The herald., 1897-04-28
The Grand Jury Report
Mutilated
ONE LEAF WAS ABSTRACTED
THE SECTION SCORING JUSTICES
MORRISON AND ROSSITER
The Theft Committed at Some Time
While the Document Was Being
Copied for the City Papers

There is music in the air around the
court house and it is pitched in the
highest key in department one. The
record of the superior court has been
mutilated, and an inquiry is being maze
as to the offender. A leaf has been ex-
tracted from the grand jury report. and
an air of mystery envelops the circum-
stances of its disappearance.
Yesterday morning while the trial OF
Emanuel Brown was in progress, John
e. Platter, secretary of the late grand
Jury. appeared in the court room and
had a few moments conversation with
Judge Smith. Mr. Platter handed man
uscript TO Judge Smith, and the latter
resumed his seat upon the bench. Inc
court then spoke as follows:
'It appearing to the court that in some
manner the report made by the late
grand jury has been tampered with and
some leaves purloined' and taken out
sr1rreptitiously; having obtained an eX-
act copy of the leaves thus purlolneo
and stolen from the report, it is the or
de rof this court that they be supplied
in that report and take the place OF
those that have been stolen.
at is not proposed to pass matter
of that kind and the end is not vet.
1 think we are on the track of the party
who thus tampered with the records
CT this court, and future events will de-
termine who took it."
The portion stolen from the report
severely criticised the conduct of Justice
Morrison of this city. and Justice Ros-
sitter of Pasadena and the copy of the
original supplied by Secretary Platter
and sworn to by him is as follows:
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
"Our examination of the dockets of
the justices of the peace reveals numer-
GUS irregularities in the methods en-
ployed, the most of which have been
made satisfactory. We recommend
greater strictness in keeping the rec
ords of their work and more careful
scrutinizing of their proceedings on the
part of the district attorneys office.
1--WE take vigorous exceptions to the
carelessness and negligence displayed
by Justice D. C. Morrison in his judi
cial administration, by which the ends
of Justice have been defeated and inno-
cent parties subjected to severe and
needless hardships. We enter our most
strenuous protest against such a course
as a travesty of justice which all right
minded citizens must condemn. We
find il necessary to condemn the very
Indifferent manner in which the records
of Justice ]. G. Rossiter are kept, and
his apparent neglect of the require
10 or,A1yit1o n his office.
"We believe that the judicial func-
tions' should be exercised on the same
lofty plane in the lower as in the high
er courts, and we desire to place on
record our emphatic disapproval OF such
continued neglect of official duty as
Justice Rossiter exhibits.
The above copy was filed by CLERK
Logan and incorporated with the grand
jury report
The damage having been repaired 90
far, the question remained as to VINO
the person or persons might be VINO hau
mutilated the record by abstracting a
leaf from the judicial document The
concluding sentence of Judge Smith S re-
marks indicated that some one was sus-
pected and in all probability would be
brought to task 1t is rather unfortunate
but truth compels the avowal that GER
tain circumstances have continued TO
cast suspicion upon one of the reporters
of the city newspapers. Upon the DAY
that the grand jury report was filed II
passed through the hands OF the repre-
sentatives of the four papers in the FOL
lowing order: Robert Snowden of the
Record, Robert b. Kidd of the Express,
John Knight of The Herald and J. Cole
man of the Times.
Mr.. Snowden upon being asked what
light he could throw upon the matter
made the following statement:
when the grand jury's report was
handed in last Tuesday morning | looked
it over and made extracts from it for my
paper. The page claimed afterward to
be missing was there when l handled
the report, the pages being fastened to-
gether with staples. When l had finished
examining the document l handed II to
Constable Yonkin, who stood near by.
Constable Yonkin of the township
court upon being asked stated frankly
that he had taken up the document from
Clerk Logan's desk and glanced through
it to see what references, if any had been
made, about the township court. He
noticed the paragraph referring to JUS
tice Morrison and a moment later re-
placed the report upon the clerks desk.
Robert Kidd. representing the Evening
Express on the day in question, made
last evening the following intereeting
statement:
Il went into department one about
Has last Tuesday morning and asked
Clerk Logan for the grand jurys re-
port. He gave il to NE, requesting that
l handle the document carefully, as it
was the original and there were no
copies. l took the report and began
copying the same, when John Knight,
reporter on The Herald, came into court
and asked for a portion of the report to
work on. l unfastened the binding
staples.and handed him that portion re-
lating to the Whittier Reform school,
and he began copying it, A few minutes
later Mr. Snowden Of the Record came in.
remarked to him. Here, Snowden, is
something you Want-the grand jury's
report" He responded that he had
already seen it.
He then made the request that I
should omit taking that portion of the
report which referred TO Justice Morri-
son, at the same time speaking of Morri-
son as being a friend of his and. indeed.
TO al ra porters. He's good fellow said
he, 'ang one of the boys If you leave
it out q 1lny be in position to recipro-
cate EnlT,v time l did not say anything
in reply ~ to whether l would leave the
matter otsl or not, but did ask him 10