Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1891-08-27

BiggS Bros. spring Wheat hours huo
Crown Stock Feod are for sale by the best
dealers in every town. Try them.
Mr.. Paul Motter Of the Emmitsburg
Chronicle is off for a two-wccks vacation.
He will spend it with friends in Pittsburg,
Pa.
JUDGE McSHERRy's CHARGE.-Owing to
pressure of other matter and its late receipt
we were unable to publish Judge McShcrry's
charge to the grand jury in our last issue.
Its merits demand place In our columns
and a CAREFUL reading by all. 1t runs as fol-
lows:
1T is unnecessary to speak to you IN detail
respecting the numerous cases which will be
brought to your attention; but there are
some subjects which the Code requires the
Court to give you specially in charge, and
others which are of such importance that it
is deemed advisable to invite your attention
to them. First and chief among these latter
is the continued violation ot the law prohib-
itng the sale of Intoxicating drinks to mi
nors. This subject has been called to the at
tcntion OF grand juries quite frequently OF
late, but the evil has been going on under
conditions which render it exceedingly diff
cult to detect its existence and to bring to
punishment those who are engaged in 1t
The hotel, saloon and restaurant proprietors
are generally innocent of this oftensc. The
public character of these establishments rem
der it hazardous in the extreme for the pro-
prlctors to violate the law. Tue mischief
turks and lies hidden III far more dangerous,
because in far more secret places. And
these secret places are the back room bars in
numerous grocery stores. In these back
room bars, secluded from the public gaze and
entered through store there is far less risk
of detection, but there is far greater facility
for spreading this pernicious EVIL. 1t is i'm.
possible to estimate the magnitude OF the
misery which this forbidden and stcalthy
traffic is continually producing. Some ira.
ccs of 1t are visible occasionally upon the
public lhoroughtarcs but the broken hearts
and fcycIisl viglls il causes TO anxious moth.
ers, trembling with apprehension for the
future of their offspring are hidden, in The
solitude of desolatc homes, from the eyes of
the unconccrncd multitude. Its bitter fruits
are poverty premature decay and death. Its
final triumph is eternal loss In Gods name
arrest lis mad progress and snatch with II
grip of iron innocent boys and promising
youths from its hungry and devouring jaws.
Whilst other remedies are seemingly una
yailing, there is still. one left, and that one ls
in your hands As the law now stands, any
one, upon application to the Clerk and upon
payment of a small sum, can procure license
to sell liquor in quantities less than pint,
that Is, by the drink This license Is taken
out in addition to the traders license and
the license to sell liquors in quantities less
than Il pint. There is q provision of the
Codc-Scc 81 of Art. 5G-which is in these
words :-"Thc Clerk shall not without the
thereof, grant license to any person to sell
spirituous or fermcntcd liquors from whom
the Grand Jury has recommended license
to be withheld, or to any person whose L.
ccnsc has been suppressed by the Court"
Now, if the Grand Jury will tcarlessly rec
ommend that the persons who carry on
stores not hotels, saloons or resturants-bc
denied licenses to sell liquor by the drink,
the Clerk will haye no authority to issu"
such licenses to such persons without an or
der of this Cortland such an order will
never be signed A compliance with this
provision Of the Code requires that you
should name in writing to the Court the per
sons from whom you recommend such llccn-
SEES to he withhed--a general description
will not be sufficient. You will have no diff
ficultv in procuring the names. Licenses
already granted cannot be affected by this
action The present Grand Jury and the
one to assemble in February next, can, If
they see fit and are wiling co operate with
the Court, do much to crush out and forever
suppress this appalling and balcful evil.
When YOU shall have finished the work
that may come before you, the Court will re-
lease yol from further attendance on this
session, hut Will not finally discharge you
until the lapse of the term. For tins there
are many good reasons, but the chief one is
this For more than ten years past the at
tcntlon of grand juries has been called. term
after term by this Court to the open and
fragrant disregard by the Frederick County
Agricultural Society of the law against gam
bling. But the time which has heretofore
elapsed between the fairs of this society and
the assembling of the next grand jury has
been long enough to allow the matter to fade
from the memory of witnesses, or some other
Whatever the reason may have been, the
fact remains that this society has boldly de-
fled the law and has profited financially by
Its defiance. Only year ago i, sent a COM
mittce to this Court to ask whether scheme
which 1t then proposed, for large
compensation, to allow upon its grounds,
would be contrary to the law forbldding
gambling. That committee was advised that
the contemplated scheme was within the
prohibition of the law. Notwithstanding
this, the society sold the exclusive privilege
of operating this scheme, and the scheme
was operated and the law set at Defiance
This Court now proposes to hold this grand
Jury and if in October next during the fair
the Agricultural Society suffers gambling
upon Its grounds you will be called together
at once and given the matter in charge and
furnished with the, names of witnesses
whilst the transaction is fresh, that you may
discharge your duty promptly and ndict i'm