00:00Pistol toting is condemned by Judge Ellis in his charge. Atlanta Constitution, Tuesday, May 6, 1913.
00:06The instructions given the new Fulton County Grand Jury by Judge William D. Ellis in his charge at
00:12the empaneling of that body Monday morning placed a special stress upon the call of the Mary Fagan
00:16case for the immediate and vigorous attention of the Grand Jury. He also urged the jury to
00:22investigate the locker and social clubs of Atlanta and to find true bills against all who conduct
00:28clubs which are run for the purpose of selling liquor. In this connection, he also urged that
00:33the Grand Jury declare war upon the Sunday Tipling House. Pistol toting and the operation of
00:38assignation houses are also due for considerable annoyance at the hands of the new Grand Jury.
00:43The charge in full. Judge Ellis's charge to the Grand Jury in full is as follows. Under our system
00:50of judicial procedure, we have in the Superior Court of this county six terms each year. Grand Juries
00:57are drawn and impaneled at each term, but the duties of making investigations into matters
01:01of a general nature, such as the inspection of the offices, the books, papers and records
01:07of the clerk of the Superior Court, the ordinary and of the county treasurer, the duty of examination
01:13of public buildings and their condition, the examinations of the lists of voters, and the
01:18examination of convict camps, the inspection of the jail, and such other matters concerning
01:23the public welfare, the peace and good order of the county at large, are required at the March
01:29and September terms. While such matters are looked after by the Grand Juries of the terms
01:34named, yet you are not prohibited from inquiring into such matters if you deem it necessary,
01:39or if brought to your attention by the Court or the Solicitor General. You are impaneled at this
01:44the May term, especially to inquire into and take action upon cases of violation of the Penal Code.
01:50While you are to consider all violations of the law and bring to trial by presentment or indictment
01:55all who are probably guilty of crime, I will call your special attention to some matters.
02:01Touches on Locker Clubs
02:02Look to the violation of the law against the sale of intoxicating liquors. Find true bills against
02:08all who conduct clubs which are run for the purpose of selling liquor. Under the law, locker clubs can
02:13be operated, but if a club is organized or maintained for the purpose of making money by the sale of
02:18intoxicating liquors, those who operate or maintain it are violators of the law. If a locker club
02:24organized for social pleasure is conducted as such an organization, it is permitted that the members
02:30may keep liquor as a part of the social establishment. But if the sale of intoxicating
02:35liquor is the purpose and the social feature only an excuse for the organization or operation,
02:40then those who run such an alleged club are guilty and should be brought to trial.
02:44I want again to call your special attention to keeping open tippling houses on the Sabbath day.
02:50Every club, no matter how well organized and operated within the law, is a tippling house if the
02:55members are permitted to assemble there on Sunday and drink intoxicating liquors. Even a private
03:00citizen would be guilty of keeping a tippling house on the Sabbath day if he allows his friends
03:05and neighbors to assemble in his parlor and drink intoxicating liquors on Sunday. And this would be
03:10true even if he furnished the liquor free or allowed those who assembled to bring it with them. I charge
03:15you to look closely into this matter. I wish to invite your careful attention to the law against
03:20carrying concealed weapons. No man, under the law, has a right to carry a concealed weapon. Officers of
03:26the law may openly carry them and private persons may carry them openly by obtaining a license, but
03:31nobody has a right to carry a deadly weapon concealed. This is a free country, and life in person ought
03:37to be
03:37safe in it. Good people do not go armed, but the vicious and desperate do go armed. The good citizen
03:43is certainly as courageous as the bad, and he is entitled to walk in the pathways of life without
03:47being at the disadvantage of being shot down by some cowardly villain who walks about armed and equipped
03:52for slaughter. If all men are to have an equal showing, all ought to be allowed to go armed, or
03:57all
03:57ought to be compelled to go about unarmed. The law has decided which equality shall exist, and it declares
04:04that no man shall go about with concealed weapons, and none shall carry pistols even openly, unless he
04:09shows some reason for it, and publicly procures a license. Houses of prostitution. It is claimed that
04:16public houses of prostitution have been abated in this county. Of course it is desirable that
04:21prostitution should cease, but the abatement of the evil of lewd houses in known localities makes it
04:27most probable that assignation houses will spring up, and that the illicit intercourse will be shifted from
04:33known localities to dark and secret places. A thousand cases of fornication or adultery between
04:39professional lewd women and men of the class who go with them are not in the aggregate so revolting
04:45as one case of seduction of a virtuous girl, or the rape and murder of little Mary Fagan. I charge
04:50you
04:50to look carefully and deliberately into all these matters, and especially to investigate suspected
04:55places of assignation or houses or places run for the purpose of prostitution under the name of rooming
05:01houses. Action on Fagan case. The Mary Fagan case calls for your immediate and vigorous attention.
05:08The power of the state is behind you. What appears to be unlawful crime has been committed and the
05:13welfare of the community, the good name of Atlanta, public justice, and the majesty of the law demand at
05:20the hands of this grand jury and of all officers of the law, the most searching investigation, and the
05:26prompt bringing to trial of the guilty party. This is a good community. There are thousands of
05:31intelligent and law-abiding people in it, and a vast majority of our people are good and virtuous,
05:36but like all other communities there are bad people in it. The reputation and progress of Atlanta
05:41attracts to it large numbers of people from all parts of the country, and some of the worst people
05:46from other places come here and add themselves to the bad element of our county. Let the grand jury get
05:52after the bad element. You indict all violations of the law in Fulton County, and the court will see
05:57that speedy trials will follow, and certain punishment will be inflicted on the guilty.
06:02Humanity not bad. I do not sympathize with the common cry that humanity is all bad. I do not believe
06:08that the tendency of humanity is for the bad. I believe that it is unfair to cry out in a
06:14sort of
06:14wall of despair because crime is committed. I doubt if the holding out to public view of all the
06:19frailties of the human tide is conducive to the public good. There is no perfect community anywhere,
06:25and probably never will be upon the face of this world of ours. But in trying to elevate and promote
06:30good citizenship, in trying to suppress crime and disorder, we should not be led into the error of
06:36bringing reproach upon the people of one of the best communities in the world by exploiting the
06:41misdeeds of a few. Let us rather contend for reaching to the high level of honesty and virtue,
06:46and at the same time ferret out and punish the guilty who are upon us and who by their conduct
06:52violate the laws which condemn the vicious and which give praise to and provide for the well-being
06:57and safety of the good, I want to remind you of your duty as to matters which occur in the
07:01grand
07:02jury room. Your oath is to keep secret the state's council, your fellows, and your own, unless called
07:08on to give evidence thereof in a court of justice. The object of the law is to allow the utmost
07:13freedom in
07:14the grand jury room in making honest and fair investigations. It is bad faith and a violation
07:20of his oath for a grand juror to tell what transpires in their deliberations, but it is not an uncommon
07:26thing for the general public to be informed of things that transpire during the investigation of
07:31alleged crimes. Look to this, and if there is a violation of it, you should investigate, find out
07:37who has betrayed the confidence reposed, and report to the court the offending person.
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