The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-12
Thinks Thirteenth Amendment Gives Federal Court the Right to Take Up Cases Against Mem
 bers of Mob.

mediately after the orRanlzdtlOn Ol tue grand jury Judge Jones appointed Sam uel M. Thompson as foreman of the jury, and announced that because of the un- usual per cent of matters to be brought to the attention of the grand jury he had l written his charge. He read the charge from a printed pamphlet and the reading consumed nearly two hours. The charge | was one of the most exhaustive ever de l livered to grand jury in this city. Causes Considerable Surprise. The purport, construing as 1t did the thirteenth amendment to the constitution governing the United States right to take a hand in the lynching of a negro. was received with a considerable measure of surprise.
 Congressman William Richardson, by request, sat on the bench for a while as Judge Jones was delivering the charge.
 The grand jury began it's investigation during the afternoon. There is hardly doubt that somebody will be indicted for the lynching of Naples. and the opinion Is that there will be more serious trouble than in the cases of those who were indicted for murder and arson in the state court. It is believed this mat ter will go up to the supreme court of the United States before it is finally settled if any of the alleged lynchers are con- victed. 4sas' Fh
 Judge Jones' Charge.
 Judge Jones said:
 "Gentlemen of the Grand Jury: You are clothed, for the time being, with the majesty of a great people, to aid in the administration of their justice. Men are so accustomed to witness the workings of the courts, that they seldom pause to reflect upon the solemnity and signifi- canoe of the duty, or from whence comes the power..
 'In the beginning, when the Creator made the earth and placed man upon it, He was mans only law-malxer and judge. He could have continued to the end of time the only law-giver and judge of the children of men. He did not so choose. He wrote in the heart of every human being the instinct between right and wrong, and then, for some wise purpose of his own, instead of Himself directly governing man, committed to man the awful power of govern nt, which in so many and different ], s makes and unmakes the destipies and happiness of races and individuals
 Keepers of Fellow Man. Thus he made us keepers of our fellow man, and entrusted to us His divine pow er The duty and power are none the less divine because they have been dele gated to man. Tn this sense t is true that the Powers that be are ordained of God. However humble or unworthy we may be. our office ennobles us when we rightly and fearlessly administer justice.
 "The power from which our office o,,5 faa 1nt1c for good or i'll which wait upon the work of justice, bid us always remember when we minister at it's altars the warning of the Lord to the prophet of old, put off thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" Let us not pollute Gods altar by coming here with any unworthy purpose or stain the whiteness of our souls by unmanly faltering in the pathway of duty.
 The Acts of the Mob.
 Lately as the court knows from com mon knowledge, as well from reports of it's officers, a mob gathered in a stones throw of this room, and In inso- lent defiance of the judges and laws of our state, and with studied insult and contempt for its/civil and military power which sought to protect the Huntsville | jail, assaulted the assembled forces of the law at their post of duty there. It broke down the doors of the jail, set 1t on fire, resisted efforts to put out the flames, and obstructed officers of the United tSates in their endeavors to re- move United tSates prisoners from their | cells to place of safety.
 This frenzied and savage work was done that Horace Naples, negro, a citizen of Alabama and of the United | States, who was there confined to be | safely kept to answer the laws of the state of Alabama upon a cnarge of mur- l der, should not be so kept and disposed | of according to law. but instead, should | be delivered to the mob and lawlessly put to death. From the same sources of in- formation the court is advised that there | were htterances of members of this mob | and speeches made to incite 1t to it's crime, and other things done, which go | to show that the mob, composed wholly | of white men, was finally stirred to It's purpose rather from prejudice against | Naples race than from indignation at | the crime laid at his door, and that be- cause of that race prejudice the mob did its murderous work to prevent Ma pies, who was accused of crime upon a white man, from enjoying the rights be- | longing to every freeman to be set free. | if innocent. or to be condemned and pun ished, If guilty, by the constituted tri- bunals of the land.
 | Carried of Keys.
 Intent upon It's murderous work this
 mob carried off the keys to the cells, It, | tie rocking whether the helpless human beings confined there were rescued or roasted, and left the riddled body of Ma ples dangling from halter in the light of the flames of the burning jail. There. in the shadow of the clusterinp churches, courthoGses, schools and homes of this beautiful city. it remained until | cut down. mute but horrid witness to | a crime which mocked at all the teach ings of religion, civilization and law. Ev- cry normallly constituted human being is shocked at such a crime. The question | comes unbfdden to your lips, have you any duty to perform with reference to | these offenses?
 Federal Jurisdiction of the offense. ''The answer involves inquiry whether congress has power to punish such an offenses and If so, has 1t exercised that power by appropriate legislation? The