The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-27
GRAND JURY
 MAKES REPORT Has Been in Session Four
 Weeks and AdjOurns THE REPORT IN FULL
United States Jury Refers to Com nissioners' Charges Against Ger tain Parties and to the Jeff
 ferson County Jail.

The United States grand jury adjourned last night at 8 o'clock and returned final report to Judge Thomas G. Jones.
 The grand jury has been in session for four weeks SIxty-nine cases were ex- amlned, and out of that number thirty four indictments were returned.
 The grand jury recommends that the United States prisoners at the county jail be kept separate from the state prisoners. refers to the fact that many trivial cases have been made out by com missioners and to the charges that cer- tain parties have deprived persons Of their rights and liberty.
 The report in full Is as follows:
 To the Hon. Thomas G. Jones, Judge or the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern Division of the Northern District of Alabama; The grand jury empaneled sworn ana charged by your honor at this term or l the said court, respectfully beg leave 10 report that they have, in compliance with your honor's instructions and the | duties Involved upon them by law, care l fully incurred into such violations of the | law as have come to their knowledge committed in said division of the said district, and where the evidence justihed | the same.
 Concerning Trivial Cases. In this connection they desire to say that quite a number of cases sent up by the United States commissioners were brought before them where the offenses were of a trivial nature and where upon our investigation, the evidence failed to show any substantial grounds for the | charges made, or, at the most, made out | q ,,,4 o1aaro rofrtp l We regret to observe a disposition on the part of some of the commissioners to institute cases of this character, and af- l ter the hearing of the same to send them | to this court
 | We were impressed also concerning such | cases with the irresponsible character or | many of the witnesses upon whose testl- mony the accusations were founded and l in most cases we felt that there was just
 ground for discredting their testimony. 1 In one instance out of ten such cases sent up from one of the commissioners in Jef- l ferson county, only two of them seem to | us to be in any sense meritorious or sup | ported by sufficient and creditable evi-
 dence. In that of another from Dekalb | county there were four of the same class. | In that of another from Cleburne county 1 there were also four cases found by us to
 be without merit, and in that of one in Talladega county and of one in Fayette
 county and of one in Bibb county. there
 were three each of this class, and from
 one in Calhoun county there were two of l this class
 Counterfeit Cases.
 We have given close attention to all
 cases of making or passing counterfeit | money, and in every case where an act
 of this sort was discovered and traced to the perpetrator. we have returned bills of | indictment. It is source of regret to the grand jury. as it doubtless is to every l good citizen, that this offense should be 1 so common, and source of wonder that
 those who engage in this unlawful bus l mess should not have sooner realized that l the interest of the government and of all l it's citizens would call for and lead to an 1 active pursuit of every transaction of this sort and the almost certain detection and conviction of the wrongdoers. 1t is to 1 be hoped that the action of the govern 1 ment officers and of the courts and jures in dealing with this subject will have a salutory effect upon all who have here
 tofore engaged in such transactions, or 1 may be inclined to do so in the future. We have also carefully examined Into the dealing of officials with the govern ment respecting their claims and charges and hope that our action on these mat
 ters may be productive of good to the | seFNice. our investigations on tnS line
 have extended the length of our service | and increased the number of witnesses l which we have been compelled to bring l before us, in order to arrive at a satis- 1 factory conclusion on these matters. Rights of Citizens.
 We have also been called upon to in- vestigate a matter relating to the rights | of class of our citizens, and 1t was disclosed to us that so large a number | of instances of this kind and extending over such length of time, involving | such a number of persons and assuming such magnitude in all respects, that we cannot but conclude that there ex- isted concerted efforts to subject a num- | Der of persons unlawfully into involun- tary servitude and to a denial of their l rights as citizens. This investigation,
 which we desired to make thorough and | with deliberation, has involved an ex- | tension of the time of our service and the l examination of a number of witnesses
 We have examined the Jail In Jefferson
 county in which most of the United
 States prisoners in this division are kept
 while waiting trial. or for sentences im-
 posed upon them by imprisonment there.
 We find that the jail Is we'll kept and that the prisoners are well cared for.
 The United States prisoners all state
 that they are properly treated and their
 wants supplied. We recommend, how
 ever, that some provision should be made for keeping the United States prisoners l separate from those confined by the state