The leader., 1905-05-27
THE LINCOLN
CIRCUIT COURT.
CONCLUDING PART OF JUDGE NILkN-
SONS CHARGE.
Civil Cases Disposed Of During the
Week.

ceedings Of Circuit Court in its
Wednesdays issue The Leader
omitted the publication of the
concluding part of Judge Wilkin-
sons able and vigorous charge to
the grand jury. on account Of the
pressure of other copy, which
could not be delayed. The clos
ing paragraphs are given below.
After his pointed remarks about
blind tigers, pistol-toters, gam
blers and vagrants, the court con-
tinued:
II don't think there is but one
man in jail to investigate, but you
must look into this case promptly.
If he is innocent he ought not to
be kept in Jail any longer, and if
he is guilty he ought to be tried
and convicted. There have been
some shooting scrapes in this
county since the last term of
court. Investigate these and if
the facts in the case justify it, in
dict; if not, you may ignore them.
But if you find any guilty parties,
let's bring them up and try them.
If the. petit juries and the grand
Jury will do their duty there is no
reason why there should not be a
great decrease in the number of
cases on the criminal docket and a
good deal less expense to the
county. These courts are pretty
expensive. There is not a term
of this court held that costs less
than So, 900 and with two terms a
year that makes $4,000 that the
Circuit Court costs you year.
You people have to pay the cost
of it-that $4,000 comes out of
your pockets all to pay for these
fellows who 60 around killing
people and burning houses, car
rying pistols and shooting craps.
And it is just for the reason that
the good people allow it. Let the
grand iuries and the petit juries
stop it and get rid of these fellows
for a time at least.
Il want you to investigate the
sheriff's Office. At each term of
the court it is your duty to inyess
tigate the tax collectors part of it.
Investigate the sheriff's Office and
see that be correctly handles all
the money due the county. You
are to see that he pays the money.
over to the proper officers and if
there is a deficiency anywhere,
you must find it. You have a
right to investigate every county
officer at any term of court. You,
gentlemen, are the superY isors
and controllers of each and every
official in the county. 1t is your
duty to investigate the books of
the officials to see if they are all
right; and if he is an honest man
he will be glad for you to make
this investigation. If you find
that everything is all straight he
will receive a certificate of ap-
proval from you gentlemen; or if
you find anything wrong you can
take the proper action. You can't
have too much faith in any Off
Ger. Why, one of our State treas
urers went wrong and WAS sent to
the penitentiary. Why, he was
one Of the first men | voted for
and / thought he was all right;
but he went wrong. Well, he
was punished; but this shows that
you may have too much conf
dence in a man, for not every man
is so strong that office may
not corrupt him at some time.
You grand jurors are officers of
the people and officers to whom
the people must look for cor
rection and protection. If any.
mans Office is investigated in this
court you, gentlemen, are the on
" ones who have authority over
him. You gentlemen alone,
have any control over me and my
acts, and it is tbe same way with
the sheriff; you are the only trib-
,unaI that has authority over him
in bis official duty in this county.
Why, your authority is supreme.
Even the Governor has no right
to remove a grand juror or hold
him accountable for his acts.
You, gentlemen, are the guard
ians of the people and responsible
for the faithfulness Of the officers
Of the county. When you exam
inc the sheriff's books you can
look at the work Of the others and
if it is done carefully and correct
ly, give them d certificate, and if
not, give them an indictment.
This is 3 place where you must
lay aside friendship, you must lay
aside relationship and prejudice,
and If an officer is not fulfilling
his obligations to the people he
represents, you must Investigate
these things thoroughly and i'm
partially
i had 4 long letter from one Of