Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1905-11-22
JoURNALMINER ON THE CARPET
Managing Editor Cited for Contempt of Court for Publishing News
 of Grand Jury Doings.

What proved to be a revelation to the citizens of Prescott as an evidence of journalistic enterprise and incident ally shocked the grand jury, was the exclusive publication in the Journal Miner yesterday of a number of in- dictments that had been found by that inquisitorial body.
 In California the publication of such news is not an unusual occurrence, and excites no particular comment, but in Prescott, where fossilized methods of journalism have prevailed for a long period, the Journal-Miner story of a portion of the record of the grand jury's deliberative actions occasioned some resentment. It was a journalistic event that was little too advanced, it appears, for some who have not awak- ened to the fact that the "world do move''; that this is an age of electricity and progress; of individual effort and human achievement, and that the Ftimes are changing"
 ~>-The sequel was that District-Attor- ney Ellinwood went before the court, and upon the representation that a grave offense had been committed in publishing news against which there is no inhibition of the law, either i'm piled or direct, secured subpoenas for Managing Editor Mines and City Editor Farley, of the Journal-Miner, to appear before the grand jury. They were vigorously questioned as to the sources of their information, and the jurors were told the facts of the case without evasion or hesitation, the di- rect and positive statement being made by MT. Mines that none of the facts, to his personal knowledge, were supplied by any member of the grand jury, but that on the other hand, street rumors of the indictment had been in a measure verified by the actions and manner of MT. Ellinwood, with whom the managing editor had conversation at midnight. MT. Ellinwood, it is but fair to state, did not utter a word that could be construed as an ad mission that the indictments had been brought, but neither did he deny it.
 City Editor Farley related to the jury the manner in which he secured the details of the Skaggs case, all of which information was obtained in a legitimate manner, and without in any sense, invading the privacy or inter fering with the functions of the grand jury.
 Later in the day, the grand jury, which, by the way, is composed of an exceptionally high class of citizens, re- commended through the district attor- ney, and perhaps at his instance, that Mir. Mines be cited to appear next Monday to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt of court, punished for no other reason than that the paper of which he is editor had the courage and the enterprise to print the news.
 It is the fixed policy of the Journal Miner to refrain from printing news, the publication of which might defeat the ends of justice. In the indict- ments published, names were only given of accused persons who were either in custody or its equivalent, by being out under bonds. It was only a few months ago at the spring session of the grand jury that the Journal-Miner learned of the indictment of Ben Blan- chard within a half hour after the in- dictment occurred. The district attor- ney was aware that this paper was cog nizant of the indictment, and yet be- cause Blanchard was at large at the time, and his whereabouts were un- known, no mention of the matter ap- peared Tn these columns until a1ter Blanchard's appearance in Prescott sev- eral weeks later. Reference to this mat ter is only made to show the law-abid- ing and law-respecting character of the policy that animates and governs the management of the Journal-Miner.
 As a matter of fact. it is well for the public to know that there is not a law on the statute books which forbids the publication of any transactions that occur within the grand jury room. It is an offense for a grand juror or any officer of the court to disclose the se- crets of that body, and if contempt of court has been committed, it is within the province of the court to punish such an offender, if the Offense can be