Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-01-30
DIsQUALIFYING INTELLIGENCE


DISQUALIFYING INTELLIGENCE
The existing law which requires that a
jury trying criminal case shall not be &C
quainted with the particulars of such case
before hearing the evidence in court, in its
practical operation, defeats the ends Of JUS
tice. It is simply impossible in this age of
daily newspapers to find a man of ordinary
intelligence who does not hear some &C
count of murders which may be committed
in the community in which he resides.
Even though he may lack the ru-
dimentary education necessary TO
read the particulars Of crime,
some account of it reaches him through the
gossip of neighbors who possess more edu-
cation than himself. In such a case he is
more liable to form a wrong conclusion
than the man whose intelligence has been
to some extent trained, and who can get
the particulars from source which is at
least more likely to be correct than flying
reports passed from mouth to mouth. 1t
a generally conceded fact that the more ig-
norant q man is the more fixed he is in his
opinions. Your ass-willed juror, who al
ways thinks his eleven companions the most
unreasonable of men, is generally the least
educated man in the box.
Under the present law, intelligence
disqualiies q man from acting in the capac-
ity of juror in criminal cases, while the
very class of men in cities who are most
likely to sympathize with a prisoner and,
therefore, to acquit him, are selected to fill
the jury box. 1t is little wonder that I'M
der such circumstances murders are fire.
quent. Who ever hears Of a murderer be-
ing hanged, unless, indeed, he happens to
be some poor wretch who has not the means
to secure able counsel, or the intelli-
gence to select 4 modern model
jury. Our laws which were
framed for the punishment Of crime and the
protection of life and property have become
imperative. The horse thief, in nine cases
out of ten, is punished with greater severity
than the man who wantOnly takes the life
Of fellow being. Until our laws are
amended such will continue to be the case,
and tie community may expect to be
shocked from time to time by cold blooded
murders in their midst.
The difficulty experienced in New York
in procuring juries to try important murder
cases, has led the Legislature of that State to
frame a law which, if enacted, will have
the effect of making intelligent newspaper
readers eligible to decide in any case in
which they may be required to act as jury
men. There is little doubt that the bill
will become a law. 1t certainly has not
been introduced a day too soon. Out of
some 800 cases Of murder in New York last
year, not a solitary prisoner was hanged.
In our own State, the absurd jury law
has clogged the wheels of justice time and
again. There is at the present term of the
Criminal Court now in session at
Memphis a case which illustrates
this fact. In the case of Capt. Cannon,
who is on trial for the murder of Horace
Morse, Judge Flippin has found it necessary
to exclude the reporters of the press from
the court room, lest, in publishing the evil
dence, they should defeat the ends Of JUS
ti"e. The act is certainly a high-handed
one, and almost unprecedented in the his
tory Of criminal jurisprudence in Tennes-
see. Still, while the law remains unchanged
the Judge has adopted a wise course, and
one which will effect a large saving
to the State. While the reporters
Of the press, however, were not
allowed in the courtroom, the doors were
thrown open TO the public. How the evil
1ence in the case was to be kept secret by
'uch a course it would be difficult to say.
The only difference between publishing a re
port of the trial ana the plan adopted was in
he size Of the aud;elce. In one case 1t |
would have gone abroad to the world with |
,ut exaggeration-in the other, portion !
If tie public hears it, and the rest of the |
gets it at second hand with all the |
necessarily resulting from weak |
and the natural tendency of hu
nan nature to exaggerate or color the parti-
'ulars of a sensational trial. The only means
" which the difficulty can be obviated is
o amend the law regulating trial by jury.
our State Legislature might proftably de-
ole a portion of its time to passing such a
i'll at the called session to be held this
pring.