The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-06-04
JUDGE FALL1eANT's CHARGE.
The Superior Court Grand Jury Told
Plainly What to Do.

] Inc Superior court GranQ Jury IOtO
Plainly What to Do.
Judge Falligant convened the June term
of the superior court yesterday. 1t was his
! first appearance on the superior court bench
in this county. and nearly every member Of
the bar was present and the court room was
crowded.
The clerk called the grand jury panel and
only eighteen responded, but others dropped
in until nearly every juror was in his seat
OF the travers jurors forty-three answered
Then began the usual applications for ex-
cuse.
Leroy Myers, foreman OF the grand
jury, and next the grand jurors were sworn
by the solicitor general
Judge FaIligant charged the grand jury
in an address which occupied three-quarters
Of an hour in its delivery. He paid a com
plIInent to Judge Adams, the solicitors gem
eral land past grand juries through whose
administrations Of the laws the county has
been blessed He elaborated the idea that
grand Juries are near the people in a
country where there are no vested rights
and no hereditary rights to rule The grand
jury at every session represents the rulers,
and it has high and solemn duty to per-
form. The members of the grand jury are
the guardians Of the most sacred rights of
the people. They are responsible for the
purity, peace and good order of the local
governments. They must preserve the
purity of local government through the en-
forcement of the law.
Judge Falligant was specific in recon-
mending the closest scrutiny of the public
records of the county. He advised the
grand jury to examine the reports of for
mer grand jurles with reference to their
recommendations on public roads, and he
said if it should find that these recon-
mendations have not been carried out, it is
prima facie evidence of neglect, which
should be reported. He charged the Jury
specially to make critical examination Of
the Justices dockets. These inferior courts
are powerful for good or evil, and could be
engines of oppression and grievous wrongs
against the poor. They have perpetrated
great wrongs throughout the state, he said,
and crying attention to these evils has re-
suited in legislation on the subject, but he
congratulated the people that the vigor
with which those charged with inquiring
into and prosecuting offenders had resulted
in better condition of affairs.
Judge Falligant said that the list Of voters
should be rigidly inspected Men not en-
titled to vote should be stricken from the
list. The purity of the ballot is paramount
Every man entitled to vote should vote
once, and his vote should be counted as
cast. The officials should be elected by
men entitled to vote.
He denounced the carrying of concealed
weapons as 'cowardly habit" The intel
ligent, he said, do not carry them. The
ignorant and the debased, who violate the
law, show an abandoned and malignant
heart by carrying a weapon likely to pro-
duce death-to send a human being to
death. Those who violate this law should
be punished by the law.
The judge spoke eloquently on the per
nicious vice of gambling. Those who were
good.and noble men in early life have been
dragged down to infamy and vice through
gambling dens. Men have fallen from
positions of confidence and trust to disgrace
and to felon's cell. These dens of infamy.
he said, should be suppressed
On Sunday tippling he said: Six days in
the week are enough for the liquor traffic.
No matter what mans religious conncc-
ton the Sabbath should be held a sacred
day, and nothing is more fruitful of crime
than the Sunday tipping house.
The judge was often eloquent in animal
verting upon the wrongs done to society by
the vices to which he called attention, and
the charge was listened to with the closest
interest by the grand jurors, the bar and citi-
zens present. 1t was fecked here and there
with ornate sentences, in which even the
realm of poesy was sounded. 1t was i'm
promptu, without even a note, and, as an
original charge impreSsively delivered.
compelled rapt attention, and his honor
was coInplimented on all sides after the adj
lournment of the court