions certainty depends upon
the closeness of its relation to and the neces
sty Of its following from those facts and cir
cumstances thus proved.
If it be shown that A. keeps Il store or
other place of business; that men are seen
to go into that place sober and shortly after
wards to come out drunk, and that that is
thing of frequent occurrence, you would
have no hesitation in concluding, from these
facts that these men procured in that place
Intoxicating drinks. That would be clear.
But you must go step further You must
know from whom these men got the int0xi-
eating drinks and whether they purchased
them. Your reason and experience both
tell you that it is wholly out of the question
that the proprietor of that place would al
low any other person than himself or some
one in his employ to dispose upon his prem
ises, at the risk of losing other custom,
liquors which inflame the brutal passions
and kindle into activity the worst and most
abandoned instincts OF depraved nature.
You know equally well that no one would
give away the quantity of stmulants which
such habitual drunkenness demonstrates
must be disposed of. 1t would be expect
ing you to believe something wholly i'm
probable and contrary to every mans ex-
perence if you should be asked to give credit
to any other conclusion than that such liquors
were there sold. But there is another fact
Very few of the people who violate this law
care to hazard the peril of selling without
obtaining Government license because OF
the stringent penalties for so doing. A lit
tie judciOus inquiry on your part VIII enable
you TO discover whether these persons have
such Government licenses. Ii you discover
that they have, then the case is made out
beyond any possible doubt, if, indeed, there
were room for such doubt independently of
this fact.
These views are entirely in accord with
the policy of the law as declared by statute
in analogous cases. BY the Act of 1864,
Chap. 18, merely exposing for sale is made
evidence of selling and would sustain con
viCtion though no eye witness were pro-
duced By invoking the kind of evidence
suggested, yoI can ndict, without an eye
witness; and petit jury, willing and brave
enough to do its sworn duty, can upon the
same state of facts and in perfect accord with
the fixed policy of the law, properly convict.
Upon conviction this Court may be depend
ed on TO inflict such penalties as will both
effectually lnterdict repetition of the Of
fence in any instance by the same person,
and deter others from violating the law and
thereby incurring its heaviest lorfeitures.
We are required to call your attention To
the Act of 1868, Chap 179, prohibiting the
sale and the advertisement for sale of drugs, |
&c, intended TO produce abortion; and TO the |
Act of 1879, Chap. 329, relating to default
ing public officers.
Trusting that you may speedily dispatch |
the business brought before you at as little
expense as possible, we are confident that
you will discharge your duties faithfully
and inteligentiy.