Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-04-14

! cause they make a map of Lewiston and
put on 1t all the saloons that exist In
mat city that he Is responsible for them?
think these men were all in court,
afterwards and paid fines that were sat-
| isfactory to the court and to the county
attorney and he considered 1t we'll
enough to drop the old cases II lie did
drop those cases through negligence
there was no wilfulness in it, He would
not be the first county attorney or the
last to bring over cases. but there was
no wilfulness in that. County attorneys
are human beings like other people, and
sometimes they do neglect things.
When liquor sellers did not appear
in his court during the term, what,
Twas he to do Go to the county of
Penobscot, and you had the county
lattorney before you the other day as
| fine young man as lives in the Stats
+, of Maine. and Il good lawyer: go over
and ask him il he has power to per-
lsonally bring liquor dealers of Penob-
iscot county in before the judge on
each term? II he has that power, it
| is a new thing. Go to Portland where
lCounty Attorney Samuel l.. Bates has
received certificate of good charac
tterefrom the Civic League, and see if
he can personally present liquor sell
ers there who jumped their bail when
indicted. ~
You say that he bes not make these
indictments public. Those men who
have been in the business do not have
10 have indictments made public.
They do not need anyone to bring no.
tiee to them or through the public
'press. They have ways of their own
for finding out We unfortunately
have -on the grand jury sometimes
men who are net of sanity character
We all know that from experience
Now the men were not in court. They
|could have been brought into court in
just one Wayne more-Suggested
here. and that is by the bench war
rant Now it is said that the county
Fattorney had power to call for bench
warrants. He did have the power TO
|eall for bench warrants and the
Judges who sat on the bench at each
one of those terms of court. including
Judge Savage. The present chief JUS
|iice, Judge Whitehousc, the former
chief justice. Judge Cornish perhaps
ithe ablest judge of his age in the
State-all knew that they had the
power TO call for bench warrants.
They didn't have to wait until Mr..
Hines asked Mr.. Belleau for a bench
warrant. If one of those. gentleman
had thought it was right and proper
that the respondent should be in court
land that that bench warrant would
bring him there. he would have order
led it. Nobody is going to contend
that Judge Savage or Judge White
house or Judge Cornish have any
sympathy with ,aw-breakers Nobody
lis going to contend that they are will
fully negligent in their duties. or will
fully negleeting anything that comes
within the scope of judges work,
and if bench warrants had been the
thing / regret that counsel for the
prosecution had not informed those
judges of the supreme court of the
fact so that they could have cleared
their skirts.
Bench warrants could be asked for
by the county attorney. Tell me, pray
in fairness and decency do you ex-
lpeet a county attorney of the brief
Experience of Mr.. Hines. lawyer new
lat his work as he is to think OF that
|expedient when the two judges of the
to him and third one. the chief JUS
|tice, said that was not the best thing
to do? Are YOU going to condemn him
for that? Are you going to condemn
him for not doing what the judges did
not do? Are you going to condemn
him for not doing what Judge Savage
advised him not to do Oh. hardly,
hardly, my friends, not even in this
|spasm of exceeding virtue We have
been undergoing lately, because you
are fair men and decent men.
/ want to say to you'll want to dill
|ferentiate between this case and the
cases yau have heard. l argued 10
you here in the sheriff's case and the
sheriff had right to use certain dis-
erection. I did no. argue to you that
the law gave him that discretion. 1
|argued to you that he was obiised 10
use it by the very nature of his busi-
ness. by the very nature OF the condi-
|tions which surround him.
But | saw in this case that you can
take the bare law for 1t, you need not
take ANYTHING else, and that within
the county attorney is reposed Ger
tain discretion by law. 1t does not
come in Section SO of Chapter % OF
THE Revised Statutes. the section I'M
der which these proceedings are
wrongfuIly brought. The County At
torney's duties are not at all described
in that section: his name Is simply
sandwiched in between sherifs and
deputy sheriffs by reason of an
amendment passed in 1891 which made
a disconnected statute. His duties are
defined elsewhere. But under the
laws Of this State he has legal dls-
erection reposed in him by iaw-not the
discretion of the sheriff-but legal as
erection that he has right to use, ana
one of the things that he has a risht
to decide is when he will and when ne
will not mol pros a case, Why. IN TINS
Legislature, you attempted to take
this discretion away from the county
attorney. Some thought that county
attorneys were using it too carelessiy.
that they were not discreet enough
and a movement was instituted here
to take that discretion away from the
county attorney so that the judge
would exercise it instead of the coun-
Ity attorney. What did you gentlemen