The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-01-27
GENERAL PREsENTMENTs
ofth Grand Jury of the CITY Court

Savannah, Ga, Jan. 20. 1s94.-To His
Honor Judge A. H. MacDonell, City
Court, Savannah, Ga; The grand jurors
of the November term of the city court
beg leave to make the following present
ment.
We have examined the records of the
clerk, and the books of the sheriff of the
! city court.
We find them neatly and correctly kept.
We have visited the convict camps.
! Camp No. I've found the camp
grounds in excellent order, clean and well
kept.
The hospital and woman's building are
IN poor condition. The boards upon
which the blankets are placed are filthy,
which is disgrace, and we recommend
| that new boards be provided, and when
provided, we suggest that they be kept
clean.
The other buildings are in as good con-
dition as such old and decayed barns can
well be kept
Camp No. 2.-The grounds are clean and
well kept; the stockade was also in good
| condition.
Four men were on the sick list, two
| suffering from grippe, and two from other
inherent diseases. Forty-nine able
bodied men are at work upon the canal.
The captain and guards we found
| courteous, and willing to furnish any in
formation. The general management of
| this camp we considered good.
| A special law for Chatham county only,
| gives the justices of the peace of Chat
| ham county, in criminal cases, the right to
| charge $500 for drawing up a bond for
| appearance in the court, and for keeping
| the peace.
| This charge serves as a great stimu-
liant and incentive to the magistrate to
induce the ignorant to prefer charges in
this court against others, for the most
| trl1ing cause, and under the most frivo-
| lous pretext, in order that he may get
| $500 for the bond. Oftentimes the magis-
trate mulcts the offenders to the extent
of $500 each.
For instance, some negro woman pre-
fers charge against two other negro
women for assault and battery; each one
| OF the defendants pay $500, which is
$500; then the two defendants are bound
over to keep the peace, for that they pay
$500 each, $500 more; $1,000 for the
magistrate. And for what2
! For something frequently too trivial
even to be recognized by the grand jurors
No one can help seeing the great temp
tation held out to the magistrate to fos-
| ter quarrels and keep the poor negroes
! continually in his court. No such laws
! hold in other counties, and it should not
| obtain here. The law is abused and
| should be abolished.
| The laws controlling the fees of magis-
! trates should be the same in this city as
! in all other cities of the state, and we
! call upon our representatives to have
! this special law repealed and abolished,
| and the number of magistrates be re-
! duced one-half. .-
Before closing our report we desire to
| express our thanks to his honor Judge A.
! H. MacDonell, for his clear and compre-
| hensive charge, as well as for his con-
siderate courtesy with reference to the
| varied demands upon our time. For the
| uniform attention to the necessary de-
mands and acquisitions of this grand jury
! the undersigned Jurors desire to express
! their thanks TO the solicitor general and
| bailiff, John p. Rogers. We recommend
! that these presentments be published in
| the MORNING News and Savannah Press.
| Respectfully submitted,
g., JOSEPH d. WEED, Foreman.
JAMES NJ. DIXON,
| j. Q. HODGES,
| a. M. WEST,
| p. d. DAFFIN,
GEORGE G. GoEBEL,
]. F. SWEAT,
DAVID P. MYBRsoN.
JOHN F. LAFAR,
WALTER S. KING,
JOIN SGHLEY,
| w. J. LINDSAY,
| SAMUEL P. HAMILTON,
E n. HANCOCK,
| H. D. STEVENS,
| JAMES MCGRATH,
G. M. RIVALS,
J. w. JACKSON.