The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1902-11-05

plSCOl DuCKIeQ on. on nave all
seen the time in your lives, per-
haps. when, if you had a pistol
with you, you would have been
pretty sure to have used it, and
probably you would have regret
ted it five minutes afterward. The
laws have been becoming more
stringent, and they have been
making the laws more stringent
with regard to this practice, and
the object being in the truth. that
IAN ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure" and that when
the devil gets into a man perhaps
crime won't be committed in that
sort of way. And we want to
protect him, the poor devil who
carries the pistol, against himself.
Look out for the pistol toters.
There is no necessity for the prac-
tice. We have a civilized coun-
try-we have no savages in our
midst on account of which people
have to carry their weapons.
| There is law that allows a man
to carry a shot gun, but the carry
ing of concealed weapons, except
in a few instances, is not mention
ed in the statutes.
In my district, here and in Co.
piah county, we have almost exter-
minated the blind tiger-that is,
the bad sort. There are a few
around through the country, and
sort of travelling blind tiger, but
we have almost broken up the big
fellows, even in the city of jack
son, which, | believe, is the worst
place | know of for that sort. 1t
is the most contemplate business
l ever knew in my life. The
worst feature of the business,
aside from the fact that it puts the
devil in men, is that it is the pro-
vocation of perjury. I never
could understand how it was that
these fellows expect otherwise
good men, or men considered
such, not only to pay them for
their mean whisky, but to perjure
themselves-that those men ought
to 60 into the grand jury room
and swear to a lie-I can't under
stand that. | think he is moral
leper who undertakes to protect
these blind tiger men in the viola
ton of the law. Nobody could
sell the stuff if men did not think
it was not right to tell the grand
jury about it when brought before
them.
One other thing I want you to
look into is the crime of perjury.
My experience is that men will
come up and deliberately lie be-
fore the grand jury, and such a
man is very apt to do some other
crime. 1t breaks down all moral
restraint for a man to be guilty
of anything of this kind. | want
you to look after the crime of per
jury. Indict a man when he has
[ lied. The man is criminal who
assumes to 60 into a court and by
swearing take away mans rights
and, in many instances, his liber-
| ty.
Another thing, gentlemen; there
is a great deal of cruelty to ami
mails. Men will drive horses half
starved and with great sores on
their backs, and beat them unmer-
cifully and cruelty. You ought tc
stop this in your county. See that
this is not done: If the voices OF
all the poor mules and horses
could be heard, there would be
a cry that would alarm the ma
. tives. This is a cowardly and
miserable sort of thing to do.
Anybody who would be guilty OF
mistreating, beating or starving
poor dumb brute would murder
man or kill anybody. You are
, farmers; it is a matter of interest
to protect yourselves, a matter of
: religion that that sort of thing is
stopped.
There is another species of
gambling that ought to be stop
ped, for there is more money
risked in it than anything. The
gambling is buying futures-fu-
lures in cotton or grain. One
poor fellow in Hazlehurst had
bought half million bushels of
wheat. He did not expect it to be
delivered to him. Under the stat
ute that is gambling, and the par
ties who buy and sell are both liza
BILE to Indictment. | do not know
that you have that kind of gam
blers in Brookhaven, but if you
haven't then you are different
from any other towns in the State.
If you know of anyone who deal
in futures l would have you in
dict the parties. l expect you,
gentlemen, of the grand jury, to
look into the poor house and see
that the paupers are properly
treated.
l would have you, gentlemen,
to appoint a man to 60 out and
look into the county farm. |
have found that men who handle
prisoners for long time become
to some extent brutal. They are
not supposed to treat them as
they would their families, but it
does not follow that they should
mistreat them, and they are mighty
apt to degenerate into cruelty. |
do not know of anything of the
kind in thisc county, but to report
the state of affairs at the farm is