The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-01-11
JUDGE CLOUDS
UNIQUE CHARGE
Delivered to the Grand Jury al
Watauga Superior Court in
1877 During His Judicial
Career in North Carolina

will no doubt be of interest, as many
remember Judge Cloud. and to those
who do not, this charge to the grand
jury Will convey an Iuea of the chdrac-
ter OF the man. Judge Cloud has iong
since passed Yer the river and his
booy was buried in tne cemetery at
WINSTON.
grand jury at Watauga court, said:
Gentlemen OF the jury: ] am gao
TO be Wllh YOU in the good Old county
OF Watauga. The law requires that
the grand jury be composed of good
men OF moral character who ia paid
their tax. We can have no assurance
that the grand jury Will perform their
duty unless it Is composed of moral
character men. You ave got a pretty
county ana should feel proud of 1t.
Not because you have mountains and
hills covered with pretty ivy and beau
ti4ul rhododenoron, and not because
the sparkling rivers and creeks go
courslng down the hill sides and
through the g~rass-covered valleys.
No, not these, but you have a pretty
county, because you have good cltl-
ZenS. The county is much Indebted to
the grand jury and other officers OF the
law tor its character. They give tone
TO the county. Go into a county where
the jury do not perform their uuty and
that will be spoken OF as a bad place.
Why, my dear sirs, they will talk
about it a hundred miles off-so they
will. Laws are intended to reSulat
society. You are q good looking set
OF men. You see. it the grand jury
does not do its duty the laws cannot
properly be administered. All the
people in Watauga look very well.
Every man is bound and necessarily
compelled to fulfil the laws. No per
son has protection for life or property
ayaanf which tho Ia w uiUCS therefore
it should be respected. All, yes, but it's
mighty hard to respect some III the
laws made by the last drum head leg
%isIature Cooking toward the late rep
reoentative.) il there were no laws
the big strong men would do just what
they pleased with all the little and
weak men. The good character of
you jurors depends upon the way in
which you perform your duty during
this court. 1t is creditable to Wa
tauga county that you have such a
small docket. Only about IA cases on
the State docket and 81 on civil dock
ct. This speaks we'll for the county.
This is the smallest county in the cir
cult. Why, down yonder in Rowan or
Surry county it IS four times that
much. Here we do not have but one
week court, according to that knOW-lt-
all legislature; but when we get down
here to Sparta-yeS, Sparta, stop right
thar now, for that name has got to be
changed. You see, down in Allegheny.
That's the tail end of the whole thing.
I'll tell 'em all about it when / get
,l.vn there. Well, down there they
have TWO weeks court. Now | want to
caution You against this. No man or
lawyer takes deception to it. =
When you see two legislatures
taking sides with each other you may
know that there is something wrong
Now I want to tell you about Illegal
49, pI~sa - WON Dow ~ M "
county (Surry) there were two men,
Dotson and Browe candidates for
commissioners; the one on our side
claimed that he was elected, and the
Democrat claimed that he was elected.
Don't you see there was Illegal votes?
One proved that the other had re-
ceived so fraudulent votes, and the
other proved that the one had received
SO stuffed votes. [ tried my best to
get the grand jury to indict the whole
set Of them; but, don't you see, some
Of the jury was Republicans and some
Democrats. and they agreed to not tell
on each other. Now don't you see
the were not good moral character
men? caution you against any such
conduct as that thar jury is guilty OF.
[ beg and deDlore of you for the sake
Of the good name Of Watauga county
to stop such mischief. Stop right thar.
There is a disposition on the part of
the grand %juries, the legislature, the
newspapers and everybody to favor
la~wlessness, and his is what makes
the people SO bad. The war, the last
legislature, the public press and the
politicians have all Joined together and
word or connive at what is right
they are responsible for nearly all the
mischief. I will give it as my opinion
that crime is on the increase. NV ex-
perience since the war shows that
there is great need and much room for
doing better. A great many of the
OffenseS that ares now only a fine and
imprisonment will be penitcntiary Of
lenses before long. This will have to
be done in order TO improve society.
I think the next legislature or the one
following it will Tx matters ali
right. = x