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Show AO GHAXD JURY. MM. W1LKI.K VMM. SOT OBKY THE LAW. But trtata It wit h ".llcut contempt. " Salt Lake Cut, Feb. 17. 1573. E-Utori S-dt L-ilu Herald: Ihe Hun. Z. Snow, the attorney general ol L'uli Territory, beiog aL-..t aL-..t trum the lerritory ol Utah, I, his reprint alive, called on the clerk of the third district ccurt of this Terri-fory, Terri-fory, rttjueatiG him to is-ue a venire tor a grand jury, tbr the nest March terai ot wid Court, and was inforujed ly him tbit he couid not issue the same. 1 theu ofiiciaPy addressed the follow-ing follow-ing (xmuiuoicaliun to him airam, v-k-iLg ior a vtnu?, for the reasons therein there-in set forth : Salt Lake City, Feb. IS, 1&73. William S. Walker, Cit;rk Xuird Lm'rict Court, Territory of Utah. Djiah Sltt : I wih to call your attention at-tention to the law pa;ed Feb. lath, 170, on page llio, Statutes, of Utah, ucing an aiuenduient to an act deb lid g who are eictupt from serving on juries, etc; section 2 of which requires the olcrfc to issue a veniie lor a grand and petit jury thirty days belore the eitiing of the district couil 1 would thtre-lore thtre-lore ask that in compliance with that law, you issue a venire for a grand jury, directed to the Territorial marshal mar-shal lor service. My reasons for making mak-ing this request, are : rirst: ihe law makes it obligatory on you to do tc. Second: We have not had a grand jury now for more than a year, or inee tto September term, 71, the March and September ierus, 1&72, having in the mean time been held, and bo grand jury in attendance either time. '1 bird: Our jails are full to overflowing, over-flowing, with persons accused of crime which has in the ladt two years increased in-creased to an alarmiDg extent who are eating out the substance of the honest tax-payers, and who are entitled en-titled to a speedy trial, which cannot be granted them without the interven tion of a grand jury, ! Fourth: Many parties against whom 1 indictments wero found at tho Septcm- j ber terai, ISTi, of this courtthe last j grand jury in this district--wero turned looso upon tho community in consequence conse-quence of the decision of the supreme court of the United States, in the Clin-ton-Kngclbrecht case, reversing what had been done by the district court prior to that time for moro than one year. lul'th. Tuo thirty-Jay clause of the section referred to, being decided by the superior court of tho Territory to bo directory, the venire may bo issued by you wiihiu less than thirty days prior to the sitting of the court. Very rcspcctiully, Z. Snow, Attorney-General Utah Territory. .By F. D. Houe, Deputy. To this request the clerk mado no answer whatever. When 1 again called on him in person, and asked what was his reply to the abova communication, com-munication, ho said ho did not know that ho had any to make. I asked if ho intended to triat it with silent contempt, con-tempt, and ho answered that ho did, and so far he has done so. I wish to lay these facts before tho public, that thj community at large may know that I, as the representative of the attorney general, nor the attorney general, have been remiss in the performance of duty and that all has been done that could bo done by me to obtain a jury for the next March term of the district court for the third judicial district. Very respectfully, F. U. Hook. |
