The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-05-15
WILL THEY INDICT !?
Judge Gum1nere Charges the
Mercer Grand jury to
Investigate State
House Frauds.
GRAVE VIOLATIONS OF LAW
No One Is Too Great to Escape the
Court Says If Wrong
Has Been Done.
GRAVE VIOLATIONS OF LAW
Special to the Jersev city Nelcs.

| TRENTON, May Is, 1895. = There
was a very large attendance of
the Mercer County Bar yesterday morn
| ing when Justice William S. Gummere
raped for order. The following-named
| gentlemen were then called to the jury
| box and took the oath as Grand Jurors
Edward Howe, Princeton; Thomas
Hanlon. Pennington; John B. Green,
| Ewing; Foster w. Vankirk, Lawrence;
| George E. Titus. Hightstown; Andrew
| Eye. Hopewell: Joseph H. Allen, West
Windsor: Henry H. Hutchinson. Wash
| ngton; Thomas F. Applegate and James
C. Robbins, Hamilton: William I. Van
nest. John E. Davies, Absalom R.
| Davis, Henry C. Kafer, P. ]. Berry
John G. Stout. Well.ng; C. Sickel,
| Bloom. Isaac Rouner and Alfred l..
| Eccles. Trenton. Thomas ]. Donoghue
! was excused.
| = JUSTICE GUMMERE'S CHARGE.
After the oath was administered JUS
| tice Gummere addressed the Jurors as
| folIows:-
| The duty which you are called here
| to perform is the highest and most i'm
portant which the State imposes upon
it's citizens-the duty of bringing to
|
ment. all criminal offenses within the
border of the county, no matter how
| great nor how small AS no one is too
obscure in lfe or degraded in character
to escape your scrutiny, so, too, no per-
| son IS too exalted in station to be above
the reach of your investigation.
The obligation of the solemn oath
which each one of you has taken re-
auires you carefully to examine into
every alleged violation of law which
shall be brought to your attention; and,
in the dicharge of that duty, you have
| the power to require the attendance be-
| fore you of such witnesses as you may
deem proper, and to compel them to
| testify as to their knowledge of the
matter concerning which you have
caused them to be summoned.
WHEN TO INDICT.
| At the termination of your investi-
cation of any given case, if the evil
| dence produced before you, unexplained,
| justifies the conclusion that the person
accused is guilty of the offense charged
against him. it is your duty to indict;
and, in determining whether an indict-
ment shall or shall not be found, each
one of you should constantly bear in
mind the fact that you have solemnly
sworn to- put away all personal feeling
or bias either as to the subject matter
which you are investigating or as to the
persons who are interested therein.
1t is not your province to hear the
evidence on both sides and determine
| the guilt or Innocence. OF the accused !;
| You are only to determine whether
probable grounds of guilt appear sufi-
cient to justify the presentation of the
OBLIGATIONS OF THE OATH.
| These views of the duties of Grand
| Jurors. to which I have called your at
tention, are concisely expressed in , the
oath which you have just taken: The
+! duty to make diligent inquiry ON all mat
ters brought to your attention; to make
| true presentments thereon; to present
no one without just cause and to leave
| no one unpresented from any motive
inconsistent with a conscientious dis
One other obligation your oath i'm
poses upon you and that is to keep secret
and and your sSa own; " in ' other Words, to observe
| absolute and entire secrecy in regard to
every transaction which takes place in
one and permit no one to talk to you
| upon those matters. Any attempt upon
The part Of person n not rnm member Of
you what action had been taken by your
body in relation to any matter which has
against the law, which it is your duty
to bring to the attention Of the Court;
so deal with the offender as to make it
very unlikely that such offense will soon
agaiaR Rsv be fS5fea WnnaoNs iR shIs oR sRunntg ngw
| There are certain matters of the gravest
| Importance, gentlemen, with reference to
| this time, and which it will be your duty
carefully to investigate and act upon. l
refer to those matters which have lately
| tions of the committee appointed for
| that purpose by the Senate of this State.
From information which tc,, ta have rel
| of the committee, feel warranted in say
| ing to you that frequent and grave ,vio-
Certain Certain Of Of , our State officials, and also
| by persons unconnected with the State
Government, ~ which the people Of
large sums of the public moneys.
And I desire. in the first place. to
call your attention t9 faqds aegsd to
done for the State, 1t is said that Ger,
h sae he daS 81 ha1hg hgvs wo dons
Of purchasing supplies for the State,
have corruptly conspired with others, not
orbitant prices for such work and sup.
plies, with intent to cheat the State; II
this be bt true aso sen be not ooy don sch
work, or furnishing such supplies, have
| violated the criminal law of this State
and are subject to Indictment
| FRAUDULENT INTENT THE TEST. ;
| It is the settled law of New Jersey that
public work done or with the purchasing
Of supplies, to be paid for with the public
money, is under a duty to take care that
1.-The work is performed or the supplies
Fare furnished on terms most advan-
| tageous to the public: and, although he
| will not be liable for mere mistakes of
| Judgment, honestly made, yet neglect to
! perform such duty, whereby public in
| terests are sacrificed. if wilful,. or
prompted by a fraudulent or corrupt mo-
| tive will subject him to criminal respon-
| sibiIity. So, too, although it may be
stated, as general proposition, that a
man doing work or furnishing materials
| has a lawful right to fix his own price
| for the same, whether the work done or
| materials furnished be for a private per-
| son or a public body, yet this is only SO
/ provided there be no circumstances to
] show a fraudulent intent or purpose to
i cheat If such intent or purpose exists,
| he also has placed himself within the
/ grasp of the criminal law
| HOW IT Is TO BE PROVED.
| The intent which converts the act in
/ to a criminal offense, as in all other cases
where a fraudulent intent is necessary
| to constitute a crime, may be proved by
| circurnstantial evidence and in many
cases the exorbitancy. of the price for
which the work has been contracted to
be done or the supplies to be furnished
| has been held to be sufficient proof to
| maintain the charge of fraud, especially
where the bills for the same have been
1 furnished or work done are such that
| fha f1,rrar1t rlrices in the market can he