The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-15

deterred from a full discharge of duty by fear or favor or moved to oppression by hatred or malice; (3) To keep absolutely secret all of your proceedings
 Perjury and Its Subornation.
 The perturer and the suborner of per- jury will paralyze and wither the strong and protective arm of justice. unless grand jurors keep a vigilant watch upon him. His voice is full of insidious ad- vice, and reference to public policy, to religious tenets, and to racial prejudice, that the retribution which should surely follow violated statute, may not come to his friend or confederate.
 Must Not Be Influenced.
 You will put the seal of your disappro- bation upon the conduct of a man who wants a private word with you, of the case to be investigated, he will say just to let you know how 1t was if 1t comes up" He would not do anything wrong, nor would he ask you to do anything that was wrong." he says, yet he speaks of his friend to dissuade you from duty. He is not entitled to be heard in private; he knows it; you will know it, and if you hear him. your conscience will sting with your oath. A conversation sought out of the grand jury room of matters to be considered therein, comes with the pre- sumption of improper motive. The ap- proach is an insult to intelligence or an impeachment of honor; and the juror who gives ear to the defendant, or to the friends of broken law. or lends his aid to prevent a bill when it should be found, or willfully lets fall hint by word or token that a bill is sought or has been found, before the arrest of the defendant, is a wicked perjurer; and he who procures this aid or information from juror, su- borns his perjury. Put yourselves above criticism by repelling improper ap- breaches with the righteous indignation of manly man, and present such con- duct for a lesson in common honesty. Let 1t, gentlemen, be said of you, Tt was a grand jury that did not leak, and could not be log-rolled.'' If. in your examina- ton of witnesses, you should be sure perjury has been committed by any wit ness. do all in your power to get the evil dence, and return an indictment against such perjuring witness at once.
 When Bills Must Be Found.
 Public offense embrace the body of our criminal law, and are divided into two classes, felonies and misdemeanors. felony within the meaning of our statute. (4652) is defined to be a public onense which may be punished by death or by imprisonment in the penitentiary, all oth- CT public offenses are called misdemean- ors. It Is unnecessary that 1 now tell you which of the several offenses belong to the one or to the other of these classes. You will rely on the advice of the solici- tor for this, as well as for other desired legal advice as to matters connected with your duties. And he will be with you except at the expression of your opinion, or the giving of your vote on any matter under consideration.
 It was only important at this time to call attention to the division of crime into felonies and misdemeanors, that I may further say where, in your investigations, If twelve of your number should find from the evidence that felony has been com mitted, no discretion Is allowed, but a bill must be returned. When, however, 1t Is a misdemeanor under consideration (and not an offense concerning lotteries or carrying concealed weapons) and twelve of you are satisfied from the evi- dence that the offense has been commit ted, you have a discretion to find bill or not as your judgment may dictate to be for the public good, unless this dis tcretion be taken way in the manner l will now explain. If person appears be- fore the grand jury and has his name i entered as prosecutor. thus undertaking the prosecution of the case, subjecting himself to the burdens and penalties which the undertaking imposes" and If the evidence Is such that unexplained will be sufficient for conviction" you must find a bill. tho Ugh all of your num- Der may not think it for the public good that the prosecution be had. The endorse ment as prosecutor takes away your dis | cretion if the evidence Is sufficient to | the minds of twelve of your number This is a guarantee to the law-abiding citizen | for the protection of his rights and the
 averaging his private wrongs under the law thereby removing the temptation to disregard the law.
 As to Homicide.
 The rate of homicide in Alabama has
 reached too great a percentage per an
 mum to our population. The last census
 shows the State to contain S.697 per
 sons; and out of that number each year | l97 persons are tried for murder or man.
 slaughter, and a like number for assaults
 with murderous intent on other lives
 The figures. speaking for thernselves,
 show that human life is regarded toe l lightly In our great State; and their full
 force and the true situation is seen only
 when considered comparatively On this
 point, I have collected some information
 as carefully as I could from the most
 authentic sources, from other counties
 and States in this Union. I will not as
 sume responsibility for the figures 0ol
 our sake I wish they were not true). bu I suspect they are substantially correct
 and I now submit the same to you fol