The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1908-01-28
GENERAL SESSIONS COURT.
Judge Cages Charge to Grand Jury
Goodwin and Davenport Cases
Continued Matters.

! lay morning. il"H. Neor42 ". Gage,
oi Cht>;er presiding. Solicitor Coop
er handed out Il number Of indict-
mentS. and Judge Gage charged, the
grand jury both as to their general
and specific duties.
Judge Gage. in his charge to tne
grand jury. said there were two mat
ters he wanted to talk about very
briefly. They were related and YET
widely apart. and yet interdependent
in large measure. The two subjects
We're law!aS>ncss a7d the public
schools. Judge Gage said that ne had
hurrieAly looked over the calendar
for ten years, and had found that
the predominating offence in New
berry county was against the person.
such as fights. brawls and murders.
! He had found that there had been
fifty-nine true bills for murder in
ten years. He had not had time to
see what disposition had been made
Of all these cases. He was mindful
! Of the fact that the great majority
Of these had been committed by ne
groes upon negroes. but the white
people were responsible for the gov
erament Of the negroes. because they
administered the law. The thing Judge
Gage wanted to impress was taat
this condition Of affairs was not con-
! fined to the county Of Newberry. He
had met last fall similar condition
in Colleton. ald last week the same
state Of affairs in Laurens. It was
not confined to the low country or
to the up country; it was prevalent
throughout the entire State. "The r.
<r0nsi5ilitv. said Judge Gage, "is
il You aad me. It does not inhere
in the law, or in the administration
Of the law, but in the hearts Of the
people," Our people as class, he
said, have not the right conception
Of the sanctity of human life. If
the judges had the courage and the
! jurors the nerve ald the lawyers the
proper light they might rise in their
night and put down this iniquity,
but it would not be put down until
the people had a higher conception
of the enormity of the sin. White
women were virtuous ald white men
were reasonably honest. Public SIN
timant demanded it. This was deter
mined in the homes and in the hearts
Of the people. When men come to
the same conclusion in regard to law
lessness- men must stop carrying
pistols and loading themselves with
rum, and, above all, must stop tax
ing human life-when public senti-
ment demanded it, it would be stop
ped.
Judge Gage said he. had watched
grand juries for thirty years, and no
other voice was so potent as that
Of a grand jury.
They could set their faces against
it everywhere, and sound a note
against it, and form public sentiment
against it. If the grand jury Lifted
its voice long enough and loud enough
and peTsistently enough the county
would heed.
The cou1 1ty schools, said Judge
Gage, were the teachers Of law. He
wanted TO say that the children Of
;he county were not going to the
public schools as they ought to. Be
fore the people knew. it the civiliza-
tion Of the south was going to be
changed. The change was going on
now gradually. Judge Gage said he
had secured statistics comparing the
year 1898 with the present, ten
years later. The reliable gentleman
from whom he had secured the statis-
ties noted that there must be some
mistake, because tht figures for
1907 showed q decrease in enrolment
under 1898, ten years ago. The aver
age attendance Of white children this
year, he said, was only 1868. 1t ought
to be four times as great. Seventy
five per cent of the children of New
berry county were not in the public
schools. The amount paid the teach
ers was $4,000 and the school term
was seven months, the average pay to
the teachers being about S42 per
month. The cash balance on hand
in June, 1907, was $4,000. The main
thing to which he wanted to direct
attention was that in Newberry coun-
ty only one-fourth of the children of
school age were in the public schools.
Unless this thing was remedied out