The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-10-23
GRAND JURY PRESENTMENH
October Term of Court, 1895, for Ab-
beville County.

mage!
The Grand Jury would respectfully
make the following presentment:
1st. We are reioiced to be able to
congratulate our fellow-citizens upon
the material prosperity which has
been vouchedsafed to them by kind
Providence in the abundant food crops
and the remunerative prices which
they are being able to realize on the
other products of their labor. We re-
gret that we are unable to go further
and congratulate them on the fact that
the records Of this term of Court will
show a diminution of crime in oul
midst.
end. We have passed upon all in
dicLments handed out to us by the So
licitor and have found "true bill' OF
"no bill" as the facts in our judgment
seemed to warrant.
3rd. We find that the use of one OF
the front rooms of the Court House
has been granted to the City Council
of Abbevile as an office while in ses-
sion. We recommend that this be dis
continued and that the two front
rooms in said building be set apart eX-
clusively for the use Of the Grand Jury
and the witnesses in attendance upon
the Court respectively.
4th. In our presentment at the June
Term of Court we called attention to
the condition Of the urinals in the
iury rooms which were III very un-
satisfactory condition. We find that
nothing has been done to remedy the
matter and the consequence is they
have become quite offensive and the
source of great complaint. We trust
that the Supervisor will attend TO this
matter without delay.
5th. The condition of the Jail and
management of the prisoners confined
therein, we regard as satisfactory
There are certain minor repairs needed
about the cook stove and the piping Of
the heater which we recommend be at
tended to.
9Th. We visited the Poor House by
q delegation of our number, and from
the report made by same, the condl'
ton of affairs, as to that institution,
are by no means satisfactory. They
report that while there can be no fault
with the quantity and quality Of the
food and clothing furnished to the in
mates, the bed and bedding, especially
of the more helpless of the inmates,
are in wretcnedly filthy condition.
They learned that the contractor had
paid very little attention to the condl'
ton of the paupers within the last
twelve months, having visited the
Poor House only some three or four
times during that period.
We recommended in our last pre-
sentiment that the practice OF letting
out the matter of maintaining the pau
pers TO the lowest bidder be abandoned,
and that in place thereof that an over
seer or steward be put in charge, to
whom the rations' for the support OF
the inmates should be furnished by the
Supervisor and by him (the stewart)
issued out each day to the paupers.
We are glad that this suggestion has
been acted upon and that the same will
90 into effect on the lst of November,
next.
7th. We regret that we feel called
upon to make mention of the signal
failure on the part of the municipal
authorities of the town of Greenwood
to enforce the dispensary law.
We are of the opinion that the re-
cent deplorable killing of State Con-
stable J. J. Mosley in that town was
the outcome of such failure on the part
of said authorities, and that, possibly,
it might be we'll enough for his Excel
lency the Governor, to consider the ad-
visibility of providing metropolitan
police force for said town.
Sth. We understand that S. B.
Hodges, the express agent at Green
wood, delivered several packages of
whiskey to parties after the killing of
Constable AIoseley, which had been
seized 10y that officer. We recommend
that the Trial Justice in that place in
vestigate the matter and see whether
in so doing he has not violated the dis
pensary law.
9th. We cannot in too strong Ian
guage condemn the reprehensble
practice, which seems to be on the in
crease among our people, and especial
ly of the colored portion, of carrying
pistols concealed about their person.
1t is from this practice that so many
cases of homicide proceed. We
call upon the Legislature to
adopt, if possible, more stringent laws
touching this great and growing evil.
Formal complaint having been filed
with our body touching the conduct of
Trial Justice Gown in his official Ca
pacity, and it not being practicable for
US to investigate the matter at this