The Topeka state journal., 1900-03-31
" PROSECUTIONS" {"
Half the Cases Brought by
County Attorney
Are e'Nollied" or Dismissed, 4,
Not Prosecuted.
WHILE ONLY ONE-SIXTH
Result in Energetic Trial and
Conviction.
Out of 365 Cases But So Con-
victiOns Secured.
How Officials ''FiIe, Continue
and DISMISS"

''ATr. Nichols" said County Attorney
JetmOre in a speech at political meet
ing held at Weber's hall, who has been
my assistant during all my terms of
office, is thoroughly familiar with my
methods and policy and if nominated
and elected will continue the Office in
the same lines along which it has been
conducted under my administration"
Later in the evening Mr.. Galen
Nichols, deputy county attorney, rose
to address the gathering and confirmed
what his chief had stated.
Believing that the people of Topeka
and Shawnee county are vitality in
terested in the able conduct of the office
of county attorney the State Journal
concluded that in view of Mr.. Nichols
prominence as a candidate it is due the
readers of this paper to show just exact
~ what kind of an administration Mr..
Jetmore and Mr.. Nichols have given
their constituents, and thereby show
what kind of an administration Mr..
Nichols will continue to give the people
should the latter be nominated and
elected.
Accordingly for several days srepresen-
tives of the. State Journal have been
engaged in carefully going over the
court records to show what the present
county attorneys Office has been doing
from the time 1t get we'll started in its
first term in the year 1897. UP to and
including the January, 1900, term of the
same court.
The figures which have been secured,
based upon these careful researches and
.i4.-s51issae1 sssii--ss. somewhat
marvellous, not to say startling, state
of affairs. They show that the official
who has been elevated to the office of
county attorney, however diligent and
energetic he may have been in pursuing
his duty as he sees it, has hardly been
a prosecuting attorney, but rather
an attorney who has mot prosecuted.
A prosecutor who has failed to prose
cute. This statement is absolutely and
literally true, so far as concerns about
before Mr.. Jetmore.
This being true in Mr.. Jetmore's case,
it follows "as the night follows the
day." that such continued state Of
affairs will be witnessed by the people
of this county should Galen Nichols
gain admission as chief into the office
in which he is now assistant chief.
County Attorney Jetmore has certainly
won the title of "The Great Dismisser,
so great has the court record under his
administration been burdened with con-
tinuances, nollies and dismissals. The
first step to dismissal, be it
known, is a continuance. The State
Journal gives below in this article, fig
ures which will show in detail the fol-
lowing remarkable state of facts:
out of 365 criminal cases which the
trial dockets show have been disposed
of in one way or another during the last
eight terms, covering three years of the
present county attorneys administra-
ton, now in it's fourth and last year,
173 have been "nollied" or dismissed,
nearly half of the entire number; there
have been 30 convictions and 40 acquit-
tails, while so have pleaded guilty with
out trial In eight trials the juries have
disagreed. In tabular form the matter
stands as follows:
Cases "nollied'' or dismissed. 173
Pleaded guilty OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES oO
Acquitted -....-..... ....-....-..-... 20
Jury disagreed ...........-...-...-...
Convictions --.-...-. ..-......-....-- 90
Total criminal cases. S65
1t is also understood, by those who
claim to be familiar with the facts that
vice is more or less rampant in this
city; that there are more than hair
dozen well established gambling places,
and more than that many places of
still more disreputable character; that
there are a very large number of joints
or places where liquor is illegally sold
The State Journal does not say that
there are more vicious places in Topeka
now than there ever have been, because
the contrary is undoubtedly true, but in
the face of the fact that vice is more or
less prevalent, shamefully so, this paper
has been unable to find any instances
where County Attorney Jetmore has in
stituted cases against any of these vic
ious places of resort, There may have
been a case, now and then one" but
the Journal is unable to put its finger
on such a case. In other words the
present county attorney has failed TO
prosecute, except when he has been
compelled to do so, and then the record
is one of dismissals and failures, so far
as the great majority of the cases is
concerned
Says Mr. Jetmore's deputy, pointing
in a general way with pride to the rec
ord of the office in which he is assist
ant, but without giving the specific and
detailed list of cases which is here ap-
pended: Il am familiar, as Mr.. Jet
more says with the policy and methods
of the county attorneys Office as at
present conducted, and I propose TO
pursue matters along these same lines"
This subject is now before the people.
The primaries will be held two weeks
from today. The contest is one between
the new and the old. Shall the present
order of things, as detailed in the list OF
dismissals ssnolIieSY and acouittaIs be
continued in this county, or shall there
be new order of things and a prosecu-
tor who will prosecute. and not a prose-
cutor who apparently fails to under
stand the real mission of his Office and