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CRITTENDEN CIRCUIT COURT IN SESSION THIS WEEK---BIG DOCKET Case of Commonwealth vs. P. B. Croft Now Being Tried---Jury Summoned from Hopkinsville LENGTHY INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN GRAND JURY When the court bell rang Monday morning, despite the muddy roads and the heavy snow storm then prevailing, a large crowd gathered to be present at the opening of the March term of the Crittenden Circuit Court. Judge Ruby Laffoon convened the court at 9 o'clock with an invocation by Rev. E. S. DeSpain. Commonwealth's Attorney T. C. Bennett and County Attorney Edward D. Stone were on hand ready for duty. Sheriff James T. Wright and his deputies, P. R. Taylor and John T. Pickens, qualified for service and Jailer J. C. Spees was present to do the bidding of the court. After the docket was read by Circuit Clerk J. E. Sullenger and other preliminary business, the names drawn from the jury wheel for grand jury service were read and the grand jury impaneled. Judge Laffoon in opening his instructions to the jury reminded them of the honor and responsibility of being grand jurors, the most important part, he told them, of the circuit court, since few cases could be tried in this court, unless an indictment was first returned by the grand jury. The peace and happiness of a country, he said, depend upon how well the grand jurors do their duty in ferreting out and bringing to justice those who violate the laws, such as the law against making, selling or transporting liquor; the law against carrying concealed deadly weapons; the law against the disturbance of religious worship or other public assemblies; the laws against stealing, robbing and housebreaking. He could, the court told them, go through any section of country and tell whether it was a desirable country to live in and whether the laws were being enforced. If he found plenty of churches filled on Sundays and Sunday evenings with happy and undisturbed worshipers; if the school houses were good and filled with happy children, and if the graveyards were kept clean with growing flowers, that was a good section to live in. But if the churches looked like they were built only for the habitation of bats and owls; if the school houses were rotten and about to fall down, and the graveyards were overgrown with bushes, briars and weeds, it is not bushes, briars and weeds, it is not vest in for a home. At the present time said the Judge, there is a wave of crime sweeping over the country such as there never has been before. Whether it be the result of the World War or not, it is a fact. It is rampant in the nation's capital. It is in the state capitals, the county seats, down to the smallest villages and towns and in the country. It is up to the people—law-abiding citizens—to put a stop to this lawlessness, and largely through the action of the grand juries. The laws are not to blame. The law is the perfection of human reason, the outgrowth of the finest human intellect and of Holy Writ. There is a law that covers every law violation, from the greatest crime to the smallest offense, and these laws need only to be enforced upon all alike, rich or poor, black or white, without fear or favor. Unless this is done—unless an end is put to this wave of lawlessness—this great country of ours, which has been the wonder of the world, will topple and fall like other governments of the world have from the same cause. Times have changed from what they used to be, said the Judge, and we think for the worse. When you and I were boys, he told the jury, we went to church on Sunday and the minister preached hell-fire and damnation and told us where we would go if we didn't do right. Who of you gentlemen, in the last ten years has heard a preacher say anything about hell-fire? (So far as could be seen no hand was raised in the jury box.) But this is a fast age, said the Judge, the age of the automobile money grabbing and profiteering. Big wages for the few, high cost of living for the many. The court closed his instructions by urging the grand jury to diligently search out the law violators within their jurisdiction and return indictments against all whom the evidence, according to their judgment, was sufficient to convict them before a petit jury. The following are the grand jurors: J. I. Clement, foreman; Will C. Truitt, J. J. James, John M. Guess, John T. Vaughn, John Rushing, Roe Williams, Charlie Baker, R. L. Williams, George Gass, W. B. Paris, Guy Lofton. Petit Jurors—Bert E. Woody, H. H. Guess, Newton Burklow, S. H. Mathews, Mont Davenport, Fred Gass, G. E. Boston, Calvin Herrin, P. C. Gilbert, J. H. Todd, B. M. Duvall, J. V. Thomas, J. A. Daughtrey, Robert B. Corley, Dallas Dunning, Geo. H. Ford, Geo. T. Belt, R. H. Thomas, O. G. Threlkeld, Lee Ward, J. T. Hicklin, D. A. Lowry, J. B. Cloyd, Dennis D. Clark. A number of commonwealth cases were called, the accused were not found by the court officials and the cases continued to next term of court. The first case to be tried before the jury was that of Jim Litchfield, Lonnie Crowell and Enoch Crowell charged with robbing Clark Quartermous, near Blackford. After hearing the evidence the jury returned a verdict of guilty against Jim Litchfield and fixed the punishment at one year in the penitentiary. Lonnie Crowell and Enoch Crowell were acquitted. Ray Travis plead guilty before the court to a charge of unlawfully having in his possession intoxicating liquor and was given a fine of $100 and 30 days in the county jail. Elmer Leavee, Delmar Travis and Sereal Travis, charged with disturbing religious worship, plead guilty before the court and were fined $20 each and costs. Ollie Brasher, under charge of seduction, was before the court. The charge against him was reduced to fornification, to which he plead guilty and was given a fine of $50 and cost. Robert Ersie Myers under same charge was given same fine and cost. The case of P. B. Croft, president of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Tolu, under an indictment of the grand jury charging him with assenting to, soliciting and receiving deposits, knowing at the time he did so that the bank was insolvent, was called in Circuit Court here Tuesday morning. This was the first case among a number of others growing out of the burning of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Tolu on the night of August 3, 1923 to be called up for trial and a great deal of interest was shown by the big crowd that packed the court room. A. C. Moore and J. W. Blue appeared as attorneys for the defense, while the commonwealth was represented by Commonwealth's Attorney T. C. Bennett, County Attorney E. D. Stone and former Commonwealth's Attorney John L. Grayot, of Madisonville. A great number of witnesses have been called on both sides. The attorneys for the commonwealth, after a consultation with their witnesses announced ready for trial. The attorneys for the defense entered a plea for a continuance of the case to the next term of court, but it was overruled by the court and the case went into trial. Out of the first twelve jurymen called, only one said that he had not "formed or expressed an opinion as to the guilt or innocence of the accused." Out of the regular panel of 24 jurors only three were uninformed about the case. After the regular panel had been exhausted the court instructed the sheriff to go outside and summon 24 men to serve as jurors. Out of these two others were found who had no opinion in the case, making five in all. And these were not passed on by either the attorneys for the defense or commonwealth. Judge Laffoon then instructed the sheriff to summon a venire of 50 men from Christian county from which to get a jury for the case. Out of the venire of 50 men summoned from Christian county for jury service in the case, forty one men appeared at the opening of court Wednesday morning reporting ready for service. The four jurors selected the day before, after being passed on by the attorneys for the commonwealth and the defense, were excused from service and a panel of 12 jurors was chosen from the venire from Christian county. The names of the jurors on the case are: J. W. Shepherd, B. T. Malone, M. V. Grubbs, L. R. Crawley, J. B. Jones, W. D. Tarnine, R. S. Cain, J. W. Duvall, W. H. Malone, C. C. Wood, J. H. Reese and E. W. Hester. The first witness called was M. John Alvis. Mr Alvis testified that for a number of years he had worked on the farm of the defendant P. B. Croft. He and Croft, he said, were partners in the products and livestock of the farm and divided the profits. They made settlements whenever they sold livestock, corn or other products. The last settlement they made was on July 29. His (Alvis) share of the sales amounted to $568.98. Mr. Croft, said the witness, told Mr. Grimes, the cashier, to give me credit on my banking account for that amount, which Grimes did, marking on my book. (The witness produced the book.) M. N. Smock, State Bank Examiner stated that he had made an examination of the Farmers and Merchants Bank of Tolu, on Jan. 29. Some of the directors were not present at the time. P. B. Croft, president of the bank and J. H. Grimes cashier, and W. E. Dowell were present. His figures as to the condition of the bank were approximately the same as those of the bank's books. He afterward, he said, had information that the bank seemed to be hard pressed for funds with which to run the bank, the information coming through corresponding banks. O. S. Denny, special deputy state bank commissioner, and L. E. Guess, one of a committee of three appointed to ascertain the value of the burned notes, etc. the later testifying that the notes were divided into three classes, solvent, insolvent and doubtful. The witness gave the amount of these notes in each class. H. C. Franklin was called on to explain the working of the time locks used in banks. E. Jeffrey Travis was called on and testified as to the date of the warrant issued for the arrest of the defendant. Other witnesses testified that they had presented checks drawn on the Tolu bank which were refused payment at the time, the excuse given by the cashier being that the money was locked up in the safe and could not be gotten out, owing to the time lock. Further testimony is being heard in the case.
