The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-11-13

wanted the Attorney Generals pres
ence. The Attorney General had sub
poenaed a number of witnesses and It
was proper that he should have the
opportunity of examining them. The
statement made about the Attorney
General and his department, with the
petition for investigation, had been
withdrawn and, SO far as the court
understood, the Attorney General was
not connected with the charges. 1t
might be proper, in some cases, not
to have the Attorney General there.
He supposed the Attorney Genral did
not object to the grand jury's exam
lining into the matter without the At
torney Generals presence.
SHOULD RECOGNIZE HONESTY.
Deputy Attorney General Peters sta
ted that the request of the foreman
for instructions on this point was d
proper one and came within the courts
province for consideration. So far as
the law was concerned, it was per-
fectly proper for the grand jury to re-
quest his presence or desire his abb
sence, but the speaker thought that
the request, as well as the instructions
of the court in answering it, should
honesty of the Attorney Generals de-
partment and it's desire to investigate
the matter fearlessly and honestly
Judge Gear remarked that the grand
jury might act on it's own hook, to
which Mr.. Peters responded that such
was the law.
A JURORS MISGIVINGS.
A grand juror here asked the court
to have the number of the panel in
creased to twenty-five or twenty-three
members. There We're Home Rulers,
Republicans and Democrats on the
present small panel, this juror said, and
three men might stand out and pre-
vent an indictment.
- Judge Gear answered that If any
! one man or any three men on that
| grand jury were capable of Disregard
ing their oath, let them say SO and
they would be excused from further
service on the grand jury. He called
on them, if any of them would con-
slider his own party in the investiga-
ton, to say so. None of the grand
jurors responded.
COULD NOT CONVICT.
Continuing, the court said that the
grand jury could not convict anybody.
A man had to be tried, to be convicted
or acquitted, by a jury after he was
brought into court under an indictment
The grand Jury were not to pass on
the guilt or innocence of a party but
to decide whether there was probable
cause to believe that he committed the
offense on the eX parte evidence before
them. If twelve or fourteen men could
not agree, it was better to let the
man go.
CROWD IN ATTENDANCE.
With three jury courts in session and
about hundred witnesses subpoena
ed for the grand jury, there was a
great crowd damned about the en-
trance as we'll as inside Judge Gears
court room when the charge was being
delivered. Many natives without COM
pulsion to attendance at court swelled
the throng.
! FREEDOM TO WITNESSES.
Shortly after the grand jury retired
to the Supreme Court room, Deputy
( Attorney General Peters came out and
| released a number of witnesses until
called by messenger or telephone.
This regard for the time of busy men
was much appreciated. Several wit
nesses We're called in during the after
noon.
THE UNTERRIFIED.
Republicans among the witnesses
were not the most serious looking of
the multitude. One of them said he
had no objection to testifying to all
he knew about unlawful practices, as
his testimony in that regard was IL
able to send at least one Home Rule
politician on the reef.
| SHOULD BE DISQUALIFIED.
| There was considerable adverse COM
ment on the outside regarding the alb
| sence of an order to disqualify the de-
feated Home Rule candidates on the