The morning call., 1892-04-14
the STORY oF Tue JuRIEs.

The demand Of Alfred Bowler, secretary
OF the Grand Jury, aud seven other men,
bers Of that body 10 be discharged from
further duty. on the ground that las a
minority they find it impossible 10 secure
certain indictments which in their iudg-
ment are just and proper. in view of the
evidence offered" constitutes another chap
ter in a drama which will figure in any
history of San Francisco It is worth
while recapituating the plot as far as it has
gone.
Some eight or nine months ago Presiding
Judge Wallace Of the Superior Court, ind
Ing by experience that The usual plan OF
selecting grand juries resulted in the i'm
paneiing of a body Of men who could not
be trusted to find true bills against legisla-
tive or municipal booders, or friends Of the
Southern Pacific Company, availed himself
Of tie option granted him by the code and
appointed an elisor to choose a Grand Jury.
1t began business with such yigor that it
soon became evident that somebody was
going TO be hurt On this a henchman of
the railroad company. with one of its regu-
lar officials. who were represented by the
senior counsel Of that corporation, contested
the legality of the Grand Jury and refused
TO obey its subpoena. For this one OF them
was sentenced by Judge Wallace to fine and
Imprisonment for contempt His case was
taken on appeal by the railroad attorney to
the Supreme Court, which affirmed Judge
Wallace's decision, apparently by unani
nous yote-Justice Mcfarland being absent.
BY an Ingenious continuance another case
was brought, which also involved the ques-
tion of the legality of the Grand Jury, and
in this case, which was also submitted to the
SHnrpma nil NIL To
Farland having acknowledgement itself.
and by vote OF to decided that Judge
Wallace was wrong and that the Grand Jury
was no jury. 1t therefore dislaEded.
Judge Wallaee's term of service as Pre-
siding Judge being about to expire, num-
Der OF leading citizens petitioned the
Superior Court TO re-elect him, in order to
enable him to pursue the work Of reform
he had begun. But ten of the twelve
Superior Judges disTegarded the appeal,
and chose in his stead one Of the youngest
and least known members Of the bench
James NJ. Trout. Each Judge then sent In
Twelve names OF persons suitable In their
judgment TO be grand jurors, and from
these nineteen were drawn according to
law ID serve as a Grand Jury. Only one
of the men selected by Judge Trout was
drawn, and him the Presiding Judge ar
pointed to serve as foreman.
This man happened to be J. p lie Count,
stationer. who had had controversies with
The city ever stationery bills and had had
the misfortune, some years ago. TO be in
dicted in connection Herewith. The Grand
Jury had no sooner gone to work than it
began to be whispered that they were more
likely to screen than 10 punish crime. They
applied to the foreman of Judge Wallaee's
jury Tor the information he had gathered
during his term of service. He gave them
two sets of testimony going to establish the
guilt OF two individuals, and observed that
II they were not acted upon be would con-
clude that the members of the new Grand
Jury we're not in earnest, and that it would
not be worth his while to try to give them
further assistance. Neither of the two
has been indicted.
This and similar cases of dereliction of
duty moved eight out of the nineteen grand
jurors to 90 into court on Monday and
throw up their mandate. Presiding Judge
Trout will have to release them and dis
band the jury; he can hardly compel citi-
zens to 60 On serving the county without
pay when they say they are hlndered from
fulfilling their duty by the recalcitrance of
majority of the body to which they be-
long. Thus matters will be placed just
where they were before Wallace appointed
an elisor. The county will have no Grand
Jury. because, under the present forms of
law. 1t seems to be impossible to get one
that is not In the hands either of the hood
lers or somebody else.
The chapter Of history is interesting. OF
course, the drama has not ended. 1t has
only just begun. Fraud and corruption
cannot succeed in paralyzing the instItu-
tons under which we live, at any rate
until the people have exhausted their reme-
dies. II 1t turns out under our present or
ganization that we cannot get an honest
Grand jury. by any process known to the
law. it will become the duty Of citizens to
examine the situation Of affairs carefully.