Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1899-03-29
A JURY CHARGE.
The Moody Murder the Burden OF
the Courts Instructions.

your body. Your foreman, under the law, can
administer an oath to any witness appearing
before the grand jury.
The grand jury must inquire into the case OF
every person imprisoned in the county Jail on
a criminal charge and not indicted. or against
whom an information has not been filed. In
passing I will say am informed that there is
no such case in the county. although ! give
you this instruction rs the law requires.
1t is the duty of the grand juryto inquire into
the condition and management of the county
Jail and into the wilful and corrupt misconduct
in office OF every public officer in the county.
Ii Is the duty OF the grand Jury, whenever
summoned, to make a complete examination
Of all the books. records and accounts of the
county. and especially those pertaining to the
revenue, and report thereon, and ii in their
Judgment the services Of an expert are re-
quired, the grand jury has power to employ
one at a reasonable cumpensation-no to ex-
coed - per day.
An indictment cannot be found without the
concurrence of at least five grand Jurors. When
so found It must be endorsed "A true bill. +" and
the endorsement must be signed by the fore
man Of the grand jury. When there is not a
concurrence of five grand jurors in finding an
indictment, the foreman must certify under his
hand that no true bill was found.
II AN Indictment is found by the grand jury
ii must be presented by the foreman in your
presence TO the court, and will be filed by the
clerk. The indictment must be signed by the
prosecuting attorney.
Gentlemen of the grand jury, the c~onstitu-
ton Of our state provides that a grand jury
shall only he drawn and summoned when the
district Judge shall, in his discretion consider
II necessary. You will readily see, gentlemen,
that the constitution only c~ontemplates the
calling of a grand jury upon a serious and ex-
traordinary occasion. The occasion of calling
this grand Jury is one which is as grave as
could well be imagined.
At half past / O'Clock in the morning of the
10th Of November, lsgS, one X. NJ. Moody, a
citizen OF this town, was killed. Who was the
assassin Of Moody is a mystery which the au-
thorities have been unable to solve, and conse-
quently il becomes your duty tn solve it, and
is the reason for the court calling this grand
jury.
The fact that the killing is shrouded in mys-
terry makes il more important that a grand jury
should discover aud mdict the party who did
the killing; for one who is capable of planning
and executing such a cunningly devised muir
der should not be permitted to be at large.
On the morning after the murder Il young
man named w. W. Badger was arrested by the
authorities for the murder of Moody and was
afterward released at a preliminary examina-
ton held before a Justice of the peace. The
foot, tlat n.l,.r V.tn. s.l.,..l ~ ,l.t .;,Aa
should not prevent you from indicting him If
suflic.en legal evidence is produced before
you To lead you to believe that a trial jury
would be warranted in convicting him.
The prosecution against Badger was based
upon the theory that the motive that Badger
had in killing Moody was the fact that Moody
was intimate with Badgers wife. 1t is a popu-
lar belief that if one man is intimate with an
others wife the injured husband has a moral
and a LEGAL right to kill the other man, and that
although the injured husband may do the kill
ing in a most cowardly manner, nevertheless
he is a hero in the eyes Of the public and ought
not to be indicted by a grand jury nor convict
ed by a trial jury. There is not a more popular
nor a more pernicious error in the world than
this. The law says that when a man lies in
wait for another and kills him-as the person
did who killed Moody, as is shown by the tes-
timony taken before the coroner's jury-then
he is guilty Of murder in the first degree: and
If you find sufficient evidence to prove that
although Moody was intimate with Badgers
wife. and that being the moving cause, Badger
lay in wait for Moody and killed him. you will
bring in an indictment against Badgerfor muir
der in the first degree.
Do not imagine, gentlemen of the grand jury,
that by calling your attention to the circum-
stances surrounding the arrest and prosecution
of Badger the court has any desire to limit your
investigation in this case to whether or not
Badger is the guilty party. The court desires
you to find out the truth about this matter and
indict the person that murdered Moody.
There are good citizens in every community
who may know something that will aid the au-
thorities of the state in ~ferreting out a crime,
who remain silent until after a trial and think
that they have committed no crime and have
not failed in their duty as citizens. The citi-
zens h refuse TO tell what they know about
a crime are guilty of being accessories after the
fact. and. what is far worse, utterly fail to ap-
preclate the fact that they are derelict in their
duty as citizens to their country. The court
calls upon every man and woman in this COM
munity who may know of anything that may
throw the least light upon the killing of Moody
to go before the grand jury. The doors of the
grand jury are wide open TO those who desire
to aid in finding out the truth Of this most hor-
rible crime. II any citizen goes before the
grand jury and tells what he knows about this
matter. he will be doing a great service.
The ideal form of government is a republic
where every citizen does his duty, fully and
fearlessly. The worst form of government is a
republic where the citizens of il shirk the re-
sponsibilities of citizenship.
/ firmly believe-and it is the reason that ]
have called this grand jury-that there is some
man OF woman in this community who knows
some facts which would solve this mystery and
send the assassin of Moody to the scaffold i
he or she would come before this grand jury
Go upon the theory. gentlemen, that some one
knows the facts in this case and will lot tel
I em until called before your body. Spare nC
legitimate expense In discovering h the
murderer of Moody was, and the court viii
c%heerfully shoulder the responsibility of thi:
expense.
! do not doubt, gentlemen, that you will fine
in this community, as in all small communi.
ties, mischief-mak who will come before
you with their private spites and spleens, anc
who will desire to have you wreak vengeance
upon some enemy of theirs. These are the
men in all NAL towns who live upon strife
and who, if they had the power, would poul
the sweet milk of concord into hell. But dc
not be drawn away, gentlemen of the grand