Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-04-18

out the reason. 1t Is a great deal bet
ter to allow abuses of any kind to go
unnOticed than to make presentment
of such abuses and allow that present
ment to be ignored. The man who
ignores a presentment of the grand
jury defies the voice Of the people, and
when any man undertakes to do this,
1t Is time that such a man be called
upon to explain.
The fact that man Is charged with
crime, Is not to be taken as evidence
that he is guilty. The law on the con-
trary presumes that he Is innocent un-
til he has been proven to be guilty.
But so far as you are concerned that
presumption Of innocence does not eX
tend beyond the commission of the act.
If you find that the act alleged was
! committed by the accused, then there
Is no further presumption of inno-
cence. For instance In the case Of a
man accused of murder, when 1t Is
shown that the accused did the killing
then 1t is for you to return a true BILL
On the other hand. no man should be
harassed by frivolous and unjust
charges, and where there appears to
he no merit in a given case, no bill
should be found.
am happy to say that so far as my
observation extends In the counties Of
the state during the past few years.
IL there ever was any ground for the
charge of the prevalence of lawless-
ness, that ground has passed away.
do not believe that there ever was a
more law-abiding, peace loving, or
more virtuous people on the globe than
these people Of South Carolina.
After instructing the grand jury to
the effect that 1t controlled It's own
1n1i ttyffh full 1foornffn, In
fixing its hours Of labor, and author
ity over witnesses, regardless Of the
hours during which the balance Of the
court was working from $50 a. m. to
1.30 p. m, and from p. m. to such
hour in the evening as might be con-
venient, his honor took up the several
bills Of indictment that had been pass
ed up to him by the solicitor and ex-
planned the law involved in the various
charges made. With reference to an
indictment for violating the dispensary
law, he said that the subject Of the
traffic In alcoholic liquors had occu-
pied the attention Of lawmakers for
generations and would continue to oc-
cupy their attention for generations to
come, and he went on to say that no
other one thing had brought more
crime, poverty. shame or degradation
on the human race than this same
subject Of alcoholic liquors.
He told the grand jury that It had a
right to meet and attend to whatever
business 1t might have in hand, by
committee or a part, or as a whole,
whenever ii saw proper, at any time
during the year, whether court was in
session or not.
The grand jury took the papers and
retired; but failing to report any
bills during the morning session, no
cases were tried until the afternoon.
During the afternoon session, Cal
Rush plead guilty Of selling liquor in
violation Of the dispensary law and
was sentenced to six months on the
chaingang or a fine of 500.
Sam Hart, who at the last term Of
the court was tried on the charge Of
convicted, was allowed to plead guilty
Of manslaughter. He was sentenced to
five years on the chaingang.
The first case to go to the jury, was
that Of Jim Montgomery, charged with
housebreaking and larceny. The jury
took the papers last night, and this
morning handed In a verdict Of guilty.
The sentence of the court was two
years on the chaingang.
John Haffner, white, and Jim Cros-
by, colored. plead guilty to house.
breaking and larceny and were SEN
tence to two years each, on the chain
gang.
The next case taken up was that Of
the State against Son Crawford and
Belle Guntharpe, charged with assault
and battery with intent to kill.
The grand jury has been working
hard since yesterday morning and will
be discharged this afternoon or to-
morrow