Evening star., 1928-11-20
Grand Jury BACKS
COUNTY OFFICIALS
Probers Find Charges Against
Montgomery Administra-
tion False.

Charges of corruption graft and in
efficiency In the administration Of the
Montgomery County Md government
which have been made by the Mont
gomery Independent, weekly news
paper published ct Rockville. for the
past flve months. we're declared untrue
late yesterday afternoon by the grand
jury when it revealed In its report that
the editor of the paper when summoned
before the Jury last Friday and Satur-
day admitted that the charges had been
based entirely on rrfnors.
The grand Jury further stated In its
report that it had thoroughly inveSti-
gated the publication of the statemen
that 10000 bottles of booze have beer
sold by one woman in Montgomery
County during the past year and f1nd
no evidence whatsoever to Justify tn
statement"
Minister Is Summoned.
This charge was reported in the In
dependent last Friday as having bee.
made from the pulpit at kensington
week ago Sunday night by Rev. II. II
Nichol Baptist pastor Of Kensinstcl
and Cedar Grove Rev Mr.. Nichol wa
Immediately summoned before the gram
jury following the publication Friday O.
his Kensington sermon. The gran;
Jury was then held over till yesterday
and six of Rev. Mr.. Nichols Ceda
Grove parishiuners were summoned tt
appear before the grand jury. Follow
ing thetr appearance the grand Jury
reported.
Rev. Mr. Nichol and the editor Of
the fndependent both we're called befofe
the grand Jury last Friday immediateiy
following the appearance of that week.
issue of the Independent, which quoted
the minister, in addition to his re-
ported remarks about the woman who
sold the 10000 bottles Of boone" a
demanding q general cleanup In the
county and stating that those who werC
responsible from the highest offlee down
to the lowest might as well pack up
The report of the sermon In the IN
dependent further charged the court
house gang" with being responsible TO-
what the sermon declared to be tn
depiofabie condition of bootlegging an
iawlessness in the county.
Judge Praised Officers.
II was only on Monday of last wee
that Judge Peter in charging the regu
lar Fali session of the grand Jury O
1t convened had praised the enforce
fnent of til ecounty's prohibition Law
by the county police force and hag
declared that the prohibition or loca
option law In Montgomery County wa
being enforced as we'll If not BETTE
by the county authorities than similar
laws are enforced anywhere Ia thf
country"
Judge Peter In his charge to the grand
i,Kk al IT,. atAF a.
CONGRATULATED because the MontgofI1ef'
County police force had banished Pre-
fessiofal gamblers from the county
Consequently when the article in tn
Independent appeared quoting Rev. M
Nichols sermon which was in direr
conflict with Judge Peters charge
the grand Jury States Attorney Robe
Peter, jr., felt he had no course le.
opef except to summon both Rev. Nj
Michel and the editor of the 1ndepend-
ent before the grand jury.
The grand jury, after completing its
Investigation of the bootleggif1g charge,
then undertook an investigation of ali
the charges made by the editor of the
Independent against county officials and
political leaders, which resulted In the
following report: sb
I'VE, the grand jury, in and for
Montgomery County, have the honor
to report to the court that we have
earefiiliy investigated ali the cases
brought before us, 81 In number and
have found 20 presentnletits.
I'VE have examined 106 witnesses.
Charges Held Untrue.
eve also BEG leave to report that we
have carefully considered the charges
made by the independent, a weekly
newspaper published in this county,
against the operation of the. county
government. The nature OF these
charges were such that we deemed this
Investigation necessary. AS prelim-
mary to this investigation, we called
before us the editor OF said paper. he
was carefully examined with respect 20
the charges made and failed to disclose
the slightest basis for any OF the
charges published in that paper, and
said they were based on rtinofs entirely
and we regard these publications as un-
true. A..
"Ftirther. we affirm our confidence in
the MANAGEMENT Of the public affairs
of Mot1tGotfiery County and In the ad-
fl1iristration thereof BY the county Of
ficiHls.
1--WE have thoroughly investigated the
notification Of the statement that 3U,OuO
bottles of booze have been sold py one
woman in Montgomery County curing
the past year. and find no evidence
whatsoever to justify the statement.
found It full to It's capacity, there being
Ia white males and colored
males as inmates Of the Jail We
found the premises In as good q con-
dition as could be expected from A
building OF this type and the inmates
of the Jail apparently well FED and
cared for. In view Of the fact that
new iail is to be shortly erected we
will make no recommendation for I'M
1--WE have visited the County Home
and found the building well kept clean
and sanitary and We are pleased TO
note that electric lights have been in
stalled in the same. There ere II IN
mates white women, 3 white men,
colored woman and 3 colored men.
all of whom are apparently well cared
for, satisfied and contented.
Commend Conditions Found.
1--WE found the following is gallons
of apple butter, 178 quarts OF preserves,
22B quarts of canned fruit. 76 quarts
of canned tomatoes, AZ quarts Of canned
corn. So quarts Of pickles, 206 glasses
of Jelly, 81 bottles Of catsup, 164
chickens, IS keats. al hogs, 81 shoats,
is pigs, IL old hams. $50 barrels of
corn, 2,500 bundles of fodder. 100
bushels of potatoes. 20 tons Of hay, 90
tons of straw, cows. 2 heifers, / bull,
horses. 90 tons Of coal. 25 acres of
growing wheat and 20 tons Of growing
clover.
I'VE found all necessary farming ma
chinery and we found the premises in