The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-07-09
COUNTRY BOY IN TOWN
What He Has to Give Up to Become a
Counter Jumper.
UNIQUE CHARGE TO THE GRAND JURY
A Rap at the Tax-Dodger and His Method Of
Doing Business. The Pessimist Who
Wines About "The Good
Old DAYS."

Old Days."
for the trial of criminal causes began
yesterday, Judge Robinson presiding.
The following were sworn in as grand
jurors: r. l.. Honeycutt (foreman), j.
p. Stell, Berry Lassiter, ]. Milton Banks.
G. w. Stevens, r. ]. Buffaloe, Charles
Finch, VIM. Powell, L. ID. Gill, j. E. Lilies,
n. A. Hartsfield, John M. Smith, A. B.
Young, E. H. Hood, H. f. Burnley, Ed
mond Matthews, T. NJ Franks and Moses
Fort
Judge Robinsons charge to the grand
jury was most unique, Astounding III Irish
wit and hard horse-sense, and chuck
full of humanity.
Comparing the courts of the early
English days when there were 242 Of
lenses punishable by death, with those
of the present when there are only two
capital crimes, he said:
with countless loss of life and treas
ure our fathers wrested from King John
at Runnymede the right to trial by jury.
And yet we hear carping pessimists going
around bemoaning the good old days. My
only regret IS tHdl Luey uluu 1--we tHcu,
they wouldn't have lived long, and we
would now be rid of them and their
breed
Discussing the different degrees of
murder, and recent changes in the law, he
said:
Many good men in the Legislature
are sometimes fooled by what are called
Notwithstanding that hang around
the Hobbies when they ought to be over
yonder." pointing in the direction Of
the asylum and penitentiary.
And further. in the same come ction, he
said:
1.-The sovereign people changed the law
the men that are sovereigns 365 days in
the year and never ind it out but once
every two years, when somebody asks
them for their votes
He warned the members Of the grand
jury against permitting malignant and
frivolous prosecution:
'There is no room in the courts for
malice. The proper way for man, VINO
feels himself aggrieved, to bring suit
is in a magistrates court, when the ac-
cused may face his accuser.I But there
are cases in which no particular person
is observation-disclosures against the body
polite, and these it is that the grand
jury must present.
Touching tax-dodgers the judge was
outspoken and emphatic. He said:
Il know many men in my county
men with lots of money-who go to the
springs in summer, while l stay home and
sweat, go to the warmer climes in win
ter, while / SILVER at home, but when
you examine the tax books you'll think
they haven't got enough rags at home to
wad gun The only balm of relief about
it is that little later they'll get to a
hot climate where they can't move. 1t
is a high privilege to pay taxes and en-
joy all the freedom of such government
as this, and the man who tries to shirk
them ought not only to be made to pay,
but sent to the roads for swearing to
lie.
The social relations and the laws gov
He said:
Strange to say, the punishment for
man who woos a virtuous woman to her
ruin is only FIVE years in the penitentiary.
/ have in mind now man tried before
me in this court for just that offense. He
had done the deed and then galloped off
to Texas, and no wretch that ever dangled
at the end of rope more richly deserved
his fate than that fellow did the i've
years he got.
But there is such thing also. as
seducing men. Nor is it hard to do; but
in our high admiration for woman we
must not lose sight of the fact, for there
are virtuous men; if there were not, then,
indeed would virtue perish from the
face of the earth.
'Woman is seated upon the pinnacle
of admiration and she is apt to stay there
unless she herself gets down. But If she
dances in a mans arms all night, wear
ing low-cut dress comes away at break
of day after the ball is over, with fell
low who has decorated his interior with
a lot of gaudy material until his brain
reels-has she not descended from her
pedestal, and is there not something to
Be said for the man who yields to the
temptation?'
In charging the jury in regard to
whisky selling, card-playing and other
forms of gambling, Judge Robinson be-
came eloquent in his portrayal Of country
life:
There is no greater God-given pleas
ure than that of the bright sun and
growing vegetation-the singing birds
and the fresh-plowed earth. / wonder
why q boy will leave it all to come to
town and play lackey to somebody or be
jump counter at SIS month where
the air is impure and temptations are
great to put his finger in the till for
money to play cards in the back room
of some Internal bar-room; where nights
are long and days are short and painted
lips invite to- death"
And the country girl, too. came in for
her share of praise, though only by in
direction when the Judge declared:
Town girls are like summer foxes
hard to catch and not worth much after
you've caught them
Judge Robinson's charge was listened to
with closest attention by the members of
the grand jury and the bar, though there
were often broad smiles at some of his
bold and witty sayings.