The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-07-11
Judge w. z. Allen to the
Grand Jury.
Continued from Page One.)

Continued from Page One.)
Men who seek to avoid the duty are
solicitious only when they have a
case themselves, and forget that they
owe the same duty to other men that
they owe themselves. Business men,
with respect to jury duty, are largely
responsible for the things that they
complain of. 1t was in the admins
tration of the laws, declared Judge
Allen as it was in the making of them.
Laws are best made, not by a legisla-
ture composed entirely of farmers or
lawyers or business men; the best
laws come from a body of men repre-
sentative of the whole people. 1t was
SO in the administration of the laws
from the jury box.
1t was the duty of the people, he
said, to see that the juries were free
and untrammelled. Much of the
power was with the press of the land.
No editor would fail. to resent the
idea that he would influence a jury
and vet would PREJUDICE the case. No
editor he declared. has the right to
throw the weight of his opinion in the
jury box.
Crimes Affecting Public Morals.
Judge Allen dwelt particularly on
crimes affecting the public morals de-
fined the keeping of "bawdy" and dis
and lasting effects of these places on
the general public. He dwelt upon
the fact that a disorderly house need
not be a place whore women dWelt
for immoral purposes, but merely
such a place as evil men and women
were in the habit of visiting. He was
careful in instructions as to gambling,
taking occasion to say that the prac-
tice of combining gambling indictments
to the negro shooting craps was wrong.
The law applied to poker and to other
forms of gambling, whether prac-
ticed in private or not and to shops
and men who dealt in futures. He
went on to say that the Woodland law
had gone far to stop the future evil,
and pointed out the fact that it was
only when a man had lost enough to
hurt him that his losses at futures
became known while his winnings
were heralded to the world. The eX-
ample, he declared, had made an out
cast and a thief out of many a good
boy led into temptation by glittering
and false example. ..- q.
Evils of Embracery.
Judge Allen also laid special stress
on embracery, defining the offense
ana CdlllllS lIlc dllcIllloIi VI LllC Jul y
to the fact that it was not necessary
for the State to show that the jury
had been Influenced, but that the gray
amen of the crime was the attempt
to influence juror or jury or to in
struct or in any way incline him ~
them. A man has a right to have his
cause presented to the jury by counsel,
and to have his evidence introduced
but there his right ends. If he at
4 ~ To inf ha
Juror or jury he is guilty. If he
takes him to his room or treats him,
or in any way seeks undue influence
he is guilty of embracery 1t is the
attempt and not the accomplishment
of the actual influence or wrong that
the offense. at is an Of
Tense, said Judge Allen, that peCu
liarly affects public justice. If the
juries are to be approached in an i'm
proper way, no man is safe. Equally
with embracery was the bribery of a
juror or subornation of perjury.
Compliments Clerk Russ.
In speaking of the :crime of EN-
bezzlement. the Judge called attention
to the fact that the law had been
50 as to include executors
and administrators and guardians, and
in this connection pointed out that
1t was the duty of the. grand jury
TO carefully inspect the office of the
clerk of the court to see whether or
not these trustees were making their
reports as required by law Referring
to Clerk Russ, Judge Allen stated
that he was one of the best officers
in the State and kept his records in
an admirable manner. The duty Of
the grand jury. however. was some
thing besides seeing that the records
were kept we'll and that officers wrote
good "hands." They should ask the 4
officers to show them the returns of
guardians, etc, so that they might
promptly present anyone of these who
was not properly taking care of The
funds entrusted to him, or not making
proper returns. a''
In impressing on the jury the duty
to make a careful inspection of the
home, Judge Allen stated that
the people in these institutions We're
simply unfortunates: that no member
of the jury had any guarantee that
either himself or some of his relatives
would not sometime be thrown on the
of the county; and that the
homes should be we'll built and well
taken care of. He especially recon-
mended the Home of Mecklenburg
county, which looked like a modern
hotel and told of the horrors OIL
pecially he referred to the fact that
many men who were considered
Worthless i'm their neighborhoodsl
had fine records as soldiers, and stated
that.it behooved the people to remem
Der that their very "Worthlessness"
might be the result Of a. sacrifice
made by them in early youth to their
to the irregular habits they
had collected when in the Confederate
service as young boys.
Case of Father and Son.
The cases disposed of were all
minor affairs. Some, however, had
interest in themselves. OF these the
first case was remarkable in the con-
ditions which produced it. The de-
PENDANT was an old man, and he was
accused of assault with deadly
weapon on his son. The son was a
middle aged man, of probably fifty
years of age, w. F. Perry Jr. The
old man was a fighter from his looks
and from the evidence, He carried a
stoop, and his age was apparent in
his walk, but his eyes were as hard as
steel and as light as fire. His lip pro-