The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-05-31
"The Great Safeguards of Our Liber-

"The Great Safeguards of Our Liber-
ties.,,
BLACKSTONE after confning himself to the
technicalities of the principles of law takes an
opportunity, when he reaches the institution
of trial by jury, to give vent to his pent-up
feelings, and after mounting Pegasus, finally
declares the great boon secured to us by Magma
Charta to be the Safeguard of our liberties"
We have often before expressed our views on
the working of the trial by a jury of peers in
our own city. We have ventured to insinuate
that, however just it may be for a murderer
to be thus arraigned for his life before a Quar-
ter Sessions jury-who really look as If they
were his peers-yet it is hardly fair for an in
nocent man to have insult added to injury,
by having such jurors called his equals. The
ignorance, stupidity, and prejudice of the
juries we have already commented upon.
Thus, within two weeks man guilty of muir
der in open court was declared "not guilty"
and then a homicide, with malice prepense,
was declared manslaughter. But we had
hoped that the iniquity of ignorance was
limited to our own city, and that the purity
and excellence of the system, although denied
to us, had been vouchsafed to our neighbors.
By an editorial in the New York Times ofyester-
day, however, we fear that the evil is more
extended than we thought; and as New York,
as well as Philadelphia, is disgraced by such
cases, that the faith of the metropolitans in the
immaculate trial by jury must be shaken.
The Times says:-
The yagaries of trial by jury are often exem-
VNffH lot In fIn .~ff lN..A
never have they been more apparent thaE at
the present term. The prosecuting officers fre-
is as conclusive as can be- verdicts of not guilty
have been rendei ed. An Instance in point hap.
pen6d yesterday. A colored man sent a street.
boy 10 the store of a well-known grocery firm
with written order for cigars, giving him also
a forged check for $50, the balance OF which,
after deducting the price OF the cigars, was to
be returned. The grOcers, suspecJing a swindle
put mp an empty box for the messenger and
meanwhile called In etective to follow him
When the lad joined his employer the latter
was arrested. This state of facts all appeared
plainly on the trial of the case but TO the aslo-
shment of the Courl, the counsel, and the
spectators, prompt verdict of acquittal was
rendered. No one pretends TO question the
honesty and good faith of the jury, but such
action is lneXpllcable upon any ordinary prin-
ciples OF reasoning"
1t may be, as the Times says, emo one pre-
tends to question the honesty and good faith
of the jury" but whether any one does or
does not, it is clearly necessary that the Court
should have board of officers well versed in
dementia to examine the sanity of the "peers."
If, instead of examining the eyes and feeling the
bumps of the prisoner, the physician was to
cast a piercing glance at the foreheads of the
jurors, we think that his time would be better
| spent, and his prescriptions cure more cases.
popular feeling is now growing up in favor
of submitting all cases to disinterested and
wise judiciary, who cannot be more partial
than the juries, and who at least have as
sured intelligence