The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1896-02-18

listed his property, then he may be in
dicted for perjury, and IL then becomes
felony and an indictable offense.
When you go to the assessors Office.
shall enjoin upon you to examine the
returns Of the office carefully, and
think that for the asst 10 years you
will not find 10 per cent. of the returns
have been sworn to; and i desire you
to make such recommendations and
take such steps i'm the premises as viii
force n compliance with the law in this
respect.
There were two PARTIES brought be-
fore you for the purpose Of challenging
you IL they had any reason for such q
challenge. They are now in Jail on a
charge of some kind of an assault, and
! presume the county attorney will pro-
duce the proper witnesses before you
bearing on their cases.
You will investigate any case
amounting TO felony. II you have any
knowledge of a crime that has been
committed. II will be your duty to so
report ii to your fellow jurymen, and If
you believe there exists evidence bear
ing upon that fact which will make the
matter clear to you, you should have
subpoenas issued for such persons as
will throw light on the subject. You
have the full power of the court TO
compel the attendance of any witness.
1T is your duty to have all witnesses
brought before you so you can have the |
full evidence. 1t will also be your
duty. after your retire to your room in
charge of the bailiff, to appoint one of
your number a clerk. who shall take
down substantially the evidence that
witnesses may detail before you. That
is written down for the purpose of en-
abling the county attorney to draw an
Indictment and also for his use upon
the trial of a cause after the indict-
&c will he
written down by your clerk and upon
your adjournment il will be delivered
to the county attorney for his use in
the future.
There is one other section l want to
read you, section 1881, which is as fol-
lows:
AN accusation in writing against
any district, county. township or mu-
nicipal officer, for wilfull or corrupt
misconduct or malfeasance in office.
may be presented by the grand jury of
the county for which the officer accused
is elected or appointed"
1T Will be your duty to examine all
of those offices; no only the county Of
fees. but the municipal offices; that is
to say, the city offices here, justices of
the peace and constables.
If ii comes to your knowledge, and
you have sufficient evidence that any
one of those officers has been guilty of
OI misconduct, while III
might not be subject to Indictment IL
would be sufficient to remove him from
office, and IL will be your duty under
section 1881, to so report
In examining cases, after evidence
has been introduced before you. and
you have taken vote upon the matter
before you, TO see whether you should
find an indictment or not While your
body consists of seven members, Ii re- |
quires the vote of five of them to find
an Indictment and the county attor- |
ney, in that event. will draw up the |
proper indictment, which will be signed |
by you. together with the names of the |
witnesses which appeared before you to |
testify. which must be endorsed upon |
the indictment. 1t sometimes occurs |
that witnesses may be brought before !
you and you may PROFOUND questions |
to them which they may refuse to an |
swer, and should this be the case il |
will be your duty to write down that |
question to the court, and the court will |
determine whether or not that is a |
proper question and whether witness |
the witness to answer-it being a prop
er question-you will again retire to the |
jury room and PROFOUND the question, |
and If he does not answer IL you will |
come to the court with that witness and
your foreman will state that witness
ItlustC u dHSNtI anu the COuII VIII
take such steps necessary to make him
answer the question. i believe that Is
all have to say in general charge.
II desire to charge you specially. |
There is one matter which / regret |
to have to call your attention to, butt
it becomes my duty to do so. Very
grave and serious charges have been
publicly made, through the newspapers
of this county and adjoining counties.
and ii has been current rumor on the |
streets that the clerk of this court has |
been guilty of malfeasance in Office
in fact, amounting to a felony. Now, |
this is a matter which you should very |
investigate. He has been
charged with issuing bogus certificates. |
He has been charged with classifying. |
with the records of this
court. / presume witnesses will be in
troduced before you in regard to this /
matter. | will say / want a most thor
ough examination of this. / don't want
any whitewashing reports, to please
anybody. l charge you specially in re-
gard to this matter. because If the par
ty is guilty of the charge. he should be |
punished: If he is not guilty of such ac-
cusation, then IL is your duty that you |
should eXonerate him; and in order to |
do this, you will have full, complete |
and free access to the office and you |
want to make a thorough investiga- |
by the evidence IL will be your duty to |
find an Indictment against him. If you |
do not believe that, upon your oaths, II |
will be your duty to return that fact |
say so in emphatic terms. He should |
either be indicted or exonerated. There |
should be no halfway ground about IL. |
l want this investigation thorough and |
complete. |
I'm regard to your action in the grand |
Jury room and upon the streets. There |
is current rumor around this town to-
day that influence will be brought TO |
bear against you to control your actions |
in that grand jury room. i am sorry |
that this report is circulated. Whether |
1t is true or not, / don't know. want |
you to be careful, circumspect. and al |
low no one to talk to YOU on the street |
about any cases that may be before |
you-either for the purpose of finding |
out whether an indictment will be |
brought, or for the purpose Of innuenc-
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