Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-07
The Trial Board Acnuits.

| Three BUSY OrnClalS OF the MUnlclpa
Government have consumed fourteen
days as special trial board sitting or
charges Of general inef1iciency in the
Mcpherson case preferred against In.
spector William S. Shelby and Detec.
tive Lieut.. Edward ]. Kelly. A steno.
graphic record has been taken Of AGO.
600 words uttered more or less passion.
ately by ninty-nine witnesses and 9
considerable amount Of dust has beer
kicked up. But weighing all this ir
the balance against the result Of the
trial, the community is willing cheer
fully to agree that it has been worth
while. The trial has disposed of good
many questions that otherwise would
have remained moot. Important among
these questions, of course, has been the
determination that Inspector Shelby
and Lieut. Kelly are not guilty as
charged.
The Commissioners must formally ap-
prove the findings Of the trial board
before they become effective; action
that in this case resolves itself largely
to a matter of course. But to all in
tents and purposes Inspector Shelby and
Lieut.. Kelly cleared themselves. The
action of the trial board and the antici-
pated action Of the Commissioners are
merely concurring. Only one mark
stands against the record Of Inspector
Shelby. The board found that, as a
matter Of fact, he did tell the grand
jury that something should be done
about certain witnesses. But the board
found, and In this the community will
agree, that Inspector Shelby was justi-
fed in saying that something should be
done. Something, assuredly, should
have been done and according 20 one
well taken point Of view the trial board
has done 1t.
The trial has brought out several In
tAresting points. Not the least Of these
Is whether 1t ever lies within the
province of q grand jury to choose
third alternative, instead Of combining
itself to the two that lie in power to
indict and power to ignore.
There are many occasions when 1t is
meet and proper that the grand jury
deliver itself of opinions regarding a
situation or O condition important to
the community. 1t Is rare indeed that
a grand jury is justified in attempting
to blacken the official character Of In
dividuals by formally presenting charges
against them, drawn as to specific
counts, when such charges have no legs
to stand on in court and no special
niche TO fill In the general scheme OF
things. The charges, delivered from
the secret chambers of the grand jury,
thus become vicious white elephants on
the hands Of the community that has
no well ordered procedure by which to
dispose Of them. In the series OF
checks and balances that go to make up
the legal system, q fundamental point
rests in the fact that the accused al
ways has the right to meet his accuser
face to face, with q day in court deoi-
Gated to his defense. But special re-
port from a grand jury acts to deprive
the accused of this inalienable right.
His accuser is a grand jury. The limits
Of life Of a grand jury are firmly fixed.
Nothing is more dead than grand jury
that has expired, and dead man tells
no tales in court or anywhere else, for
or against the accused.
Inspector Shelby and Lieut.. Kelly
are to be congratulated, not only upon
their acquittal, but upon their dignified
and restrained conduct during the trial
and in the long drawn out period of
hysteria which preceded the trial. Their
testimony before the trial board was
unique. Neither depended for his de-
Tense upon the negative procedure of
denial. Both were willing to let their
affirmative actions speak for themselves.
Their recitas of these actions served not
merely to shatter the charges against
them; they stand as extraordinary
testimonials of the professional capabil-
ity Of the two men.