Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1915-09-21
GRAND JURY IS
SWORN! IN BY
CHIEF JUSTICE
Twenty-three Men Chosen for
Duty-W. C. Ely Chosen
Foreman.
INVESTIGATION OF FENCES
URGED UPON lN0UlSITORS
Justice Says This Practice Is
Largely Responsible for
Waywardness of Boys.


The first September grand jury was
inducted into office today before Chief
Justice William S. Gmnmere, presid-
ing at the opening of the term of the
County Courts. Chief Justice Gum
mere charged the jury after County
Clerk Joseph MeDonough had ad-
ministered the oath.
Occupying seats on the bench with
the chief Justice at the opening of
the courts were the judges of the
other county courts. the Common
Pleas. the Circuit, the Supreme Court
Circuit and the Juvenile and Domes-
tic Relations. After the grand jury
had retired the Circuit Court judges
called the civil calendar and the Com
mon Pleas judges the criminal calen-
dar.
Wilson c. Ely. architect. of 556
Clifton avenue, was appointed fore
man of the jury by the chief justice
after twelve of the thirty-five mem
bers drawn had been excused. The
hrst twentY-three men selected, ex-
Guiding those who had been excused
We're the ones sworn in.
Justice After Fences"
Blaming junk dealers who buy
stolen metals from small boys for a
large percentage of the cases of
juvenile delinquency that are brought
into the juvenile court, the chief JUS
tice charged the jury to investigate
and, where evidence warrants It.
bring in indictments against the
guilty men,
After explaining the functions of
grand inquest and referring to two
homicide cases that will come before
1t for action, the chief justice took up
the matter of the fences" for petty
thieves.
"There is one other matter | want
to refer to-" said the justice "If it
were only one incident it would hard
ly be worth our time to mention It.
Il am Informed that a large percen-
tage of the cases which come before
the Juvenile Court are the cases Of
boys, eleven, twelve, thirteen and
fourteen years old, who steal junk,
brass journals, lead pipe, every kind
of metal they can lay their hands on;
steal them In order to sell them for
what they can get. They do damage
to hundreds of dollars and get for
their stealings. probably as lmany
cents as the metal was worth in dol
lars.
'"These petty larcenies. or acts of
malicious mischief. would seldom oc-
cur If there weren't men in this town
who buy this stuff, satisfied they are
honest because they were not told 1t
was stolen.
Easier TO Convict Now.
ut used to be you could not convict
persons of receiving stolen goods un-
less the State could show they knew
or had good reasons to believe at the
time of purchasing II, that it was
stolen. That Was pretty difficult
thing to do, requiring delving into
the inner consciences of the purchas-
ers Some years ago, however, be-
cause of the difficulty of proving
knowledge the Legislature passed a
statute which provided. that any per-
son buying or receiving jewelry, old
brass, lead or other metals from
minor, which might have been stolen
was guilty of a misdemeanor.
That statute makes ii unnecessary
to prove knowledge on the part of tho
receiver
'"In my judgment. the men who do
this sort of business are very largely
responsible for the waywardness of
boys in this community. If 1t were
not for the fact that there was
ready way to dispose of stolen prop
erty many boy would not steal.
"I go further and say that these
boys are started on the downward
path by these men who induce them
to steal and promise to buy their
loot for a few pennies.
"If you can get hold of any of these
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