The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-04-07

! it is your duty is dismiss them. w
have an unusually large number o
! prisoners confined in the Jail.
| Many of the charges against then
are violations of the law, to some ex
tent trivial. and you must use your owl
! Judgment as men of affairs to deter
| mine what is best to be done for thu
community in cases of that character
In other words, you do not want tt
I'make a great deal Of hullaballoo abou
these small charges and take up you,
time, the time of the Court and thu
time of the petit jury in too trivia
cases. All the testimony adduced be-
fore you should be carefully scrutinized
for YOU may have cases before yol
where witnesses are moved by hatred
envy or malice, and it is your duty tt
see that no one is indicted by reason OF
any such motive. An indictment, ever
though followed by a verdict of &C
Guital, is a very serious matter te
the accused. If he is innocent it is, ir
a measure. an injustice, because the
records Of the court stand as blot
upon his character. Therefore, after
hearing the evidence, if you think
there is no ground for the accusation
the accused should be discharged
Then, too, l think you should be eau
toned against too much testimony, OF
against multiplicity of witnesses pro-
duced for the purpose of proving
single fact.
1t sometimes happens that six OF
eight witnesses are summoned before
the Grand Jury to prove single fact
which can be just as we'll done by the
testimony of one or two witnesses
When you have taken suffice mt test
mony, even though it be but a single
witness, or perhaps two witnesses, and
you are convinced in your own mind
that fact alleged has been sufficiently
proven, you ought to stop right there.
If there are half-dozen witnesses to
be called simply for the purpose OF
piling up the testimony on top of what
has been already adduced, you should
stop and bring in your presentment or
indictment.
The duties imposed upon you are the
duties usually imposed upon Grand
Juries in this and other courts. You
are to consider such matters as may be
called to your attention by the Court;
such matters as may be submitted to
you by the States Attorney; such
matters as may come TO your know
ledge in the course of your investiga-
tons into the matters brought before
you or from your own observation; and
lastly, such matters as may come to
your knowledge by disclosure of your
associates.
The Court invites your attention to
a long list Of offenses which has been
submitted to the Court by the States
Attorney. l regret to say that we
have before us an unusually large num-
Der of cases. l do think there are any
of special Importance. The list furnish
ed by the States Attorney comprises
number of larceny cases; cases of false
pretences. obtaining money by false
representations; assault and battery
upon wife; a case of mayhem, biting
and chewing off finger of party.
Mayhem means such an assault as de-
prives the party assaulted of the use
of some member of his body, which
may be used for his defense. 1t is
made a special offense by statute
The list of cases which involve charge
of carnal knowledge, bastardy and
fqrnication. is unusually long.
There are so many cases furnished to
the Court by the States Attorney in
volving fornication that the Court does
not feel like letting it pass without
some notice The number of these cas-
es which have come before the Court
and the unusually large number in the
record before me makes me feel justi-
fed in saying that the moral condition
of our community is not such as it
ought to be. | think at the end of this
statement furnished by the States
Attorney, which you will have before
you. you will find ten or eleven cases
of bastardy and fornication, where men
are brought into this court and cases
are presented to you to determine
whether or not you shall indict them
for bastardy. In addition to that,
there are three or four cases of carnal
knowledge, which in some cases is a
capital offense. That condition seems
to be growing and it is for you, gentle
men, to deal with that subject with as
fierce and vigorous hand as the law
of the State will permit, to the end
that we may come back to a term when
this reprehensible condition of affairs
has been at least to some extent
changed for the better. There are also
some cases of carrying concealed weap-
ons. In the opinion of the Court there
is really as much injury done to the
communities by the carrying of con.
cealed weapons as anything else. A
fellow will get an old pistol and fix it
up and carry it around and then some
thing happens, whereas if he did not have
it he would probably not have commit.
ed crime. Iwant you to look into al
cases of that kind, and if the testimony
justifes the conviction of the parties
the Court will establish the record O
dealing vigorously with persons con
vcted of carrying concealed weapons
because we have so often seen the evi
of it, and if it can be broken up yo1
will do the community great service
There are number of charges o
assault with intent to kill. There is
charge of rape. There are one or tw
charges of homicide. The nature O
the cases is not disclosed; it is for you
/ ~, tho Iyyinn n