The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-04-06
T III + DISPATCH.
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WEDNESDAY, MORNING ..........ApRIL g. las,
TRIAs OF HON. DaH,L E sIcKLEs.
DiFFYcULTY IN PR0crRlNex JURY

TAlAs Of HON. DAN'L Il. sICKLEs
DIFFICULTY IN PR0CrRlNssx JURY
The trial Of Hon. Daniel H. sickles, for the muir.
aer OF z Barton Key, commenced In Washington
On monday last. The Star Of that Afternoon, says
! AZ O'Clock the court room began to put on a
oosy aspect. The Marshal aud Deputy Marshal
were enga;ed 10 making active preparations for
| .no accommodation of the press of people which
sose already gathering in front of tho doors The
eos1s OF tbe Court inside the bar were all removed
| anu replaced by long benches from the lobbv and
ShaIs strong guard OF police, under Captain
| ooaaafa. we're marched into the court room and
stationed at the several doors of entrance. About
san,es 81 crowd OF reporters of the press pre-
| on.e1 themselves in the court room and began to
| io1n ior sitting room within the bar
| "tn,n the railing the seats wero filled by an
| saea4,iy 'arge representation of the Washington
s,a,s. ana mingled with the lawyers, seated or
standing, as they could ind room. were A number
., strangers OF note. Among these we're Mr. Sic.
s' iather OF the prisopsr, Mr. Bsjioli an elderly,
Csuaue9 Csnnn,; gentleman, father OF Mrs. sickies,
.. ~aesai1r "ykoh, Thomas +. Meagher. the Irish
paIiot, Hon. Enamel b. Hart, of New York. Mr..
| Sarey, OF the New York Times Thomas Brown.
| Esq, OF New York, and others At lOL A. nj
1vuso oIawiord came into court, and the session
wsrs ps Ihe petit jurors Of the pending panel
"e.e esiied oy name, and answered
=, UT sickies counsel, Messrs Graham of New
u uorh' bfady, do, Ratcliffs, Chiffon, Magruder.
non. Mr Phillips, late of Alabama, and Mr. Stan,
| n iuto tuo court room Rfterward. Mr.
..'sie appeared on the part of the Uuited States.
| 70 assist the District Attorney Judge Crawford
ea'eo the attention of the bar to the case and
.ue counsel on each side, respec ctiveIy, il
con,sa, ay .esay 20 go into trial. The defendants
o'Muse, NJ answered that they we're ready.
Mr. ouid, for United States asked that the wit,
eesess lor the United States be called which was
= aone, ano all answered but four. Mr. Ould then
rrawS.1S =. tnat ne was ready for trial. Judge
into court f''''"0' ~ 0e o'oasn'
a, twenty minutes to IL o'clock, the prisoner
inaue ms appearance in court, aud took his MACE
49, ,ue uook; on MS way over to the Court House
oui tue JAN, great rush to see him. of hundr reds
s'anaoe around on the narth side of the City Hall
.ooS pace, causing the usual momeutary commo.
tion 10 such cases. He was dressed in dark
Sao'nes, neatly aud with quiet good taste His
isce was pale, but this We believe is his habituaI
look. other"ise he appeared remarkably calm
| aud self-possessed.
After the prisoner had been brought into court
ana placed In the prisoners dock, Mr.. Ould au,
nouneed formally to the court that Mr. Carlisle
would appear for the United States, during the
trlai OF the pending case, his assistant He re-
| marked that he was most happy TO have the as,
sistanee oil Mr. Carlisle iu conducting the case and
had no DOUBT that the Court shared his gratiica.
tion, and was answered by ned of approval from
Judge Crawford
The calling of the panel OF jurors then COM
menced, and out of the whole number but five
were sworn in. Among the answers given the
| following may be taken as a sample:
| George f. kirk (painter) called. Had formed
opinions from newspapers, and from relations he
| bore to the prisoner at the bar; b eing married
man himself Would be afraid to sit on the case
| Set aside.
Abraham Butler called. Had formed opinions
| from runlor and from conversation with parties
Could, however, give fair verdict, he thought
| Had formed an opinion that eyery person who
commits Wllfoi murder ought to be banged Had
no bias against the prisoner. Knows some of the
| witnesses, but never had conversation with them
| about the matter pending. Set aside.
| The Court then dismissed till Tomorrow morn.
ing the nVe sworn jurors, under instruction to
speak 10 no one nor allow any one to speak to
| them about the trial
The remaining jurors of the regular panel were
dismissed until next Monday morning at 10 o'cPk
| Mr.. Stanton, for defense, asked that the priso-
ners dock might be placed in q position near the
counsel, that they might have access to him. The
place where they asked that the prisoner should be
| situated was now occupied by bystanders aud Mr.
SickeS would doubtless cheeriully. WELD Them the
place, IT their relative positions of prisoner and
| oystanders were changed The counsel could not
communicate with Mr.. Sickles at all, from the
position now occupied by them and him, nor even
sea him, because of the crowd. He asked that
| such an arrangement be made as would give the
counsel opportunity to consult with him durino
| the course OF the trial. From the position he was
now placed 10, he might as we'll be in the JAIL for
| any communication which he could have with his
counsel.
Mr. Magruder followed, asking if it was too
| much to request that the prisoner might be placed
| 10 such position as that he could be confronted
| with the witnesses and the jurors Mr. M cited
| several cases where prisoners charged with the
highest crimes known to the law, had epjoyed the
privileges OF seat at the trial table, aud pens,
| ink and paper accorded them
The Court asked if the gentleman ever knew a
trial for murder where the prisoner was not placed
| in the dock.
Mr.. Magruder replied that he had. 1t was often
/ N tafo onfV Virn ni,,ia :,
by his colleagues that such was the practice in
| York and Alabama.
Judge Crawford said that was not the case here.
| He would direct that the dock be removed to near
the railing iD the rear OF his counsel and that the
| baiffs keep q space clear so that counsel could
| have access to the prisoner, but he could not
permit the prisoner to be placed by the side of his
| counsel. He added that never in bis experience
| had prisoner tried for murder been placed any,
| where but in the box, and he would go even fur
ther, and say that he never read of case in Eng
| land where such practice had been adopted.
| The prisoner was then remanded to the Jail.
And the Court adjourned till Tomorrow at 10
O'Clock.
| Prior to the removal of Mr.. Sickles from the
| cour i-room he was visited by number of friends
| Rev. Mr.. Haley, of the Unitarian Church, amongst
| others; and for a while quite hand.shakipg en-
| sued
Afterwards Mr.. sickles left the courtroom and
proceeded across the commons to the Jail on foot,
| accompanied by Marshal SeldeD, officers aud
/
| ing the courtroom, chatting freely with those
around him. The crowd dispersed soon after his
return to the Jail.
The States adds:
| The doors of the room were carefully guarded,
| and comparatively few outsiders were admitted
until short time previous to the adj urnment of
| the court. The crowd outside was immense, and
there wac much grumbling and swearing from the
| disap pointed ones.
The dock in which Mr.. Sick!es was seated was
| so placed as to almost entirely screen him from
| the observation of those at but short distance
| from him. His demeanor during the whole morn
| ing was calm aud collected-the demeauor of a
man confident of acquittal of the dreadful crime
| with which he is charged. His confinement has
made visible effect in his general appearance
| He appeared to be much annoyed by the imper-
tinent curiosity of those who throBged that part
| of the courtroom in which he was placed. Men
we're constantly pushing and jostling each other,
in order to get sight OF bin, asking in whispers,
| "Where is heg" We saw two or three persons
sunmarily elected from the room, for the outra-
geous manner in which they behaved in this
| spect. On the whole, we have never attended a
trial concerning which such universal interest is
manifested.
| SINGULAR POISONING CAsE.-A few days ago, a
little child, two years old, of Mrs. Jones, living
uear Otokee, Fulton county, Ohio, came to its
death in q singular manner. Mrs Jones, another
| lady, and the child were in daguerrean gallery
| for the purpose of obtaining daguerreotype,
when the little called for some water, and the
| lady who accompanied Mrs. Jones took up bowl
of uid supposing it to be water, but which proved
| to be prussic acid, and gave it TO the child to
drink, which threw il into spasms, and produced
| death in few minutes
VESSELS GONG NORTH AFTER Ice The Detroit
Advertiser states that the propeller George Cush'
man, hav ing the brig General Worth and the
| .chooners Correspondent and GeorgeWorthington
| 10 tow, passed by Detrois on Wednesday from
| Cleveland bound for the Straits of Mackinaw -
These vessels are sent from Cleveland TO procure
cargo of ice sufficient to keep the citizens cool
during the summer months, the ice not making
n large enough quantities to fill the ice houses.-
If no ice is found in the Straits, the feet will pro-
| ceed to the river st. Mary's.
/ LAKE pIpIH ON the Unner Mississippi, has an