The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-04-25
PETTY THEFT Il
ON INCREASE
These Crimes Chargeable to the
Boys and Young Men
Of the Towns.
ILLEGAL SALE OF WH|sKEY
Grand jury Says In Final Report
thai Booze Is Being Sold In
Waxakachie and

District court will not adjourn an
til next week, but the grand jury
finished its labors Friday afternoon
and adjourned. The final report as
submitted to the court is as follows: ::
To the Hon. F. l.. Hawkins, Judge
of the 40th Judicial District:
We, your grand jury, empaneled
for sthe February term, 1908, beg
to submit to your honor the follow
ing report:
We have been in session thirty
days and have had 649 witnesses be-
fore us; we have found SO true bills,
% of which were for felonies and
IS for misdemeanors.
We find that crime in our county
is very much on the decrease, with
the exception of the crime of bur
glary and petty theft, and we are
sorry to have to report that of the
cases mentioned above we find that
these crimes are very largely charge
able to boys and young men of our
county.
We note with regret, that after
our Investigations, we feel justified
in saying that the too common prac-
tice of parental indulgence and ne
glect is in most cases responsible for
this condition, and so long as boys
between the ages of twelve and six
teen years are allowed to quit school
and are turned loose on the streets
of our towns day and night without
objections of parents or guardians
we cannot hope for a change for the
w Inn
into the violation Of the local option
law, and believe that a great deal of
whiskey is being sold in Waxahachie
and Ennis, and in such quantities
that we feel sure it is sold in viola
ton of the law, these two places be-
ing the hot bed of this illegal traffic.
We have had great many wit
nesses to testify and have made an
extensive effort to get on the inside
of this matter and bring the guilty
parties to justice, but have not ac-
complished all that we wished to,
yet our work has not been entirely
fruitless. We have sufficient evidence
as to the facts herein set forth, and
we feel sure that if we could have
extracted the truth from a few of the
witnesses who have been before US
on this question, or if their memor-
les had not become SO suddenly par
alyzed and wrecked, we would have
at this time had Waxahachie Jail full
of the violators of the local option
law
We believe there are people IN
Waxahachie getting rich from the
sale of whisky Through a legalized
prescription house, and this grand
jury is in possession of sufficient evil
dence to justify this statement. This
should not be in a local option coun-
ty with dense population of highly
respectable, intelligent and cultured
people, majority of whom are in
favor of the local option law being
enforced in the entire county. And
we, therefore, recommend that the
next legislature pass such laws as
will abolish this evil.
We are led to believe from the
evidence we have, coming from a
strong sentiment expressed to this
grand jury by so many people in
WaXahachie and Ennis and over the
county, that our peace officers are
not as diligent as to the enforcement
of this law as they should be, and
that greater part of them are not
in sympathy with the enforcement of
the local option law
We find that in the last five
months there have been 1912 pres
criptions issued; we also note that
a few of our doctors continue to
write more prescriptions than we
think they should, and to persons
known to be excessive drinkers.
We attach hereto list of names
of the doctors and the number of
prescriptions given by each, and
those who read this report can
reach their own conclusions.
We commend the former grand
jury for the publication of the list
in their report, which has had a
wholesome effect.
We learn that in some instances
the county convicts on our roads are
being severely whipped, and we di-
rect the attention of our honorable
commissioners court to this mat
ter
We have had before us the coun-
ty auditor, have examined his books
and find same to be in good condi-
tion and well kept, and also that the
couMy's affairs that come under his
jurisdiction are being well looked at
ter, and that the accounts of all off,
GERS OF the county are reported by
him to be correct.
We have visited the jail and coun-
ty farm. The Jail we find is we'll
Kept. The county farm at this time
is in fine condition and after a care
ful examination we have M suppas-