Urges Utmost Co-operation With Officers in Charge to Grand Jury

An appeal to the citizenship to be alert and to co-operate with law enforcement agencies in “keeping this community clean” was made yesterday by Judge M. M. Mann of St. Matthews in his charge to the Richland county grand jury at the opening of the January term of general sessions court.

Judge Mann declared that Columbia and Richland county faced a difficult problem created by the influx of a large population in connection with Fort Jackson. He said that Fort Jackson was one of the finest military posts in the nation and that there was no question in his mind but that military and civil authorities would give each other the utmost co-operation.

He asserted, however, that “no matter how alert the officers are, unless they get co-operation from the citizens their efforts are nullified.”

Frank D. Needham, manager of J. C. Penney company was appointed foreman of the grand jury by Judge Mann. The following composed the grand jury:

Mr. Needham, foreman, Johnnie Wooten, R. A. Jacobs, T. C. Sturgeon, Roy L. Eargle, George H. Eargle, M. Bonham Brooks, B. A. Blocker, J. S. Scott, S. B. Hyatt, Clarence M. Asbill, Benjamin C. Frost, E. E. Davis, William P. DuBose, Rose E. Dent, Owen Nates, Eugene W. Crouch and Dewey Bird. Alternates are H. F. B. Watts, Stephen Koosa, and John E. Ashmore.

The grand jury returned 43 true bills yesterday and won the commendation of Judge Mann as “one of the fastest bodies of men I have ever worked with.”

Sheriff Alex T. Heise reported that four places had been closed in the county over the weekend and that county officers would continue the drive against places of illicit operation.

The grand jury convened yesterday with general sessions court. The jury will study conditions to make its report before adjournment of the present term.

The following venire has been drawn for the January term:

James C. Horne, William F. Tapp, H. O. Stuckey, G. P. Caughman, Jr., Favis Gardner, W. T. Rucker, W. E. Beckman, Roy Hornsby, E. F. Bleakley, Arthur E. Horton, A. H. Kemp, Hubert A. Parker, L. A. Hendricks, Harry Eleazer, J. W. Meetze, H. M. Funderburk, J. A. Warren, Benjamin B. Goldberg, E. W. White, L. W. Griffith, Robert E. Mitchell, Oscar Howard Hill, P. P. Claytor, Willie Jolly, N. F. Summer, John Calhoun Courtney, Frank L. Abelle, Frank W. Parson, A. S. Dukes, Roy V. Casteen, Royce T. Waites, Louis W. Roberts, Thomas D. Simmons and H. O. Sharp.

The following extra venire was drawn for this term:

Charles J. Cate, J. R. Harrison, Jr., H. F. L. Hoffmeyer, Robert E. Milligan, Philip Hugh Morgan, Durham A. McCravey, Harry Abbotts, B. S. Meeks, J. G. Cook, L. M. Evans, James A. Lyon, M. Y. Bankhead, Thomas E. Dunn, Arthur D. Dukes, M. B. Ellisor, E. J. Abdalla, F. L. Anderson, Robert B. Moore, F. L. Vincent, Clarence A. Brigman, G. H. Wessinger, W. L. Glenn, Lucius A. Denny, Jesse Lorick and W. W. Fogle.

The court received three please of guilty yesterday, two on charges of housebreaking and larceny and one on a charge of larceny and receiving stolen goods.