The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-02-20
ANDERSON s. c.. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20 1901

X,
fearing. people of Anderson County,
you will ascertain tho names of those
30 called landlords who have brought
disgrace to your County and put it to n
burning shame. You will in person or
by committee visit all the stOckades in
yc3T County and you will report to the
Court the names of all who are therein
confined. the offences for which they
are in prison, and the term Of their i'm
prisoninent and the names of those
whn ::S tiicio confined under contract
or Tor any causes. You will do all you
can this week, but ns it is manifestly
impnsslh!e to finish tho investigation
this week shall order u special session
OF he Court of General Sessions to be
held on Thursday, the 9Th day of
March, on WHICH :!ay you us Grand
Jurors VIII convene as Il Grand Jury
anu make Il final prcscntment of this
matter. You have the power to send
TOR persons and papers and to compel
the attendance of witnesses and to cx-
anime them, and | trust to You and all
law abiding people in your County TO
unite IN an effort to root out this
shameful practice and to remove this
6la@k blot from tho good name of An
dersOn County.
On Friday 1T noon Judge jenct was
notified that the Grand Jury WAS ready
to make their prcscntmcnt and he
promptly convened the Court for that
purpose. The following prcscntmcnt
was then read:
GRAND JuRY'S rREsENrMENr.
TO the Honorable w. G.. Benct, Pre-
siding Judge:
The Grand Jury bcgs herewith to
make It's prcsentment as follows:
We have passed upon all the bills
left for our consideration by the So
licitor.
Owing to the importance of certain
matters brought to our attention by
the Court we have been unable to ex-
anime the County Poor House and
Ja.l, and in order to facilitate our i'll
vcstigatiOns nc live appointed several
committees whose duty it shall be to
make Investigations and report to us
at /: later session. We have made
special investigation of the labor con
extent i'll this County and have found
on record Il number OF contracts in
which laborcrs hnvo agreed to work
under guard and to be locked up at
night, receiving tho same treatment
practically as c0nvicts. Our inturma-
tiOn is that these contracts are not
confined t0 those places where cOnvicts
are worked and where stockades exist,
but have, i'll some instances, been exc
cOnvicts. TO what extent the provis-
ions of these contracts have been en-
forced VIC have SO far been unable to
ascertain. 1t enforced strictly they
have led to q violation OF the law
which should ut once be ended. TO
the end, therefore, that full invcsti-
gatiOn may be made and that the Inv
fN0 ri lao,
u COMMITTEES consisting of X. A. Sulli-
van, j. Is. Levcrett, J. s. McFall, j. II.
Milford and T.. B. Hall and ask that
your honor give them full power TO
swear and examine witnesses, to COM
pei the production of such papers as
may be necessary, with tho privilege
of visiting without hindrance the
stockades i'll this county, and Of having
access to and comforting with all labor
ers who are Or aro suspected of being
restrained of their liberty under these
contracts, which committee shall make
IL full investigation and report tho
same. together with the evidence
taken, ut the special scssiOn Of the
Court which is ordered to be held on
March next.
We further. present that we have
made q partial examination of the
books and accounts of Magistrate j. j.
Gilmer, OF tho City of Anderson, and
have found that gross Irregularities
exist in his Office and that certain war
rants issued by him have not been en-
tered upon his books OF returned to his
office and that relatives or agents Of
the prosecutor have been deputized to
serve such warrants and in that various
items Of cost collected by him in crimi-
nal cases have not been turned over to
the county or accounted for as prOvid-
ed by law. We have instructed the
above mentioned committee to make
complete the examination of his books
and accounts and Of nll matters per-
tanning to his office and to furnish the
same to tho Court at such time as the
Court may order.
Numerous complaints have been
made to us of a system Of lending
money upon chattel mortgages that
prevails in this city in which poor and
ignorant people have been compelled
to pay eXtOrtiOnate rates of interest,
but SO fur we have found nothing
criminal in the transactions, and the
only redress of tho parties seeming to
be an avoidance. Of the contracts upon
the civil side of the court. We have,
however, submitted the investigation
of this matter to the same committee
that has been charged with the invcs-
LEGATIONS Of the other matters above
referred to.
Tho following committee has been
appointed to visit the Poor House and
Juit: Edward Whitten, ii. IL. Gray
and j. w. Palmer.
The committee first above named
have been charged with the duty Of
examining the books and offices of the
county officers and to make their re-
port with reference thereto at the June
le,m Of this Court. We would recon-
mend that said committee be allowed
to eupiOy an expert to aid them in all
the Investigations that they have been
charged with making.
The following committee has been
appointed to inspect tho County chain
gang: j. N. McAllister. Il, M. King,
James A. Shirley.
While tho Grand Jury has no power
| to enforce the re, COMMUNICATION we beg
leave to suggest that it would be to the
| public interest that all warrants issued