The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-17
Grand Jury Minority
 Would I1,1peach Higdon

violating his oath of once. the law, and his promise to the people of this county. we feel that the sheriff ought to be impenched, and. therefore, rec ominsnd such proceedings be Instituted
 n.sy of the shsrin.
 "secohd-~We understand from prop CT construction Of the laws of our State that any aheriff when called upon 1 by a citizen of the State for protection, that 1t Is his duty under the law to give such citizen protection. In this matter 1t has come before our body | that one Tiv Kelly. an unfortunate negro. who was taken from . train at Cardiff. little town In this county, was arrested and placed in jail, and his trial delayed until after dark, and | he was tried, fined and turned loose upon the community Without any pro 1 tection whatever. This negro was taken from the train by what Is sup posed to be striking miners, and roughly handled.
 '"The ysheriff. hearing of the matter and having information that the negro was liable to be killed by the miners. sent a certain deputy sheriff to that | town to investigate the matter. and | upon his arrival there the negro had | been fined and turned loose, and the negro appealed to him for protection, and went so far as to offer the said | deputy sheriff S3 ik he would protect him or escort him to the nearest I1ili- tary camp some few miles distant, where he could get protection. The | deputy sheriff notified the sheriff of the condition of affairs, and the sheriff notifled him to play hands oft and have nothing to do with the negro. that he did not want to be responsible for the negro's life.
 Tn the name of God and all fair | ness, how could a private citizen, much less the sheriff of the county, whose l to give such protection, when in> his | nina t meant the death of the un- | fortunate negro. This negro some days afterwards was found dead. We ask the Community, who was guilty of the murder or death of that negro? Cewafdice Charged.
 If there is any law in this State protecting q citizen. and irnpeaching a sheriff for cowardice, this seems to us a clear case of impeachment. and | we, therefore, recommend his impeach- ment in this matter.
 '"rhird--It has also come to our att tention that the shertff has been rnak ing it a practice to so out into the community and arrest people, place them in jail and force them to remain there for days and days at a time, l sometimes as much as c week, with out knowing what charge they, were arrested upon. thereby forcing these
 unfortunate people to ianguish behind | the bars of the jail at the expense Of 1 the county, and in ignorance of the charge against them. Is this because
 the sherif does not care to take the l trouble to get out such a warrant in-
 mediately, or is 1t because this unfor- tunate being Is arrested purely upon suspicion. for the sake Of the sheriff fees. and that he is forced to lay In
 jail until sufficient evidence can be
 had to create an offense. or is it for graft? Is 1t proper under the law for
 a citizen Of this state to be arrested without a warrant and to compel him
 to remain In jail for days in ignorance
 of his crime As we understand it.
 sherin of che county toz tozimmediateiy go before judge or some official having authority to issue warrants, and have such warrants issued at the earliest possible moment If thia practice is
 being done because the sheFif Is iR-
 norant of his duty, and don't know ! what Is his duty. the court should cor
 rect this menace to the citizens. If 1t is being done in open violation of the
 law and the rights of the citizens for the purpose of graft, then. we think,
 this matter should be ended, and the courts put stop to it.
 | Fourth. We are informed that the sheriff Is instructed by the court to at all times have sufficient bAilif1s in at-
 tendance upon the grand jury so as to | insure prompt service in the matter Of summoning witnesses before it We are | further informed, by the deputy clerk
 of the criminal court that at the time ! this grand jury was empannelled, your honor placed an order on your docket instrueting the sheriff to furnish to the | grand jury six bailiffS, that their de- Alterations might not be hindered. We wish to inform your honor that Of tine six bailiffs that are paid by the county | $3 per day per bailiR during our de- l Alterations, it has been almost impossi- ble to have witnesses promptly brought before our body; this being caused as we understand 1t, from the fact that | the sheriff, when he sees so fit, takes the bailfffs that should be in attendance upon the grand Jury, and places them at other duties, that of serving papers | out of other courts having nothing whatever to do with this branch of the law, We have had subpoenas out for days and days at a time for prominent citizens whose offices are situated in the heart of the city, and 1t has been almost
  ed with a subpoena. In numerous cases we have called upon, the clerks office for subpoenas for the purpose of asceF- l taining whether or not such Q witness had been summoned. and find the subpoena In the papers and no return whatever marked on the sherlffs feturn, thereby clearly demonstrating to our minds that the aheriff has not tried to do his duty. We recommend that this matter be looked into immediately, and If such be Q fact, we further recom- mend that the county take such action as is deemed proper for the recovery of all such fees illegally collected.
 | Attaching Witnesses.
 Fifth. We have had 1t to occur that witnesses would be attached for their | lnon-appearance before the grand jury, | and upon investigating the witness and 1 also the returns of the sheriff. we found l that the witness had never be. l fore received any notice whatever Of such issuance. and the grand jury were compelled because of It's failure to get hold of the papers promptly att
 tached such witness feeling that the sheriff had done his duty when in real | ity he had not.
 We will cite the case of Mir. F. <. wolhorst. prominent and substantial citizen of the county. This gentleman was subpoenaed by the grand jury as | witness before it, and his address and
 street number marked on the subpoena,
 and upon his failure to attend the grand jury issued an attachment for him, and he was arrested upon such attach.
 ment and brought before the grand