The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1902-09-09

cases and they should receive your first
consideration. in order that those against
whom no bill is found may be discharged
and those who are indicted may be ar
raigned. That is not very large num-
Der for so populous a county as this
considering the long time that has inter-
vened since the discharge of the last
Grand Jury. You may think that the
murder cases should receive your first
attention, but there is no such urgency
There is a question now being contested
as to the constitutionality of one of our
courts with respect to the trial of murder
cases which will not be decided before
the nineteenth of this month, and there
are several homicide cases awaiting trial.
for which no day has been assigned ow-
ing to the congested condition of the civil
list in this court, which requires me to
have the assistance of Judge Blair in
the trial of homicide cases, if the law
permits it, and for this reason there is
no special need of haste as to those cases,
but they should be taken up with reas-
enable promptness, as all Jail cases
to a number of accidental deaths from
the careless use of 6rea tns, and the
last Grand Jury was troubled about one,
where a mere lad discharged a pistol and
killed another
These cases are quite frequent. and
there seems to be a growing tendency ON
the part of tradesmen to sell deadly
weapons to children Our Legislature
has enacted that it shall not be lawful to
sell to any person under the age of fif-
teen years any gun, pistol, or toy pistol,
or firearms, and if they do violate this
law it is a criminal offence. This should
be stopped. These accidental injuries
are growing too frequent.
OH, HOW NICE.
| have had occasion to call attention
of Grand Jurors, with good results, to
the offense of gambling. The police of
Jersey City have made several arrests
for the suppression of the offense COM
monty called keeping a bucket shop, ar
rested men conducting places of this
character, and they have been held for
keeping disorderly houses. If the evil
dence warrants it you should find in let
ments. You must encourage the efforts
of the police to enforce the law, par
ticularly in these cases which are rather
vices than crimes, and which in our eff
forts TO deal with them give us the most
trouble. Although the condition of the
county in this respect is fairly good, the
police should be encouraged, and when a
case is presented TO you and an indict-
ment is warranted we rely upon you
county is little lax in that respect, as
I learned from the Prosecutors office,
and the law officers have not received
the encouragement they ought to have
received in some eases.
CThe Judge referred to the festival at
the Schuetzen Park, where gambling was
going on, and the Prosecutor notified the
authorities and they promised to stop it,
but did not, and the Prosecutor himself,
through his officers, stopped it. And then
the Court said: That is not right. The
local police are primarily charged with
the duty of enforcing the law, and if they
do not enforce it the police become liable
to the law.
A subject matter has just been hand
ed to me, and will refer to it in order
that you may investigate it. All the pa
pers will be before you. 1t is a COM
munication from number of citizens in
the northern part of the County as to the
bad condition of Hemblet place, North
Bergen, that the authorities have allow
ed it to fall into condition of disrepair
so that it is unusable. 1t is the duty Of
the public body to keep the streets in
proper repair, and failure to do that is
an indictable offense. Imagine from the
reading of the communication in this in
stance that there. is a dispute between
the authorities and the public as to
whether this is public street, but as my
attention has been called to the matter
it will be investigated by the Prosecutor
and you.
THAT PRIZE FIGHT.
The Prosecutor also learns that prize
fighting is permitted in the northern
part of the county and that proper eff
forts do not seem to be made to prevent
| it; that these encounters are advertised,
| tickets are distributed, attention is called
to them in the public prints, and there
e,eas not seem to have been the proper
energetic effort on the part of the local
authorities to prevent this vice. This is
proper matter for your investigation.
A few indictments would stop that evil.
The Court has received communication.
and we understand the Prosecutor re-
ceived one of exactly similar tenor, from
the Hudson County Law and Order
League and also one from the Prohi-
bition Alliance Society, accompanied with
petition in typewriting purporting to
be a copy of the original, signed by a
great many citizens, many reputable cit
zens of the county, who claim that Sun
day liquor selling throughout the county
goes on contrary to law. / assume that
they have the evidence, and the Prose
cutor informs us that he has or will COM
municate with the secretary of these as
| sociatfons and procure the evidence and
present it to you. and if that law is being
violated in that respect indictments
should promptly follow. 1t is against
the law to sell single drink of intoxicat-
ing liquor on Sunday; its common occur