The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1908-05-13
SOLICITOR CURRIE
DELIVERS CHARGE
SPRING TERM OF CIRCUIT COURT
CONVENED MONDAY-CHARG
TO GRAND JURY WAS DELIV-
Erred BY MIR. CURRTE.
Judge Cochran Said District Attorney
Had Been Campaigning in Other
Counties. so He'd Put Him
TO Work Here.

The spring term of circuit court
convened Monday morning, Judge R.
F. Cochran presiding. This will be
the final local term over which the
well known judge will preside, and
a large number of people gathered at
the court house, thinking perhaps
that as this marked the judges final
shot at a Lowndes county grand jury
he'd deliver one of his sensational
charges. The crowd, however, was
doomed to disappointment, for Judge
Cochran did not charge the grand
jury, having delegated the task, or
perhaps it would be better to say the
honor, to District Attorney Carrie.
OF course it became necessary to
organize the grand jury before
charge could be delivered, and when
the panel had been completed the fol-
lowing gentlemen were in the box:
Messrs. E. 5. Moore, l.. S. Bridge
forth, T. J. Smith, J. NJ. Holloway,
TT. G. Warfeld. A. r. Shivers, L. T.
Hollingswoth, w II. Goodson, E. A
Harris, J. H. Locke, L. Fl. Gould, Joe
Salter, c. A. Goree, J. E. Miller, S.
NJ. Dale, S F. Harris. After having
appointed Mr.. E. S. Moore foreman,
Judge Cochran stated that District
Attorney Currie, who is a candidate
for congress from the Fifth district,
had been devoting most of his time
to campaigning recently, and that in
order to put him to work in Colum-
bus he had asked him to charge the
grand jury.
District Attorney Currie is a very
learned and very intelligent man,
and his charge showed not only a
complete knowledge of the laws now
on our statute books, but thorough
familiarity with legal history. His
charge, in fact, was in reality a rhe-
torical and historical oration, in
which he stated the basic principles
of common 1awsand narrated the his
tory of our present court system, tell
ing how the system was originated in
ancient times and what has been done
to elaborate and perfect it.
The District Attorney said that
most people had a wrong conception
of the meaning of the freedom and I!
liberty guaranteed citizens of the !
United States under the constitution. |
He said that liberty and freedom re- |
ally mean the strength and restraint |
of the law, and that the burden of |
government is vested in each and ev-
cry man in proportion to his intel |
lectual and moral strength. He said
that there was a growing tendency
towards fabrication on the part of
witnesses and that perjury formed
the causeway over which many Grim
inals escaped from the law. The dis
trict attorney declared that the dan
ger resulting from perjury does not
lie in the false testimony given by
moral degenerates, which is always
discredited to a greater or less eX-
tent, but in the fabrications of men
of intelligence, who rely upon their !.
shrewdness to escape detection, and
who. after having left the grand jury
room or the witness stand, boast of
the manner in which they wilfully
misled their interrogators.
That District Attorney Currie is
not very well posted regarding local
affairs is evinced by the fact that he
devoted rather large portion of his
charge TO the road overseers. The
system of working the public roads
BY contract has been in operation in
his county for several months, and
III road overseers We're long since
discharged for duty, but this kind of
ak is stock stuff" in all orthodox
grand jury charges. so the District
gave some good advice on s
he subject, told a few jokes concern
ng the trials and vicissitudes of men ]
Who are supposed to work the public l
'oads without the proper tools and |
and passed blitheIy on {
o another subject.
Different violations of the law
we're briefly considered, the charge
having, as stated above, been gem
raj rather than specific in its ma a
ure. Mr.. Currie appealed to the S
higher natures of the gentlemen COM q
'osing the grand jury. and after hav-
ng mentioned a few of the more fre-
Iuent violations of the law, seemed J
ontent TO leave the work of purging t