The Marietta journal and courier. (Marietta, Ga.) 1909-1918, 1915-08-13
JUDGE GANN WRITES CARD
EXPLAINING AUDITORS REPORT
no the Marietta journal.

The report of the finding of the
Auditor as made to the County Com
missioners and published in your pa
per last week, SO far as the Ordinary
is concerned, fails to give the whole
facts in the matter. / feel that /
am justified in asking you to pub
hsh the following in order that the
people may clearly understand the
SINE. In 1888, Statute No. 31O1
was enacted into law, which provided
that the Ordinary should issue com
missions of Lunacy OF application
by ally party, and when a jury found
tht party insane, should commit him
to the Asylum, and fixed his fee for
all his service therein at $500, and
that $500 should be the fee of the
Sheriff for all his services connected
Herewith in summoning the jury,
etc. When this law was enacted
there was no provision whereby the
jury trying the case received pay for
their service, therefore no jury script
to issue, and it remained so until
1887 when there was an act passed
providing that in all Lunacy cases
the Ordinary should draw his GER
tificate or script on the County
Treasurer in favor of each juror serv-
ing at such trial, for $1.00. See sec
ton 3106.
The law provides fee of 10G for
each Jury Script drawn. The Au-
ditor's contention was that in as
much as the law of 1888 said the
$500 should cover all services of
the Ordinary connected with the case,
that he was not entitled to the fee
of 10e, etc, and Notwithstanding the
fact that law enacted fifty years
later, putting work ON the Ordinary,
which was not contemplated in the
Original Act, yet he was not entitled
to pay for this work. / showed him
that this fee of 10e for issuing Jury
script had been followed before /
was elected to the office and that the
books had been examined by four
different Auditors and not a single
one of them had ever questioned the
right of the Ordinary to this charge
of 10e for each script issued, but if
it was not legal charge, or if there
was even a doubt as to it's legality,
i was ready to pay back to the Coun-
ty Authorities the amount had
charged against the County for this
work.
When the Auditor made his report
to the Commissioners they allowed
me to be heard. ] went before them
and stated to them that the law fix
ing the fee of the Ordinary for issuing
Lunacy Commission, and when the
jury found the accused to be a Lun-
attic to commit them to the Sanito-
rum, was enacted in 1888 and could
not have contemplated work reuuir-
ed under an Act of 1887, nearly fiji
ty years later, and that it has been
a charge that had never heard cues
toned.
After hearing me, by unanimous
vote Of the Board they held that |
was entitled to this and returned my
check. 'n~t " FL
D when / went before the Board /
Requested this man if l mistated a
single point in the law or the re-
cords for him to call my attention to
Che same and the Board also invited
LIN to say anything he wished, but
he stated what he had written was
all he had to say in the matter While
the law provided that the Sheriff
was entitled to $500 in each trial,
! showed by the records of the office
that n the trial of sixty four cases
of Lunacy, l had used him only in
Fifteen cases. That in all cases out
of town | had secured the juries
myself with the exception of six
cases which had paid $1.00 each to
some party to get them up, and
while the law did not require me
TO attend these trials, l had done so
without extra charge to the County,
and in handling the Sixty four cases
in this way, l had saved the County
$i4l.C, and in all cases that could
not attend myself, l have employed
the nearest Justice of Peace to the
party to be tried, to attend and swear
the Jury in, and had paid each one
of them out of my own pocket $500
fer their service.
One Of the Commissioners thanked
me for the way had taken care Of
the interest of the County and re-
quested that l continue to handle
these matters in he same way.
Respectfully,
J. NJ. GAM.