The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-04-09
NOT AN INDICTMENT
FIFTEEN WITNESSES EXAMINED
IN POLICY CASES.
RAID WAS UNPRoDUcTIVE.
ENTIRE CONSTABULARY swOoPED
DOWN ON ALLEGED JOINT.

| "A frightened Mouse the Sole Dem
lien of the Place-Owner of the
Property Protested, but His Pro-
testatiOns Were of no AvniI-Raid
Resulted from Information Given
Place of Business-SessiOn Lasted
nm Hour and "A Half.
AS a result of an hour and a halfs
investigation, the grand jury failed to
| secure enough evidence to warrant the
return of an indictment yesterday in
the policy cases. On information Civ
en- the body, however, a raid was made
on an alleged policy joint in Brough-
ton lane. but no arrests were made.
Immediately at the end of the ses-
sion the sheriff was instructed to send
several of his deputies to a place IN
Broughton lane, between Bull and
Drayton streets, where, it was said,
joint was running in full blast. The
deputy sheriffs, eight in number, to-
gether with the judges special bail
if, went post haste to the place desig-
mated. They framed up for the raid in
systematic way, five of them sur
rounding the place and the other three
swooping down upon the establishment.
How the Raid Was Made.
1t was not then dark, and the move
ments of the officers attracted pas
sersby who at once suspected that
they were about to witness a real raid
on policy joint. But they were dis
appointed. The spokesman of the dep
uties demanded admission of a party
whom they found on the premises, but
he demonstrated, saying that he own
ed the property and did not care to
have it ransacked by the officers. His
objections were overruled and the Of
ficers entered.
A complete survey of the premises
failed to disclose any sign of policy
paraphernalia or policy writers. The
only living thing in the place was a
small grey mouse which scOoted across
the floor when the raiding party en-
tered. A chair or two and an over
turned table constituted the furniture
in the room. Slowly the raiders am
bled back and reported the result of
their raid to the sheriff.
Exhibited Policy Ticket.
There were at least a dozen negroes
examined by the grand jury, but the
questions failed to elicit any further
Information than that already re-
ceived. The information which IN
duced the raid was given one of the
grand jurors during the morning,
when a young man called upon him at
his place of business and exhibited a
policy ticket which he claimed to have
gotten from the policy shop.
The matter of ordering a raid, on
the information which was got at the
investigation, was discussed by the
grand jurors, and it was decided that
until some further evidence was ad-
duced not to order it until a later day,
since the policy writers would be on
the lookout on an afternoon when the
grand jury was in session. The raid
in Broughton lane was considered ad-
visable, since the Jurors believed, from
the information which they received,
that the place was in operation. The
investigation developed that they were
on a blind road.
Suffering from "AgnOsticitis."
The evidence which was secured was
summarized by the secretary. Such as
was thought serviceable was turned
over to the solicitor general after the
session. The trouble encountered by
the jurors was that the witnesses were
either entirely ignorant of the preva-
lence of policy or they were suffering
from an attack of 'agnostictis.' Some
negro testified that he had worked in
a policy shop for a long time, but was
now out of employment.
How did you happen to give up your
positiou?" asked one of the jurors.
'Well, 1 guess I was a little short
that was about the way of it," answer
ed the darkey frankly
One of the grand jurors said that the
negroes were "a wise lot" and show
ed remarkable adroitness in their an
swers. Those who told anything were
generally aware of the fact that the
grand jury had already gotten such
information. The trouble was that the
investigation was not productive of any
new evidence.
Issued Bench Warrant.
Two of the witnesses were negroes
who were arrested in the first policy
raid. Frank Smith did not show up at
the hearing Judge Barrow issued a
bench warrant for him, and told the
grand jury that if they experienced
any difficulty in getting witnesses be-
fore them to let him know and he
would see that the recalcitrant party
was produced in short order.
Joe White, the negro who failed to
appear before the last investigation
and who was Immediately arrested and
has since remained in Jail, was a wit
ness. He is sick of his confinement,
and endeavored to secure his release
from the sheriff. The matter was re-
ferred to Judge Barrow who ordered
that he be brought before him this
morning at 10 o'clock when court con-
venes. AS White has already served
five days in Jail it is probable that
he will be released with the admonition