The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-25
A TRUE BILL FOUND
oGLETHoRPE CLUB INDICTED BY
GRAND JURY.
VIOLATING SUNDAY LAW.
IN KEEPING OPEN A TIPPLING
HOUSE THE CHARGE.

Grand Jury, on the Same Indictme mt
md with the Same Evidence Be-
fore il, Reverses Its Action of Last
Friday-Three Members of the
Club Were Withdrawn From the
CONFEDERATION of the Case Before
This Result Was Attained-Nfessrs.
Cults, Pratt and wyIIy Came out
and Messrs. Brennan and Gutman
Went in-SoIicitor General Ex-
planned the Law.
After three members of the Ogle-
thorpe Club had been relieved from
service on the grand jury while the
presentment against that organization
was under consideration, an indictment
against it for keeping open a tipping
house on Sunday was returned on yes
terday afternoon.
The indictment charges that the club
has committed a misdemeanor, in that
On Sunday, Sept. Is, in violation of
the laws of the state, it maintained an
open tipping house.
There were numerous interesting in
cidents that preceded the return of the
indictment, that kept those who hung
about the court room in a CULVER of
suppressed excitement until the find
ing of the grand jury had been finally
announced.
In the first place, the solicitor gen.
eral wended his way into the grand
jury room and intimated to that body
that he did not consider 1t proper that
nf re xHvho oil
members Of the club should take part
in its deliberations while the case was
under consideration. In this view of
the matter the grand jury and the
three gentlemen who are members of
the Oglethorpe Club at once ac-
quiesced, and Foreman E. A Cults
and Grand Jurors William N. Pratt
and Albert Wylly at once withdrew.
There had been but nineteen mem
bers of the grand jury in attendance
when the three withdrew and as the
law requires that eighteen shall at
tend when an indictment is returned,
1t became necessary to supply the de-
nciency. Two names were drawn
from the jury box, and the bailiffs
who were sent out with the subpoe-
mas returned with Messrs. Jacob Gut
man and Patrick Brennan. They were
sworn at once by Judge Falligant and
Jury room.
Then Mr. Osborne made another lit
tie talk. He told the grand Jury, as 1t
was then constituted, that the law of
the state made absolutely no distinct
ion between social club in which
liquor was sold and the common or
garden saloon, and that If a social
club kept open and sold liquor on
Sunday, it was guilty of a INSIDE
hi
state of the law had been delivered Mr..
Osborne retired.
The superintendent and number of
members of the Oglethorpe Club had
been summoned as witnesses, and
they were all in attendance, but as
before. Mr.. Hal II. Bacon was the only
witness examined. 1t is to be pre-
sumed that Mr.. Bacon told the grand
jury the same story exactly as he told
when he appeared before that body on
last Friday. The material part of his
testimony was to the effect that liquor
was sold in the club on Sunday as on
any other day.
AS at the former session, the grand
jury yesterday professed itself salts
fed with the evidence of Mr.. Bacon,
and no other witness was introduced
Here, however the similarity ceased
TO exist. In something less than five
minutes Mr.. Gutman and Mr.. Brennan
came out of the jury room and pro-
ceeded to their places of business, and
Foreman Cults, Mr.. Pratt and Mr..
Wylly went back upstairs. The bust
ness had been done, but nobody save
the grand jurors knew what decision
had been reached until the indictment
was returned.
Then it appeared that 1.-The grand
jury of the Superior Court of Chat
ham county, to-wit, T. E. Youmans,
foreman pro tenn, and others by spec
ial presentment, charged and accused
the Oglethorpe Club with the offense
of a misdemeanor."
Whatever the cause, this was the
fact. Whether the withdrawal of the
members of the club and the substitu-
ton of other grand jurors had chang
ed the weight of opinion and placed it
on the other side of the balance. or the
discourse of the solicitor general on the
state of the law had produced like
effect, will never be known, unless some
grand juror forgets his oath. save to
the members of the panel. The present.
ment and the evidence were the same
as those upon which the grand jury
on last Friday based its return of mo
bill"
1t Is understood that the case will be
assigned for trial at an early date. Mr.
IL, f. Wilson. attorney for the Good
Government League, said that this was
his wish in the matter, and it is not
thought that the solicitor general will
place any obsacle whatever in the way
That it will be sharply contested by
the club is beyond doubt Despite the
views of the Supreme Court on the sub
ject, its members do not regard the
club as tipping house, but as a So
% ,cial organization merely and entirely,
and they have no intention of yielding
their point without fight. J-
. ,- NURSE WAS ExONEQ Arrn