The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1905-01-28
SATURDAY, JAN. %, 1905.
THE PREVALENCE OF PERJURY.

In his charge delivered 10 Cne grdnu
jury here last Monday, Hon. L. U.
SisSon made a statement that should
cause every lover Of home, and every
citizen mindful of the welfare of the
young and coming generations to con-
template with serious alarm. He
made the startling declaration that
perjury-false Swearing-iS so preva-
lent in this judicial district that the
courts are baffied IN their attempts to
ferret out evil doing, the arm of the
law largely paraliZed, and that society
is threatened with a Subteranean
eruption that may land us in a sea
where truth is unknown, and where
Beelzebub sits supreme. He further
stated that this unhOly alliance with
deceit and the chief Of the Internal
regions was increasing, rather than
decreasing. And what Mr.. SiSSon
saws of the conditions that confront
the courts in this district, is, in a
measure, true of the otherljudicial dis
-tricts of the State, if we are to judge
10y the appeals the presiding judges
are making for a better enforcement
of law, and for the l%aw-abiding people
to come up to the support OF the
Judges and the jurieS of the land. Ii
this state Of facts be true, the queS-
ton comes laundering to uS-tO each
one of us as individualS-in what way
can this be laid at my door, or how
much responsibility must l assume
for this lamentable condition of Socie-
ty that is striking at the very tap
root of civilization, at the very corner
stone of our republic and at the very
altar of Our religion-Of all that we
claim is pure, holy, beneticient and
good? We know that the answer Cain
rave to his maker is OfttimeS repeated:
Am | my brothers keeper" But
the answer to this query has been
echoed and re-echOed from the very
hills of the celestial city thousands of
times. We cannot escape a RESPONSE
bility that God, in the majesty OF
heaven, has seen proper to place upon
us. We are, in a certain sense, re-
SpOnSible for the acts Of our fellow
man.
If it be true that such a large mum
Der Of our people prostitute thell
OathS wherein they invoke the sane
tity of heaven as their own witness
If it be true that so many of the body
polite have parted company with the
truth and are now tearing down TIT
sacred affairs, erected OF the hills o
Zion upon which the world itself wa
founded are the balance of us no
parties to the act and cOhabiting witt
perjury? Courts are made to preserve
society, to protect the weak and shield
the innocent, and if the people are al
lowed to toy with the truth in thu
very citadels of justice, such a condl
ton will soon permeate society gener
ally, destroy business integrity, ant
ere long the very sanctity of the home
Let us hope that such condition 0
affairs may never come and that what
ever index we may give Of such a stat
now, grows out of our thoughtleSSneS
and our i%nattention to the genera
good of the community.
We should grid our lOinS with tn
armor of truth and realize that as
does not add any stars to the charm
of a woman to so depOrt herself as t
have her virtue questioned, so it doe
not add anything to u strength o
character as a people to ever have tn
finger of suspicion rest upon our We
racity.
Mr.. Sisson did not utter these state
mentS to create a sensation, or boOS
himself into prominence-it was no
necessary for him to do that. But h
uttered them in obedience to bis loft,
conception of official obligation am
out of a sense of patriotic duty.