The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-02-21

'1stiA9 anu III indi4 luSldutto SioN ohci
absolute ignorance as to turn their testi-
mony into a farce We heartily recon-
mend to the police department that all
officers be compelled to keep proper men,
oranda of arrests, so when called upon
to testify in court or before the grand
Jury their testimony may be helpful. Some
OF the officers are very conscientious in
the performance Of this duty, but not
many. -
Automobile Speeding
he speeding of automobiles within
the city limits and on some county roads
mas come to such a pass that exeep-
tonal measures must be taken to prevent
its continuance. This can be done by the
officers of the law. but to the present
date their efforts have awaited but little
where one driver has been fined a hum
dred should have been. II any doubt ex-
lists that reckless speeding Is rampant.
let any officer of the law whose duty it
Is to stop this but open his eyes wide on
almost any avenue in the city. Several
Killings have occurred within the past
Few months, owing to the reckless speed
rate of the automobile drivers or to their
utter disregard of street passing regu-
lations. In every such case brought be-
fore us, where the evidence was suffi-
cient, we have brought indictments; and
We note with grim satisfaction that the
defendant in one of the most hagrant
cases has received his just deserts of
1--WE years Imprisonment. Let this case in
ltself serve as a warning to all violators
OF speed limit, violators of traffic regu-
lations and Joy riders.
Gambling
There can be no doubt that gam
bIihg has a demoralizing effect upon
all who in any manner come in touch
with IT. NEnarial1xf u ba xyl n
are prone to go to the extreme. Pub
lie gambling lays temptations before
many who are weak and therefore
laws against it are necessary to pre-
vent the decentralization of the multi
tude.
Whether right or wrong, it has not
been the purpose of this grand jury
TO find indictments indiseriminately
against the operators or employees of
gambling houses or against the own
ers of buildings In which gambling is
done.
"A square deal was given by us, the
deck was not stacked against them
contrary to conditions often existing
when the gamblers have the upper
hand. They were Except in a few
very fragrant cases) given permis-
sion to appear before us and plead
their cause; but with the very full
understanding that anything they said
might be used against them. A num-
Der accepted the opportunity; others
did not do so, thus virtually aclSnowl-
edging their guilt.
Whether this method of procedure
has been appreciated or not we cannot
state. The future alone viii tell.
Even when the evidence was ap-
parently sufficient for us to indict,
we have given those who have ap-
peared before us every opportunity to
show that they had some honest oc-
cupation or We're honestly endeavoring
to break away from their culpable
past. In permitting some of these to
escape Indictment we may have sadly
erred but we are not infallble, and
If no real reformation takes place,
slow but surely grinding justice Will
take care of them. In other cases, al
though the evidence was strong, we
have considered certain mitigating
and al least permitted
ourselves to believe that the ends of
Justice would be served by not in
dieting.
Evidence Abundant
when We have brought indictments
for vagrancy and keeping of gaming
tables, the evidence in every particular
has been abundant and we cannot pos
sibly imag gine anything but convic-
tion. providing the indictments are
wisely and efficiently drawn, prompt
trials given and the solicitors office
gives the preparation of the cases the
care and attention they demand The
defendants will have skilled attorneys
who will come prepared in every pos
sible manner to clear their clients and
in the light of past events In this
line WHY expect to clear them. The
solicitor must be equally prepared
otherwise our labors viii be of no
avail and future grand juries might
as well cross off the consideration of
evidence in such cases-it is not the
number of indictments that counts, but
the number of convictions. The own
ers of buildings in which gambling
is permitted have strongly and loudly
protested their innocence of any
knowledge of such dongs but the fact
remains that these buildings are leased
to far and well known gamblers, and
the very rental charged is in many in
stances evidence that they are not used
for legitimate purposes for very few
lines of legitimate business could
stand such rentals. These owners have
been repeatedly advised as to the char
acter of the occupants and now to ex-
press ignorance is perfectly absurd and
they subject themselves to serious
charge We regret to state that in
some instances owners have failed to
regard it incumbent upon them, under
the existing laws, to cancel the leases
of their undesirable tenants, after we
had advised them that this was es
sential and we have therefore indicted
such owners: other owners having seen
the force of the law in this respect
have produced evidence of the cancel
lation of leases.
Insufficiency of Bonds
professional yagrants and thieves
are released on entirely too light bonds
turned loose upon the public imme-
diately to start again and commit
crimes or induce others to commit AL
such should be put under eNtraord-
narily heavy bonds and given in lieu
of them a good strong taste of the
iaiI. Just let it go forth that Bir-
mingham is stringent in this respect
and a wide berth will be given the
city by many of these undesirables.
professional piclSpockets and for
gers come to this city and when arr
rested are released on so-called cash
bonds entirely insufficient and they
disappear never to be heard from
again A very recent case is especially
worthy of note: A pic<pocket arrested
for stealing s377 was almost immedi
ately released on a cash bond of $500.
Possibly the statute was at fault. The
sheriff could not accept cash bond,
but the culprit's attorney found two
prominent and obliging citizens to ac-
cept the $500 cash and sign a bond
which was satisfactory to the sheriff.
The case being brought to this jurys
attention an Indictment was quickly
found and a capias was inediately
issued for the thief, but of course he