The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-04-29

and thoroughly examine. and see {
crime mas ueen committed.
There is an immense amount ,
killing In this country. gentlemen. an,
has been for many gears. You are all
as citizens. as familiar with the mat
ter as the officers Of the law. | lo,b
upon II as one of the most solemn
/ duties OF good citizenship. Il possible
To try and stop the prevalence Of such
hcinous offensc especially cases OF
murder assault e. Kill. and crimes OF
that character; and thero\ is no way
to stop 1t except by punishlng those
who violate the law. Those who have
committed crime must understand
that the punTshmont is certain an
sure, and they may then hesitate as
TO whether they will commit crime
or not But the Grand jury Is the
only one that first can determine
whether the parties shall be arrested
and tried or not.
There are number of offcnses
here which are very productive Of
crime. | look upon the carrying OF
weapons and pistols strapped upon
persons without any authority. that
together with the violation Of the
liquor laws combined are the two
most potent causes Of the commits
sim of crime, especially of homicide
You take a man armed with gun
as they say. and let him Indulge ih
bad whisky and he gets exceedingly
sensitive as TO his honor, and II he
has any difficulty with his neighbors.
or anyone in the community he then
becomes so courageous that he Is
ready at once to have the matter set
tied, and II results I'm a killing very
often. especially when they congr,
gate together. ! have found in n mum.
Der Of instances where young men at.
tend parties in the country, they 70
armed, and seem to 'hink that is
necessary part of their 'bmont that
IA consequence IL very often iesu,s IN
them. They invariably meet up WIZ
some whisky peddler and by the tim
they have got saturated with poor
whisky, and with their gun, they are
ready for a difficulty and IL there is
any latent spirit existing I'm the neigh
borhood. or they have any grudge. or
any slight insult is put upon them at
the time. they are at once very sensi-
tive in regard to their honor, and as
consequence It very often results In
a killing.
You should indict people that have
been violating the laws in regard to
whisky, because the law In this coun-
try is extremely prohibitive. A stat
ute cannot be drawn that Is more
prohibitiye than It is here In the In.
dian Territory about the sale or car
rying in Of whisky or other intoxi.
eating drinks; and It Is also prohibit
tive with reference to the carrying OF
pistols. And these crimes particularly,
by reason OF the fact that they be-
come the cause of much of this diff
Guilty, should be prosecuted. and If
anybody can be found guilty of them
they should be prosecuted, and II pos.
sible convicted. All crimes, OF course,
should be thoroughly investigated.
It requires twelve of your number
to concur in m indictment. An indict.
ment cannot be found unless twelve of
the grand jurors concur.
You must understand, gentlemen,
that the proceedings before the grand
jury are entirely secret Grand jurors
are not permitted to disclose what
occurs in the grand jury room, and
you can readily see how this may
be, because II is not infrequently the
case that grand Jurors become the
of many very sacred do
nestle troubles and business troubles
that exist in the community, which II
disclosed might result in the commits.
sion of further crime. Hence grand
Juror. must be particularly careful 10
see that the evidence that II brought
before them Ii not disclosed. Then
IL may be that you will have to ex-