The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-05-18

whose business it is to arrest and
bring before the court criminals
must be given special training to
know how to attack the problem.
and have some working knowledge
as to what makes out a case and
what facts are necessary, and how
best to procure them. 1t is my
pleasure to mention to you gen.
tlemen the special ability, OF the
notice officers of the city of Hen
Jacksonville. Operating under a
very able chief; of police and be-
ing men of years of experience,
they have demonstrated an eff
cheney in the. enforcement of the
law much better than is found in
the average city many times this
size. There is very little larceny
committed in the corporate limits
of the city of Hendcrsonville, due
to the especial alertness and pro-
lection of our police force.
COUNTY is LARGER.
TASK IS HARDER
It is more difficult to take care
of the situation in the county a.,
large because the county is
larger territory and offers oetteI
opportunity for the thief ana
other law violators to escape pc
fore being apprehended by the
officers. In this connection now =.
ever, wish to say that SherH
Garren and Bruce Cox did an ex-
celfent piece of work in procur.
ing evidence sufficient to convict
in the case of the State versus
Stepp and Blackwell, where one
party had lost by reason OF tneit
the sum of about $500: 1t IS to
be noted that the evidence SUI,
ficient to secure the conviction OF
those defendants was made posi-
ble by the expert fngerprint work
of Bruce Cox, in which the finger
prints of the defendants were
Compared with fingerprints left on
the vessel previously containing
the stolen money. It would there
fore seem that the installation OF
this system would assist greatly
| in the detection, apprehension
and conviction of criminals IN
this county. This case, however,
was beyond the jurisdiction OF
the recorders court, which does
not have jurisdiction Of larceny
cases where the value o.. exceeds
$50. But since I have been solie-
itor of the county recorders
court I have paid particular at
tention to all criminal offenses
committed in the county, and,
though my duties do not require
me to appear in preliminary hear
ings in these cases, | have done
so in a great many cases. / have
done so in an effort to assist in
having the defendants bound over
to the superior court, thereby
helping to assure their conviction.
In this connection l wish to say
that as a law enforcement officer
] prefer to do more than my duty
requires me to do than less.
MORE COMPLETE TESTI-
MONY is NEEDED
,, Another thing which is serious
II and sadly needed in the admin
istration of justice is teaching our
citizens to observe the honest and
honorable rule of witness. No
school teacher could teach, and
no preacher could preach on a
better subject at this time, than
to influence people to tell the
truth. The law requires witnesses
to swear that they will tell the
truth, the whole truth, and moth
| ing but the truth. A failure to
| comply with this oath results in
many miscarriages of justice.
That there is much perjury in the
courts there can be no doubt.
There are many untruthful alibis,
and other manufactured evidence
manipulated by tn defendants
and their friends and testified un-
der the solemnity Of the oath of
witness. History would seem to
indicate that the citizens of an
cient countries, such as Greece
and Rome and other civilizations
long before our time, were more
cautious to tell the truth than the
rank and file of our people at this
time. Often a witness, intelligent
and respected, considers it his
duty not to tell all he knows on
the defendant. mot to be hard on
him." he calls it; but any failure
of a witness to tell the truth, and
the whole truth, is not in keeping
LII 4l.a rr,;rit af tho la,r nr tho