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Show GRAND JURY CHARGES POLICE WERE NEGLIGENT AND CARELESS Failed to Follow Up Clews in Blackhand Case and Did Not Preserve Important Evidence Divorces Are Too Freely Granted in Ogden County Assessor Is Open to Censure For Taking Records Buying of Robes For Queen and Maids Was Not Authorized County Jail Is Condemned. Narcotics Sold in Ogden. The grand jury, which was called by the. judges of the district court De cember 12 and given instructions as to Its duties January 2, appeared In Judge Harris" division of the district court this afternoon and made a com plete report of Its investigations. Thf report offers suggestions and a Tew criticisms Judge Harris received the report and discharged the jury from further duty. Following are the jurymen James F. Wadman, foreman; Chas. F. Grout, clerk; McIIowells Van Dyke, W A. Taylor, Lorenzo Ward. Auguit Lundquist and William Thompson. The report is as follows: GRAND JURY REPORTS. "Pursuant to the order of the court made and entered on the 12th day of December, 1913, we. the Grand Jury of Weber county, were duly and regularly empaneled and sworn January Janu-ary 2, 1914, and pursuant to the instructions in-structions given by the court, we have Inquired into the cases of all persons held in the county jail on criminal charge and have returned Indictments as heretofore returned to the court, which indictments are now on file in the office of the clerk. We have been in session twenty-eighth twenty-eighth days and have examined one hundred sixty-two witnesses and have brought forty-six indictments, one of which has been dismissed at our request. re-quest. "We have also inquired into the condition and management of the public prisons and institutions. On the City Jail. "We spent some time examining I the city jail and kitchen and found the jail in good condition and the j prisoners well fed The jail equipment equip-ment is up to the standard with but little possibility of a jail break with- j out the connivance of someone on ! the outside The jail has separate apartments for juvenile and female prisoners. County Jail and Building. "We find that the county jail is I in bad condition as to sanitation and j that the jail equipment is years behind be-hind the times and the locks are such that they invite a possible jail-break. jail-break. We attach no blame to Sheriff Sher-iff DeVine or his deputies for the recent attempt of Joseph Henry Martin Mar-tin to escape jail We also find the kitchen clean and In good condition and that the prisoners are well kept. We find the county court house is Inadequate for the requirement of two court rooms and enlarged county coun-ty offices and that the city hall is too crowded for the city requirements, I and recommend that the city and county join hands and proceed to ; build a joint city and county bulld-j bulld-j ing that will be sufficiently large to house both the city and county offices and jail, with sufficient room to allow al-low for the rapid growth of the county and city. County Infirmary. "The Grand' Jury spent a half day visiting and Inspecting the county infirmary at Roy and, after a careful care-ful Inspection of the entire building, kitchen and out-hou6es, are convinced that the inmates are well satisfied with the accommodation received and are as contented as can be expected; ex-pected; that they have plenty to eat. with bottled fruit raised and put up on the premises; that they have well lighted and well ventilated rooms and no inmate had any complaint to make with the treatment given them The financial report of the institution institu-tion for the year 1913 averages less than $12 per month per inmate, which includes light, fuel, drugs and repairs This averages well with the cost of keeping the city and county prisoners prison-ers The institution is under the management of Heber Swanner and is under the supervision of Count Commissioner Moroni Skeen. Blackmailing Cases. "The evidence shows that about the 16th of December, 1911, Mr. and Mrs. ; George W. Culver, upon returning j home from down town, were held up by two robbers. aDd that while Mr. Culver was detained by one of the robbers at the rear of the residence, resi-dence, Mrs. Culver was brutally robbed rob-bed of her diamonds. About two weeks thereafter, according to ar rangement had over the telephone with the robbers, Mr. Culver went to Twelfth street for the purpose of exchanging ex-changing $300.00 for the diamonds taken. According to directions, after af-ter reaching Twelfth street, he' en tered the yard of No. 235 West Twelfth street, and at the point of a gun handed his $300 through the window and received in exchange a small package containing buckshot He was then directed by the men in the house to return rapidly to town, and pursuant to directions. Mr. Cul- ver entered his buggy and returned as directed by way of Twelfth street and Washington Police Are Negligent. Upon reaching Washington avenue, which Is about half a mile from the scene of the holdup, he met an automobile auto-mobile containing officers. These officers of-ficers asked If ho had been hold up and requested hi to give the details, de-tails, which Mr fwr hnrrledly Old. The officers then went in fae d'rec-tion d'rec-tion of the Twelfth street house However, before Mr Culver had proceeded pro-ceeded less than two blocks down Washington avenue from where he first met the automobile, the same automobile with the officers caught up with him, and he was forced to go in the machine and drive to the sheriff's office, where he was search ed and detained for some considerable consider-able length of time. It further appears ap-pears that ou this night the moon was shining brightly and that there was a fresh fall of snow We believe be-lieve that had the officers followed Mr. Culver's directions and gone immediately im-mediately to No. 235 West Twelfth street, they would have been able to surround the house and capture the robbers. We think the treatment accorded Mr. Culver to be Inexcusable, Inexcus-able, and that Mr. Culver had just cause for feeling indignant by reason of the action of the officers "The evidence further shows that on the evening that Mrs. Boyle's house was entered and she was robbed rob-bed of her diamonds, there had been a high wind during the night, and the next morning fresh finger prints showed in the dust on the window-sill, window-sill, which finger prints were left by the men who had committed the robbery. rob-bery. It also appears that th!s matter mat-ter was reported to some of the members of the police department An earnest effort upon our part has failed to show that said finger prints' were ever preserved, and we think that a valuable item of evidence was lost when the finger prints so reported report-ed were not properly preserved. "An examination of the blackmaiK ing letters received by the people of Ogden brings to light the fact that two of the envelopes In which said letters were mailed are lost, and two more are mutilated almost beyond recognition. The loss of these on velopes and the condition In which other of the letters and envelopes are now found, we hold to be pure negligence neg-ligence and absolutely inexcusable. "As a result, we would recommend to all officers that more care be taken ta-ken In preserving evidence of crime, nnd recommend that each officer be supplied with a suitable memoran dum, and that all gun shells or other evidence of crime found after the commission of a crime be carefully preserved. "We would also recommend that all I officers make careful notes of all j statements made by people held for i crime, and that said statements con j tain verbatim all admissions or confessions con-fessions made b said parties, and that such evidence, as soon a6 discov-; discov-; ered, whether by officers or private : citizens, be forthwith reported to the district attorney. "We wish to thank Sheriff T. A DeVine for the prompt and courteous manner in which he has handled the process of the court compelling the attendance of witnesses and we feel that Sheriff T. A. DeVine and his deputies, together with Chief W. I. Norton and his men, have, In the main, done everything within their power to run down and capture the parties responsible for blackmailing in Ogden "We wish to take this means to especiallv extend our thanks and ap preciation to the po6t office department, depart-ment, and particularly do we feel obligated ob-ligated to Messrs. Ralph Smith and T. F. Fitch for the earnest, diligent, painstaking and intelligent assistance rendered in running down and ferret ing out evidence touching the guilt of the Ogden blackmailers. On Divorces "A limited opportunity of investiga tion brings to light the fact that in certain instances divorces have been obtained In Weber county where the applicants were not bona fide resl dents of the county for the required statutory time. While the facts thus far obtained are not sufficient to war rant the finding of any indictments, yet we feel that attorneys, parties to und witnesses in such proceeuings should bo warned against such prac tices in the future. Illegal Dispensing of Narcotic Drugs "As a result of the investigation of the Illegal dispensing of morphine and cocaine, we believe that the statutes of Utah (a synopsis of which we ap pend below) Is not being followed b) some of the physicians and druggists as closely as they -should be, possibly through Ignorance of the laws, and we advise that the county officers use every means possible to eliminate the illegal selling to habitual users of co caine and morphine. It has been brought to our attention, through cer tain evidence, that venders and traf tickers of these drugs from nearby cit ies find it easy to get them In Og den and we have, in the course or our investigation, come across the trail of trainmen on the railroad who act as go-betweens In transporting these drug6 to and from other cities although the evidence is not sufficient to indict. The Queen's Gowns. "On investigation we find that Commissioners Bybee and Hunter did attach some dates to certain charges that did not show by the minutes to be correct, but on further Investiga tlon we find that such charges were just and legal. Pertaining to the purchase of gowns and slippers for the queen and her maids of honor, for the State fair at Salt Lake City, we have been uuable to find any authority authori-ty in the law for such cxpendituVs but that Commissioner Bybee should not bo alone censured, as it appears that the other commissioners con curred in this expenditure, and that they decided as a matter of expedl ency to purchase the necessary apparel ap-parel in Salt Lake City, so that Weber county could be represented in a credible manner, and that the public should not censure our county commissioners too severely for doing what thev thought would be for the best Interest of Weber county. Assessor Should Be Censured. "In the matter of obtaining records of those expenditures and taking them out of the custody of the county clerk and photographing them, we believe Assessor Thomas E. Mathews exceed ed hl6 authority in doing this and should be censured, as, by our sta-utes sta-utes he had no right to abstract these records without the permission M tne rightful custodian Thanks Are Extended. "In conclusion we desire to extend our thankB to the county sheriff and his deputies and to the county clerk and bis deputies for the uniform courtesy cour-tesy they have extended us in the performance of our labors and we thank District Attorney John C. Davis for the assistance and advice he has given us in the work which we have performed. Wo also deBlre to thank the pre38 for its fair and just treat ment of us and particularly do we desire to commend them for having refrained from publishing any of the matters which we have in hand, which, had they so published, might have hindered us in the performance of our duties." |