The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-03-04
STATE COURTS TO MEET.
BUT THE FEDERAL COURTS WILL
NOT CONVENE UNTIL TUESDAY.

unexpected DE-
tentfOn of Judge Speer and His
Inability to Reach the City-Super-
Tor Court and the Court of 0rdi-
nary VIII start Work on Schedule
Time-Change of Day i'm Convene
ing Federal Court n Matter of Con-
venience to the Local Bar-Clash-
ing in Hours for Assignment of
Cases Thus Avoided.
Two courts of Savannah will convene
for the March term tomorrow morning,
the Superior Court and the Court of Or
binary. The United States Circuit and
District Courts viii not convene to-mor-
row, as has been previously expected and
announced but on Tuesday morning. The
postponement is caused by the uravoid-
able delay in the coming to Savannah of
Judge ENERGY Speer,
The reasons impelling Judge Speer to
postpone for a day the opening of the
/ courts are not know here, advices stat
ing simply that he has been Unexpectedly
and unavoidably detained, and will not be
able to be present at the time he had pre-
yiously appointed. 1t is probable that on
| this occasion, in conformity to the GUS
tom invariably pursued in the past, when
court has not been convened on the day
appointed. because of the absence of the
, presiding judge, the marshal will open
court, in the presence of the other Off
| GERS, and then adjourn it until Tuesday
morning, when the judge is expected to
| be present.
AS matter of fact, the delay will be
rather a convenience than otherwise to
! the members of the local bar and the 9TH
| er courts of the city. The March term of
| the Superior Court also convenes to-mor-
! row morning, and as the hour Of conven-
| ing in the United States courts and the
| Superior Court is the same and it was
feared that the annoyance experienced in
the past, when t happened that the first
| days of the terms OF both courts were
| synchronous, would be repeated.
At the same hour in the County Court
| House and in the United States Court
| House the judges would be calling the
dockets for the assignment of cases and
the members of the bar would be engag-
| ed in commendable, even if unsuccessful
and pathetic, attempts to be In two places
| and do two things at the same time. If
1t CHANGED that a firm represented liti-
| giants in cases to be ass gned in both
| courts, the problem presented not quite
so many difficult es, for one partner might
| be in attendance up n one court while
another partner represented the interest
and convenience of his clients in another
Even then, though, the scheme was not
! altogether the best in the world for it
/ sometimes happened that two cases in
! both If which one member of a m had
! done practically all the investigating ana
| made practically all the preparation for
| their trial, might be assigned for the
/ same day one in Superior Court and the
other in the United States Court.
The conflict and the resulting inconveni-
! ence were to take place tomorrow the
day being the first of the March term uf
the Superior Court and that set for the
converting of the United States Circuit
and District Courts, which were opened
and adjourned by the marshal some three
weeks ago.
! To meet the emergency in the present
case, Judge Falligant had determined not
to call the civil docket In the Superior
Court until noon instead of immedia tely
after the charge to the grand jury, at 10
o'clock in the morning. In this way the
| confusion resulting from the conflict, Or
some great part of it, at least, was to
have been avoided. 1t may be, and very
likely will be, that this plan will be
changed, and that, now that it is known
that the United States Court will not
convene until Tuesday, the time of call
! ing the civil docket in the Superior Court
Will pS pclII4lltN 10 IGlildlu tIlG same Us
| IL has been in the past.
At 10 o'clock in the morning the March
term of the Superior Court will convene
and Judge Falhgant will charge the grand
jury. During the day the civil docket will
be called and those cases that are ready
for trial will be set for days during the
term. Most of the lawyers al the bar are
present on these occasions, and the court
, Is Usually kept busy for an hour or more
! in arranging dates of trial that are con-
Venient TO the Judge, to counsel to par
! ties and to those witnesses whose attend
j ance is not altogether matter of perfect
| ease
Tomorrow or Tuesday the criminal
cases on the docket that have gone over
from the last term will be assigned. None
of these is of any particular public inter
est all of the murder trials having been
disposed of at the last term. Those re-
mEining are comparatively unimportant,
the crimes charged being minor offenses
against property or person. There are
number of bonds to be estreated, in cases
where the defendants have failed to ap-
pear at the time previously set for their
! trials and rules nisi against them and
! their bondsmen have been granted by the
court requiring them to appear at ths
present term on pain of forfeiture of the
/ bonds in case of failure.
Immediately after the charge Of the
court, the grand jury will retire to con-
slueT tIe INDUCEMENTS 70 be presented 10
that body by the solicitor general for IFS
consideration and appropriate action 1t
is not thought that on the first dav the
grand jury will be long in session, though
it is possible that an afternoon ses sion
may be held
Forty prospective grand jurors have
been summoned to appear tomorrow
morning, Of whom twenty-three VIII con-
stitute the grand jury for the coming
/ term. The court officers say that il is
/ necessary to summon the larger number,
| for the reason that a comparatively large
I proportion are able to give legal and valid
excuses that must be recognized and that
permit their release from services Only
a few, usually, are left TO be stricken by
4 the action of the court Already five
of the number summoned have been VII
! tually relieved of jury duty during the
term. having presented 10 the court ex-
! cuses, as exemptions under the m litary
law, thai will be held good tomorrow.
Faa f1l1 inn lief nft7as l..