Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1901-10-17
First Session of Court in the
New Court House.

Monday, October IA, 1901. The
postponed September Term of Court
met in the new Court House Monday
last. with Associate Judge ] Parran
Crane on the bench. II was the first
session Of Court in the new Court
House. The Judges stand and the
Clerk s desk were ornamented with
beautiful vases OF flowers, the gifts
Of friends. The Officers present
were: Enoch b. Abel, clerk. Jo-
seph +. Neal, deputy clerk: William
t. Bailey. sheriff: b. Harris CANA
lier, States Attorney; William l..
Norris, crier. The attorneys pres
ent in the bar were: Robert c..
Combs, Joseph II. Key, Daniel C.
Hammett. Walter /. Dawkins, Harry
O. Reeder, Joseph I'll. Ching. w. ID.
Henry, Daniel Combs, VIM. Never
ell Loker. Visiting attorney, Hon.
Lloyd Wilkinson. The bailiffs in at
tendance were: Peter r. Graves,
James L. Connolly, John L. Thomas,
colored, Jesse Biscoe, colored, and
James Sewell, colored, messenger.
Bailiff Connolly met the people at
the door of the Court room and di-
rected the colored ones to take seats
in the Western tier, thus separating
the whites from the. blacks.
The Court selected +. Oscar Nor
!; gan, of Leonardtown, as foreman of
the Grand Jury and the panel was
completed by drawing the following
names: Joseph A. Smoot, c. Wes-
ley Sanner, john H. Abel, Joseph
NJ. Mattingly, Wilson Dean, Marcel
lus A. Cation, James 7. Dunaway,
William III. Worthington, colored,
j. Harry Raley, Joseph L. Davis,
John ]. Bradshaw, Geo. w. Combs,
James McWilliams, George d. Watts,
colored, John NJ. Lancaster, William
I'll. Jones, Benjamin F. Knight, J..
Benjamin Bond, Joseph G. Taylor,
Leo NJ. Wathen, William +. Ford.
The petit Jury follows: Arthur
c. Combs, Joseph S. beaverton, OF
to Trossbach, James Hall, J. NJ.
Dent, jr., John l.. Norris, Lewis J.
Chunn, William T. Dent, Frederick
c. Davis, w. b. Adams, John +.
Combs, Thomas G. Harding, Philip
t. Graves, George w. Thomas, Thos.
A. Reeder, r. Wilson Dyson. George
+. Wathen, William ID. WOODBURY.,
Lewis III. Davis, Andrew J. Chesel-
dine, Lewis 7. Clarke, William A.
Nelson, John L. Mattingly, George
A. Smith, John L. Magill.
Judge Crane charged the Grand
Jury, saying in part: II congratu-
late you on the erection of this beau
tiful and convenient Court building.
The work of demolishing the old
building had hardly been begun be-
foreit was demonstrated that it had
notcommenced a day too soon. The
best thing about thenew building is,
that if the contemplated arrangement
is not changed the Court House will
not cost the taxpayers of the county
a cent. The law Senator Wilkinson
had passed to change the liquor IL
cense system of the county where
by the State receives $1S and the
county $1S on each license has crea-
ted sinking fund from which the
bonds to pay for putting the county
on cash basis have been met, and
after they are all paid will realize a
sufficient amount to settle for the
building of the Court House without
levying single additional cent upon
the taxpayers of the county. Iwould
personally be glad the license were
to be increased to $50, so that $32
would come to the county from each.
In Prince George IS county the liquor
licenses cost 500 each; in laurel
the, license is 800 and there are sew
en- licenses taken out there. In
creased cost of licenses would do
away with many crossroads grog
shops and put the business i'm the
hands of the most reputable mer-
chants and in a measure restrict an
evil.
The county and the Jury are to
be congratulated upon the exceed
ingly small number of offenses that
have been handed TO the Court by
the States Attorney. There are so
few cases and the few are of such
minor Importance that the jury will
be likely to complete its work with
in two or three days and all be at
home attending to their private bust
ness before the expiration of the
week. There are also so few civil
cases on the docket that this term of
court ought to be one of the shortest
ON record.
/ want to call attention toa grow
ing evil, that of cunning ON Sunday.
While on my way to Leonardtown
with my daughters three shots were
fired very near TO me. and ON SIM