The Mena weekly star., 1918-04-18
PATRIOTISM THE
 THEME AT COURT
Judge Lake Dispensed With Charge to Grand Jury for Patriotic Addresses Grand and Petit Jurors Select
 ed-W. c. Rodgers Is Judge.

Judge J. S. Lake in opening the April term of the Polk Circuit court Monday morning announced that it had been his practice in this series of courts to dispense with the charge to the grand jury and instead devote the time to patriotic addresses that the peopIe may reach better understand ing of the periious conditions that are confronting this country. Judge Lake himself delivered a stirring address and then in turn introduced Judge J. s. Steel of Ashdown, w. c. Rodgers of Nashville and Judge J. l. Alley of this city. Each of the speakers dis cussed the war situation in his own way. but the burden of the message of All was that we who are left at home must make up our mind that if this war is to be won we must make sac rifces in money and service that will approximate the sacrifice that has been and is being made by the boys who have been called to the colors, and who will eventually be called upon to go over the top that the religious civil liberties of our country may be preserved. It was pointed out by all that the immediate service that is to be rendered is the purchase of Liberty Bonds, and in closing the meeting Judge Lake put the sentiment of the audience to a test by asking all who had bought Liberty Bonds to stand, then all who are yet going to buy bonds, and finally he asked all to stand who would pledge themselves to talk Liberty Bonds from now until the close of the campaign on May 4. The response to this was unanimous, which means that there is to be no let up in this county even tho we are now safely lover the top" in the sub scription for the quota of $121 300.
 Immediately after the close of the patriotic meeting Judge Lake took up the business of the court empan- nelling the following qualified electors and grand jurors: R. J. Abernathy, Peter McWilliam, Calvin Lawrence, c. E. Keys, Jack Connally, A. L. Dur ham, A. J. Robbins, Alex Coyle, J. W. Gardner, J. H. Welter, Will Meek, John Chambers, J. F. Hood, W. H. Starr, these being selected from the list of regular and alternate grand jurors called for this term of court. In or der to fill the panel, J. W. Cunning ham and D. w. Barton were called from among the bystanders.
 After administering the oath, and the selection of Alex Coyle as fore man and J. W. Middleton as baliff, the court announced that the jurors are to be governed in their work by the criminal statutes of the state, giving specific instructions only on the law which prohibits the running at large of male scrub stock in Polk county, violations of which law had come to his notice The five prisoners con- fined in the county jail were brought into open court, and given an oppor- tunity to exercise their right of chal- lenge of any juror, having no chal- lenge, the prisoners were remanded to the jail, and the court excused the jurors until 1:30 Monday after noon, when under the direction of Prosecuting Attorney A. D. DuLaney and Assistant George Steel, they be- gan the work of the term
 The following were accepted for service as petit jurors: James Swig- ger, Francis Standridge, E. W. Rivers, J, c. Goodman, Charles Wilson, Bob Groves, J. H. Roger. Tom Jones, Hen " Faulkner, Ben Barron, J. S. Law renee, Russell Pride, Lee Cole and R. B. Harmon. Wesley Nichols and L. W. Hall of Hatfield, who were en- route to Mena, were counted as pres- ent and in addition the court instruct ed the sheriff to summon from seven to ten more persons for service as petit jurors, announcing also that the grand jurors who had failed to reach court in time to be selected on the jury would be asked to do petit jury duty.
 After ieconvening court in the aft ernoon and selecting the petit jury, Judge ]. s. Lake announced that on account of i'll health he desired to be relieved for tho remainder of the tern. Judge Wright Prickett was elected as special, but declined to serve, and w. (. Rodgers was chosen. Judge Lake left Monday afternoon for nome in reQueen, and after trying camping out for while, he may de- i clae to go to Arlzona.