The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1914-09-16
PREsENTMENT GRAND JURY.
State of South Carolina,
COUNTY OF ABBEvILLE.
Court of General Sessions.

To His Honor T. S. Sease, Presiding
Judge, '... -.
We, the Grand Jury for Abbevill,
County, at this, the September Tern
o fthe Court for 1914, beg to make tn,
following presentment.
! All bills handed us have been pass
led upon and returned to the Cour
with the exception of two-One State
against Liyia Patton indicted for mur
der and State against George Smith
Indicted for Murder. We Recommend
these bills be continued for further
Investigation and that the Solicitor
have an especial effort made to secure
additional evidence in these cases.
We have examined the several
County Offices, compared and check
led the Auditors books with the books
Of the Treasurer, Superintendent oi
Education and Supervisor 'and fini
them all correct. :.
We are glad to report a more favor
able condition In our County finances
Jan. 1st, 1914 the indebted :,
ness was -. :. s27sO OF
Jan. 1st 1915 the Indebted
ness will be :. ;. %. $1SS51 81
Making a reduction Qf..., $ 1858 65
The Supervisor has onshand for ex-
penses for balance Of year about
s15OOOO.oo.
The Jail was visited b va commit
tee of our body who report every
thing neat and clean and the jail we'll
kept. We recommend the leaks in tine
roof be attended to and the missing
glass be replaced in the windows.
We also recommend that cots be
provided for the inmates.
We find the Court House in good
repadr except. the closets and recon-
mend that they be repaired ar once.
Unfortunately the Superintendent
of Education is confined to his home
by sickness and we could not get all
the information we desired.
We find the schools of the County
in a very satisfactory condition; sew
eral districts having voted special
ial-ii TMtS ,yko etaon srhdlu emf rht
taxes since our last report. Our body
fully agree with Your Honor's re-
marks about schools.
We find from a canvass Of our body
that our public roads are not In q
satisfactory condition and think we
are paying out too much money for
their maintenance for them to be in
their present condition. From figures
given us by the Supervisor we find at
this time he has sixteen convicts at
work on the roads. There are seven
Guards with these sixteen hands.
The cost per month for guarding
each convict being $13.12 1-2 per
month. This amount does not include
the salary .fthe three men operating
the scrapes. ... ....
We recommend this cost per con-
vict be reduced, either by reduction
of the number of guards or reduc-
ton of salary. We consider some Of
the salaries paid the guards to be
excessive .... -.. ..... ...-
By committee we visited the County
Home and Farm-we found the in
mates comfortable and satisfied and
the Home clean and well kept. ~.
We found the Farm in good condi-
ton, the crops much better than
neighboring farms. We could recon-
mend that the ditches and terraces be
kept up and if necessary to conserve
the land they be laid off in the new.
We recommend that Mrs. Wardlaw
be instructed to buy ticking such as
she will need to make starw beds for
the entire Home, also ticking to make
pillows out Of the old feather beds
now being used in the white ward and
especially do we recommend that Mrs
Wardlaw be paid for her work since
we find she is so very useful to the
unfortunates now at the Home.
We recommend the worn out CRATES
in the Home be replaced as early as
possible and the milk house be COM
pleted at once. We find the Chapel
has not been covered as recommended
in our February Presentment and
should be covered at once.
We were we'll pleased with the gen