The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-08-05
BUCKLEY PLEASFOR
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Strong Charge Is Delivered
Meridian Grand Jury
AS TO SEGREGATION
Advises Indictment of Bank Officials
When There Has Been a Failure
Who Neglected Duties for
DepositOrs' Protection
AS TO SEGREGATION
by p. ID. l'RoY


| Meridian Miss. August 4-(Special.'
Circuit court opened this morning in thi.
city for a four weeks term for the pur.
pose of trying criminal cases.
After impaneling the jury Judge Johr
L. Buckley delivered one of the ablest
charges ever heard in the Lauderdals
county courthouse. 1t was a strong plea
for the rigid enforcement of the law, and
in which he complimented the city OF
Meridian and Lauderdale county on the
progress made in the enforcement of law
but declared that there was still room foi
| Improvement.
Perhaps the most interesting and SEN
sational feature of the charge was hif
very emphatic Endorsement of the move
ment recently begun in this city by the
ministers for the enforcement of the Law
against the women of the restricted dis
trict. He commended the people who were
| in this movement, and advised the grand
| jury to take hand in the matter by
bringing indictments in cases of known
guilt
Another somewhat sensational feature
was the strong advice given for the grani
jury 10 ilulCb all OlliCld1S WAlSlC tACAC lieH
| been bank failure if it was shown thai
such officials had failed or neglected tt
discharge all their duties for the protec-
ton of depositors.
| At a previous term of court the presi-
dent, cashier and assistant cashier of the
defunct Union Bank and Trust company
were indicted, and it is understood that
| tney Will stand trial during this term at
court At the same term OF court the d1-
| rectors of the defunct bank were also in
dicted twice, but on each occasion the i'll
| dictments were Withdrawn by the grand
| jury, it is said, on the assurance that al
depositors would be paid in full If enough
| time was allowed. Since that time the re-
| ceivers of the bank have paid 80 per cent
| and it is announced that an additional z
| per cent will be paid depositors either
Wednesday or Thursday of this week.
This will not leave the total amount oi
| liabilities so very large for property
notes and other things of value have beer
| traded to depositors for their bank ac
counts, which considerably reduced this
| total liabilities.
Nevertheless, there is much speculation
| in the city, in view of the emphatic charge
| of Judge Buckley, as to whether the direc'
| tors, woh are among the most prominent
men of the city, will be indicted. Judge
Buckley's charge on this particular point
| has undoubtedly caused some uneasiness
among the directors of the old bank.
| The charge of Judge Buckley was alsC
strong against the illegal sale of liquors
He said that soon after he went on The
bench he had stated that he believed tina
the sale and use of Intoxicating liquors
was the cause of 70 per cent of the crime
| From his further experience he believe'
that his estimate had been too low an'
4 that it should have been So or 80 per cent
| He dealt blind tigers a terrible blow an'
urged the grand jury to diligently searci
| for violations of the prohibition law.
He took a warm shot at the drinking
clubs" and told the grand jury to demand
their books, and if it was found that they
were violating the law in any way, to I'M
dict the officers. He stated that drinking
clubs were becoming a great evil and he
hoped the next Legislature would enact
la VITO put them out of business.
The charge was heard by many people,
as the law requires all county, city and
beat officials to be present and hear the
charge.