The Birmingham age-herald., 1923-10-17
Indre Forts Charge

To the Editor of The Age-Herald:
 To my great surprise, your head line in Tuesday mornings paper, states that I, as judge of the crtm- inal division of the circuit court, clashed with Governor Brandon, and that I had charged the grand jury to check the convict camps. This headline Is utterly mislead- ing and not based upon any charge I gave to the grand jury, nor can it be reasonably supported by any statement I made in the course of that charge. The quoted parts of your article are correct, because they were taken from the official stenographer, who took down the testimony in the court; and, of course, I am always glad to have correct and complete statements of all proceedings of the court, and am ready to stand by any state ment made by me, as an official, but you will observe, from an ex- animation of all that I said on the subject of convicts and prisoners, that no reference whatsoever was made to Banner mines, or to the investigation made by the last grand jury, and that no reference whatever was made to the gov ernor's position in regard to it, and that no advice was given to the present grand jury to continue the investigation of that episode.
 purposely omitted any refer ence to the Banner mines matter, for obvious reasons, the principal of which was that I had been act ing as chairman of the committee to abolish the convict lease sys- tenn, and that committee had is- sued a statement in regard to the Banner mines matter, and did not feel that it would be right for me- as judge of the criminal division of the circuit court, to infklence the grand jury one way or the other as to their investigation of this matter, desiring to leave the same to their conscience and to the evidence which might be sub mitted before them. It was my duty to charge the grand jury that it was their duty to investigate the treatment of convicts and pris- oners in Jefferson county, and this I did, impartially, cautioning the jury to let no political considera- tion influence them, but that they should only be influenced by desire to do right and to admin ister justice and to accomplish practical ends. In your article, after quoting what I said on the general subject of prisons and prisoners, it is then stated that Judge Fort pointed out to the jurors their duties in such matters as the Banner mine investigation and their responsibility to the county in making known their dis coveries." This statement is not correct nor based upon any sug- gestion nor advice I made or gave to the grand jury, and should be corrected. I have copy of every word uttered by me in this charge, taken down officially by two court reporters, and stand squarely upon every word uttered, but in no ut terance of mine was any one jus tified in saying that I had clash with Governor Brandon, or with the convict board, or advised or counseled the investigation of the Banner mines matter, my refer ence to convicts and prisoners be- ing required by the code to be given to the grand jury and being done in strict accordance with the law, with no special reference to that incident. I recognize how diff ficult it is to get everything right in hurried reports by reporters. but the official stenographer was made available to reporters of all the papers, and I am sure that you will be glad to make the cor rection suggested herein. With kindest regards,
 Sincerely yours,
 WILLIAM E. FORT,
 Judge Tenth Circuit of
 Alabama.
 ID S.-~- Il. lo